David Heads Speech

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is David Head and like most of you I was born and raised here in South Pittsburg and will likely take my last breath here. I love this little town. Its beauty draws me back no matter what part of the country that I find myself in. South Pittsburg is my home. My remarks here tonight are drawn from numerous sources who spent years researching and recording our town’s history; Martelia Cameron Kelly, Nonie Webb, and Robert Hookey to name a few. It is a foregone conclusion that the first people to live here were the American Indians. They were here 1,000s of years before the first Europeans arrived. Following the Indians, recorded history tells us that the Spanish were the next people to arrive in our area. They were in search of gold, they had no interest in establishing a settlement. The Cherokee and Creek Indians were well established throughout the region when the Spanish began exploring the area. It is thought that the Cherokee were part of the Iroquois tribe in what would later be New York State, which had moved south to escape the rigors of northern winters. Hernando De Soto arrived in the South Pittsburg area in the early summer of 1540. If he looked for gold here, he found none. English and French explorers would follow in De Soto’s footsteps. Ultimately the English colonized North America. However, when Andrew Jackson passed through the South Pittsburg area on his way south to battle the British in the War of 1812, the area still belonged to the Cherokee Indians.

Marion County was created in 1817. There were already several white settlers squatting on land in the South Pittsburg area that in reality still belonged to the Cherokee. One of these early settlers, John C. Haley and his wife Eliza Jane Haley, owned a large farm in the valley and on the mountain that in time became South Pittsburg. It is believed that the Haley Family got the farm from Col. John Lowery, who owned not only the farm, but Lowery’s Island which became Burns Island later in time. John Lowery also operated a ferry at the mouth of Battle Creek. In 1838, in what would become known as the Trail of Tears, nearly all the American Indians in this vicinity were removed to a reservation in Oklahoma on orders of President Andrew Jackson. John Haley passed away in 1840 and his son inherited the farm. In 1861 the Civil War began and by the spring of 1862 most of Marion County was under the control of Union troops. A fort was constructed by the Union army at the confluence of the Tennessee River and Battle Creek which became known as Fort McCook, named for Union General Alexander McCook. War came to the area on August 27,1862 when Fort McCook was bombarded by Confederate troops dug in on a hill on the opposite side of the river. That hill is in New Hope. The Confederate artillery rained down on the Union Fort for some 12 hours. The shelling was so intense that a group of Union soldiers had to leave post haste from their card game which had reached a pot of $40 secured in a leather purse, a considerable amount of money in 1862. They and the other Union soldiers left Fort McCook under the cover of darkness. The Union Army returned to the area a year later, establishing a command center at a site in the middle of town where the Old English Company would build a house at what is now 4th Street and Oak Avenue. The house would later be Simpson Hospital for a short time. The army also established fortifications near the Tom Ellis old home place at Raulstontown and on Red Cut Hill which was graded away in 1969 to form part of the Plaza Center which today is home to Foodland.

Three years after the Civil War ended, in 1868, John Haley’s heirs sold the family farm to George T. Lewis. Lewis sold the land to Wood Wilson in the same year. From August 10,1869 to 1876 Wilson was the Postmaster for what was known at the time as Battle Creek Mines. The whistle stop was named that due to the large amount of coal being mined in the nearby mountains and hauled to the Jasper branch of the N.C. & ST. L. RR at the mouth of Battle Creek. In addition to its mining industry, the area contained a saw and planing mill, and a corn mill. The population was about 100. In the early 1870s Wilson sold the farm to the two Alley Brothers who operated a ferry on the Tennessee River, the same ferry in which Col. John Lowery operated at one time, which crossed from about where the Jaycee Boat ramp is today to the ramp near the Paul Turner farm on the east side of the river. The Alley Brothers had no interest in coal and coal mining. They were content to operate their ferry, raise cattle on their farm, and to plant apple and peach trees. The brothers used the fruit to produce applejack and peach and honey liquors. Life might have continued as such had not an Englishman named James Bowron Sr., arrived on the scene in 1873.

