Armistice Day Parade - 1940

75 years ago there was a parade on Gay Street, celebrating the 22nd year of peace. Back then they called it the Great War, or the World War. No numbers after it. They were celebrating Armistice Day. Today we celebrate Veterans Day.

It was a rainy day in 1940 but people came to participate and to watch.

Knoxville News Sentinel - November 11, 1940
from GenealogyBank.com

The newspaper images are grainy and blurred.  I made this composite of the women pictured above from UT's annual.

1941 Volunteer
from University of Tennessee Library

It was a day to honor those service members then, as it is today.

Thank you, veterans.  Thank you.

A bit more about The Thin Man

Jack Neely wrote up another fine piece called The Thin Man for the Knoxville Mercury paper.  In it he tells the story of a Nazi spy who was captured at the YMCA in Knoxville.

Before Jack gets to the subject of his story, he wonderfully paints a picture of Knoxville as it was in July of 1944.  He mentions Carl Doyle who played for the Frolics baseball team. Carl played in the majors for portions of four seasons where he went 6-15, with a robust 6.96 ERA.  He finished out his professional playing days in Knoxville in 1943 where he went 0-3 and had an ERA of 11.12 that season.

Jack also mentions some movies playing around town.  Young & Willing at the Roxy.  Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble at the Tennessee.  The Bridge of San Luis Rey at the Riviera.  The Bridge was a remake of a 1929 film and was remade in 2004.  The Impostor, being shown at the Bijou, was also released as Bayonet Charge and Strange Confession.

Now on to the meat of the story.  The Augusta Chronicle and The Macon Telegraph carried the same UP wire story about the arrest of Walter Othmer.

The Macon Telegraph - July 21, 1944

As Jack states in his article, Walter was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.  I found a mention of he and his family in the Richmond Time-Dispatch around Christmas of 1955.  His son, Siegfried, who was just spending his fourth Christmas in America, would have come to the States in about 1951.

Walter's obituary just four years later shed a bit more light on his life.  At the time of his death he was an engineer for Stone and Webster Engineering Corp.  His wife's name was Rosemarie.  He had two sons. Siegfried and Hans; four brothers and a sister.

Richmond Times-Dispatch - August 6, 1959

Richmond Times-Dispatch - August 7, 1959

Walter is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery near Rosemarie, who passed away in January of 1987.

Happenings at Chilhowee Park in 1902

While doing some research on the 1902 Knoxville City Baseball League I came across these wonderful ads in the Knoxville Journal and Tribune.  They were featured during the summer of that year.

The images were taken with a cellphone camera from a microfilm reader at the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection.

Knoxville's Confederate Monument

On June 17, 2015, a young man entered one of Charleston's oldest historically black churches. After a time he turned a gun on those he was with and nine worshipers are now dead.  From that incident a debate has risen, first about the use and meaning of the Confederate battle flag and then has spawned discussion about other Confederate symbols (memorials, monuments, markers, etc).

This post is not intended to continue the debates or discussions, only to share a portion of Knoxville's history.

On May 21, 1891, the cornerstone to the Confederate Memorial at Bethel Cemetery was set.  Bethel Cemetery is home to over 1,600 Confederate dead and also some Union soldiers.

Other news of that day included stories about the tornado that touched down in Mexico, Missouri; that the Farmer's Convention would return to Knoxville the next year; of a burglary at Mossy Creek.  There were advertisements for Kern's Ice Cream Parlors and that the Ohios of Cincinnati would cross bats with the local Reds.

And then there was this article, tucked in the middle of page eight, the last page of that day's paper.