Bowron was a noted ironmaster of London, England who made several trips to the United States beginning in 1870 in search of land that contained both coal and iron ore. His plan was to open up an iron foundry. The endeavor proved to be a major headache. He would first find coal but no iron ore. Then he’d find suitable iron ore but there would be no coal. In 1873 James Bowron and his son James Bowron, Jr., joined ranks with a Welsh mettalurgist Mr. Thomas Whitwell, a Quaker banker, Mr. Pike, and Mr. Joseph Cliff, an eminent fire-brick manufacturer. The group formed a syndicate with Mr. Whitwell president, Mr. Pike the largest stockholder, and Bowron Senior doing the footwork. The group was known as the Old English Company and it gave Bowron the authority to make all decisions and to execute all necessary transactions. Bowron soon arrived in the Battle Creek area, found the coveted coal fields and iron ore in plentiful supply, liked what he saw, and reported his findings to the syndicate. The group bought 1,000 acres of land from the Alley Brothers that extended from Battle Creek and the Tennessee River to the top of the Cumberland Mountains. Soon a portion of the land was subdivided into blocks bounded by streets and avenues in order to develop a town. Two blast furnaces were put into operation in the northern section of the town near the mouth of Battle Creek. Houses were constructed for the officers of the company and numerous cottages erected for workmen. More houses were added as needed. Bowron chose the name, South Pittsburg, for their new town in hopes that its success would equal or excel that of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the PITTSBURG OF THE SOUTH. Within a few months lots were being sold and people began trickling into the new town from the outlying area. The officers of the Old English Company were thrilled, their dream was becoming a reality! When the Old English Company officially incorporated on April 12th, 1875 it was named the Southern States Coal, Iron,and Land Company. Thirteen months later the town received official recognition when on May 23, 1876 the name of the post office was officially changed from Battle Creek to South Pittsburg.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck the company. Within three years four of the owners were dead. James Bowron Sr. died in 1877, Thomas Whitwell was killed in a mine explosion in 1878, and Joseph Cliff, and Mr. Pike died during the same time period. With the deaths of so many of their most prominent members the remaining members of the Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company did not have the enthusiasm nor monies to promote the new town nor to finish its construction. On February 1st,1882 the Southern States Coal, Iron and Land Company was acquired by the Tennessee Coal, Iron, & Railway Company for $700,000 worth of stock and $700,000 in bonds, secured by a mortgage on its property. However, the Tennessee Coal, Iron, & Railway Company were iron manufacturers exclusively and paid little attention to their newly acquired town. While they spent plenty of money to upgrade the blast furnaces near the mouth of Battle Creek, they did not maintain the houses and buildings in South Pittsburg. As expected the houses went into decay, the streets washed away, and fewer people made the town their home. it became lawless and there were more saloons and houses of ill repute than churches. The future of South Pittsburg did not look good.

In 1885 Mr. W. M. Duncan of Nashville became interested in the stock of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railway Company which at this time had coal mines, land and railroads in Grundy County as well as Marion County. The three thousand acres that he bought in Marion County included the town of South Pittsburg. Duncan was a banker, a financial opportunist, his main object was to make money hand over foot in the investments that he made. In the autumn of 1886 Duncan sold the South Pittsburg town site to James L. Gaines, John F. Vertrees, Sam Cowan, J. H. Fahl and James Bowron Jr., who formed the SOUTH PITTSBURG CITY COMPANY. G. C. Conner was hired as Secretary & Treasurer of the company and his first job was to go throughout the city and take photographs of the assets, buildings and property. In addition to Duncan’s 3,000 acres the company purchased an additional 700 acres from Dr. Joe Bostick, the first doctor who lived here. This was the fourth transaction of the tract of land in which the city of South Pittsburg is located. On November 1,1886 the South Pittsburg City Company applied to the state of Tennessee for a Charter of Incorporation. James L. Gaines of Nashville was elected President, M. H. Fielding of New York Vice President, and G. C. Conner the Secretary and Treasurer. The assets of the company at this time was about 4,000 acres of land, on which was built the town of South Pittsburg. F. P. Clute surveyed and mapped the city in 1887. At that time the avenues were renamed for trees. They also owned two hotel buildings, one National Bank Building, four large, two story 13-room residences, one brick two story store house, 24 two story tenement houses, 60 one story tenement houses, a reservoir and four miles of water pipe, a coal mine, a handsome school building, and a post office building.

The South Pittsburg City Company, with W. M. Duncan and other wealthy businessmen serving as Directors, had money to spend to promote the town, and soon there were a number of factories in town employing a great many workers. The Perry Stove Works, The South Pittsburg Pipe Works, The Sequatchie Hoe and Tool Company, Faris Planing Mill, South Pittsburg Brick and Terra Cotta Company, just to name a few. The city of South Pittsburg was granted a charter in 1887 by the state of Tennessee and a local government established. The first mayor was elected, his name was John G. Kelly. In 1888 the East Tennessee Telephone Company installed its system here in town, not long afterwards the South Pittsburg City Water Company began supplying water to subscribers. The South Pittsburg Electric Light and Power Company began supplying electric energy to its customers in 1889. By the late 1890s South Pittsburg was a boom town, it even had its own newspaper, the South Pittsburg Hustler. Two soda bottling companies were located in town, John J. Ingle & Son and the South Pittsburg Bottling Works. The town had indeed become the Pittsburg of the South with several blast furnaces in operation at T. C. I. & RR Company making pig iron, Shuster Foundry was making soil pipe, and three foundries in town were making cast iron hollow ware; the South Pittsburg Hollow-Ware Works, Lowman Brothers, and the Blacklock Foundry. By winter of 1904 Wetter was also producing hollow-ware in addition to stoves. Laborers at these industries were mostly African Americans, who arrived in South Pittsburg looking for work because word had spread that there were opportunities here. Families whose last names were Gaines, Hyatt, Hale, Baker, Collier, Kelso, Robinson, Patton, Acklin, Rutledge, Wilkerson, Pounds, Walker, Jordan, Lasater, Wooten, Green, Mitchell, Martin, Tipton, Burnette, and others, contributed greatly to the growth of South Pittsburg and do so unto this day.