Knoxville Daily Journal - May 21, 1891

The next day the Journal reported the following:

Knoxville Daily Journal - May 22, 1891

The article goes on to give more details of the service, including the actual laying of the cornerstone.  As was the custom, items were placed beneath the stone.  A Mrs. G.M. White, senior member of the Ladies Memorial Association, placed the following items in a copper box:

• Names and history of Ladies' Memorial Association
• Constitution and By-laws of Fred Ault Bivouac and Zollicoffer Camp
• Two Confederate flags
• Confederate money
• Speech of Judge Turney on the civil war
• Pamphlets of Knoxville
• Confederate newspapers
• Knoxville daily papers
• Program of the ceremony
• Confederate postage stamps
• Photographs of Generals
• List of Confederates buried in Bethel Cemetery, six hundred unknown dead killed at Fort Sanders 
• Copy of pension law of Tennessee. 
• Minnie balls and bullets from battle-field of Chickamauga
• Confederate almanacs, 1862
• Confederate button taken from grave on battle-field of Chickamauga
• Photographic views of Knoxville
• History of battle of Fort Sanders
• Roll of Fred Ault Bivouac, Zollicoffer Camp, and all soldiers of Tennessee division
• Minutes first Annual Convention United Confederate Veterans
• Cut of monument to be built
• Knoxville City Directory

(This list is from Our Confederate Dead, a pamphlet containing the oration of Major General William M. Bate on the unveiling of the completed monument one year later.  The list in the newspaper varies slightly from this list, but not to any significant detail, save that the newspaper has 105 killed at the battle of Fort Sanders.)

Bethel Cemetery, located between Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Bethel Avenue, just east of Vine Middle School, was a county cemetery.  The first mention I find of the cemetery with the name of Bethel was on May 12, 1875, when an article in Knoxville's Press and Messenger says:

The Confederate Memorial Day will be on or about the tenth of June.  A neat residence for the keeper has recently been erected in Bethel Cemetery.

The local papers reported the unveiling ceremony, complete with a print of the monument.

Knoxville Daily Journal - May 15, 1892

The monument is an imposing piece of stonework.  It is 12 feet square at the base and stands 48 feet tall. The entire monument is constructed of Tennessee gray marble. The contract price was $4,500. The money was raised by the Ladies' Memorial Association, with the assistance of their friends, by means of suppers, festivals, and by subscriptions ranging from $1.00 to $250. Among the subscribers were several ex-Federal soldiers, who endeared themselves to the ladies of the Memorial Association.

The monument was designed by Lloyd Branson of Knoxville.  In 1896 Mr. Branson would design the  official Flag of Knoxville.  The contract for the erection of the monument was awarded to the firm of George W. Callahan and Brothers.  Mr. Callahan had done some stone work on the Knoxville Catholic Church in early 1891.

Below are some of images of the monument that I've found.

from Art Work of Knoxville, 1895, Part 07
part of the C.M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library

from Our Confederate Dead
part of the C.M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library

Hist. Photo Copy Project 2011-012-183 Confederate Monument (no caption), Knoxville, Tenn. Bethel cemetery, also known as Confederate Cemetery. Knoxville, TN. Stereo by C.A. Wayland, So. Knoxville, Tenn

part of the C.M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library

This afternoon I visited Bethel Cemetery.  I arrived after it was closed.  I was able to get a photo of the backside of the monument through a locked chain link gate.

backside of Confederate Monument
Bethel Cemetery, Knoxville, Tennessee

There are other memorials in Knoxville to service members, notably at the National Cemetery and at the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial.  This memorial serves to remind us of those men from the south that gave their lives for a cause that they believed in.

newspaper images from GenealogyBank.com

Some Periodicals of Johnson Bible Collge

I stopped by Johnson University this morning to ask if they might have any records regarding the 1921 basketball game between the University of Tennessee and then Johnson Bible College. Their holdings of yearbooks don't go back that far.  I was referred to Denny Eaton, Periodicals Clerk at the Glass Memorial Library.  I've worked with Denny before.  She was very helpful in providing resources for early baseball images and text about Johnson Bible College.

We took a quick look through the archives and nothing popped up, but I asked about early newspapers and newsletters associated with the school.  She pulled out an archive box and graciously allowed me to take some quick snaps.

The School of the Evangelists was founded in 1893 by Ashley S. Johnson, so the first two papers, The Christian Watchman and The Querist, predate that.  Here's a link to the history of Johnson University.

The Christian Watchman - December 1, 1880

The Querist - January 1, 1890

From what I can tell, the publications were of an evangelical bent, with a bit of school news tossed in.

Kimberlin Review - September, 1902

Kimberlin Review - masthead (date not noted)

The World-wide Witness - January, 1904

Johnson Bible College News Letter - October, 1912

Johnson Bible College News Letter - October, 1913

Blue and White - October 15, 1928

The Monthly Kimberliner - January, 1950

From what I saw, there wasn't much local news, although there were advertisers from downtown Knoxville in a few of the issues.

From archive.org I found the Periodicals of the Disciples of Christ and Related Religious Groups which list several of the publications that I've shown above.

I don't yet know the extent of the holdings of Johnson University.  As with many interests, this requires more research.

I'd like to thank Denny Eaton and the staff of the Glass Memorial Library for permission to share these images.

Knoxville Radio Schedule - 75 years ago today

Back in 1940 the radio dial wasn't as full as it is today. Here's a listing of the programs one could hear back then.

Knoxville News-Sentinel - February 19, 1940

images from GenealogyBank.com

Ken Hammock, Knoxville area music guy

I came across Ken Hammock in Billboard magazine while doing some research on Goldrush Junction in Pigeon Forge.  I didn't know anything about him, but there's a nice write up on him at Mellow's Log Cabin blog.

A look on ancestry.com shows a Ken Hammock, age 18 in the 1940 US Census.  His family is living on Dameron Avenue in Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee.  His father, Otey, was a stationery engineer in a dairy.  His mom, Thenie was not working outside the home.  His older brother, James, was a filler rubber at a furniture manufacturer.

Ten years before, in the 1930 US Census, the family was living at Dameron Avenue as well.  Otey was a laborer at a cotton mill.  Thenia was a laundress.  James, 18 then, was a clerk at a grocery store.

Aside from being a musician, Ken Hammock was also a veteran.  He served in the army during WWII and is buried at the Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Knoxville.

Billboard - January 15, 1949

Billboard - October 22, 1955

Billboard - March 17, 1958

Billboard - May 20, 1972

I certainly would hate to be a cow ...

Ashley S. Johnson founded the School of the Evangelists in 1893 at Kimberlin Heights, on the banks of the French Broad River.  That school became Johnson Bible College and is now known as Johnson University.  To help fund his school he raised cattle.

Here's an ad from the Dairy Farmer.

Dairy Farmer - vol. 14 (1916)
p. 441

Truman's Plane comes to Knoxville

President Obama visited Knoxville today.  Jack Neely has a blog post about the various presidents that visited, or didn't visit, Knoxville.

He couldn't confirm if President Harry Truman ever came to town.  I did a bit of research and couldn't come up with any article one way or the other.  But I did find that his plane, The Sacred Cow, touched down here.

At the end of April, 1950 the president of Chile, Gabriel Gonzalez Videla, was on a trip through the states.

Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) - April 28, 1950

And this is the plane from which he smartly stepped.

Douglas VC-54C "Sacred Cow"
from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

A reader to Jack's column spoke of Truman coming to a local ramp festival in 1955. Here's that story.

Greensboro Daily News - April 24, 1955

newspaper images from GenealogyBank.com

The High Price of College -1898

In 1893 Ashley S. Johnson opened The School of the Evangelists in the Kimberlin Heights area of south Knox county. It later became Johnson Bible College and is now known as Johnson University.   As we see current higher education costs on the rise it is interesting to see what things cost in 1898.

From the book:
Where To Educate 1898-1899
p. 340

Click here for more history of Johnson University.

Intro

Welcome to Old Knoxville Stuff.

I like history.  I like local history.  I like sports.  So I created Old Knoxville Base Ball.  And Old Knoxville Football.  But what happens when I want to blog about other things Knoxville?  I guess they should end up here.

Generally I get my ideas from the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound.  The good folks over there will post a photo or a film clip on their facebook page and I'll want to know more about it.  I go off and do a bit of research.  This is where most of it will end up.


We'll see what happens.