Through mismanagement, the South Pittsburg City Company became financially distressed, and it was forced into bankruptcy in 1904. Its assets were sold at public auction to Mr. M. M. Allison for $35,000. The South Pittsburg Real Estate and Building Company was chartered by the state of Tennessee shortly after this sale and Mr. Allison sold all the assets which he had purchased to the newly formed company. This was the sixth and final bulk sale of the townsite lands of the city. Within a few years Mr. A. A. Cook acquired the majority of the stock and was owner at the time of his death. In 1906 the Dixie Portland Cement Company began operation on the Tennessee Alabama line which brought a boom to South Pittsburg. The Aycock Hosiery Mill followed not long after which gave employment to many women in the area. Long overdue, McReynolds High School was built in 1921 to provide quality education to the African American students living in South Pittsburg. In 1939 the Sequatchie Valley Electric Cooperative was organized. South Pittsburg went “on the air” in 1953 when Mr. Eaton Govan Jr. began operation of the local radio station using the call letters, WEPG. The main thoroughfare into town, the Old Jasper Road, was abandoned for general travel in the 1950s when a new highway was built on a level below the old road. Education was a main staple in South Pittsburg for a century and this reached a climax in 1965 with the construction of a new South Pittsburg High School. In 1972 the road into town was widened to the four lane highway that exists today. Probably the most beneficial business built in South Pittsburg occured in 1959 with the construction of the South Pittsburg Municipal Hospital. The establishment of the Jaycee boat ramp, Loyd and Moore Parks in the 1960s afforded the residents of this city an opportunity for recreation. South Pittsburg would move into the modern era when construction of the Plaza Shopping Center began in 1970. Elmores,Thriftway Drug, and Red Food Store soon became part of the citizens’ vocabulary. Twelve years later on March 25,1982 K-Mart held its grand opening on the state line. There you could buy four rolls of Northern toilet tissue for .94 cents, a quart of Havoline motor oil for just .84 cents. In 1981 after decades of hard work, political maneuvering, and red tape, a bridge crossing over into New Hope from South Pittsburg became a reality. The Shelby Rhinehart Bridge replaced the ferry which had been in operation on the Tennessee River in the general location for three-quarters of a century. The bridge was a huge asset and badly needed.

When the new four-lane highway bypassed South Pittsburg in the 1990s the city streets became safer, quieter and a lot less traveled. A huge decline in business became a reality. Our auto parts stores, our hardware stores, and our K-Mart soon vanished. But in time South Pittsburg will recover from the loss of those businesses just as we did during the Great Depression when there was little money and far fewer jobs. At that time Lodge made less cookware because nobody was buying it. To save the company and to give employees work they began manufacturing door stops and ornamental castings. Working three to four days a week the company survived. US Stove was hit even harder during the lean years of the Depression but through the heroics of S. L. Rogers the company tightened its belt and marched onward. South Pittsburg has survived numerous fires and floods over the past 150 years that destroyed property and lives. A House Divided Against Itself cannot stand and we learned that the hard way in 1927 when a labor dispute ended up with one half of South Pittsburg opposing the other half. Hearts became so cold that in December of that year there were two Christmas trees set up on each end of town for the two opposing groups of citizens. Christmas trees are intended to commemorate the birth of Christ and to think that within days of setting them up, instead of swapping gifts, the citizens of South Pittsburg were trading gun fire with one another. While December 25,1927 is without question the saddest day in our town’s history,our forefathers licked their wounds and moved forward. Time waits on no man. So, in closing I want to encourage everyone here to contribute to the betterment of society, show charity to your fellow man, and to support the city in their endeavor to make it a better place for you and me to live. Be proud of who you are, we each have a role in society, and it takes us all to make South Pittsburg prosper. Last but not least, regardless of your stance on politics and religion, love thy neighbor and do your part to make this country united again. Thank you and God Bless America!