KNOXVILLE CHRONICLES

Welcome to Knoxville Chronicles, a podcast series produced by the Knoxville History Project  highlighting some of the most interesting of the city’s old stories that still have relevance today.

 

To access all our episodes, search for “Knoxville Chronicles” on your preferred podcast app or click here to find them on Buzzsprout. 

 

SEASON THREE 

Sound design and editing by Pete Carty. Theme song composed by Mike Stallings.

 

The Legend of Marshal Carlos

This surprising story focuses on a Spanish-speaking police chief beginning in the 1850s during Knoxville’s murky antebellum era.  Christopher Columbus Carlos, a tailor-turned-policeman had a reputation as an especially tough cop—a Town Marshal even—who was so skilled with a long stick and a thrown brick that he never carried a gun. A legend in his own time, stories of Marshal Carlos continued even when he was an old man in a rapidly growing city of tall buildings. Old folks would tell stories about him, just like they had about Robin Hood or William Tell. He himself liked to amuse the disbelieving with tales that he remembered Knoxville when everything north of Clinch Avenue was wild, and you could hunt foxes and possums in the wilds of what only later became Market Square.

Written by Jack Neely and narrated by Don Thress. Listen here.

 

Groundhog Day in Knoxville

Groundhog Day is a peculiar holiday. We don’t expect Groundhog Day dinners, Groundhog Day gifts, Groundhog Day songs. But still, there it is, every February 2nd. It’s almost like the 1993 film starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowall: it always seems the same. Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, and we always have six more weeks of winter. Repeat. But what is its history here? Join us on this short episode of how Groundhog Day is grounded in the ancient Catholic holiday of Candlemas, and how it developed here in the second half of the 19th century.

Written by Jack Neely and narrated by Josh Brandon. Listen here.

 

The October Carnival

Imagine October in Knoxville, and subtract Volmania, drives in the Smokies, and Halloween decorations, and what would you have? But on certain Octobers between 1884 and 1913, we had more creative and unpredictable fun than we ever have today.  The four-day event involved “a parade representing 65 or so local industries, 50 horse-drawn floats, a regatta on the Tennessee River, horse racing at the southside river park and a jousting tournament involving dozens of local “knights” in medieval plumage The festival often ended with a “Coronation” at Staub’s Opera House. In later year, the Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains made extravagantly optimistic predictions about Knoxville’s future. The event also presented an early flowering of African American culture, including a Negro Building organized by remarkable local African Americans, and described as “a wonder to behold.” Exhibits included agricultural displays, a museum of historical curios, and artworks. The building later moved to Chilhowee Park where it served as a major part of the cultural expositions held between 1910 and 1913.

Written by Jack Neely and narrated by Alex Haralson. Listen here.

 

Through the Keyhole: Knoxville’s Extraordinary Marble World

For anyone who has spent much time in Knoxville, there is one thing that you’ll encounter in almost every part of the city, and that’s Tennessee marble. It graces several impressive downtown buildings, and you can see where it was once extracted at several abandoned or reclaimed quarries, particularly at Ijams Nature Center, now part of the city’s expansive Urban Wilderness in South Knoxville.  While the nature center still retains the original acreage where the Ijams family originally developed their own farm into a semi-private bird sanctuary, across Island Home Avenue you’ll find two distinctly different reclaimed quarries amid an extraordinary landscape like nothing else anywhere.  This extended podcast episode looks back at the history of the marble industry in Knoxville, once called “Marble City,” and includes a reflective interview with Ben Nanny, Conservation Director, who has been directly involved in the reclamation of these quarries during his more than 20 years at Ijams.

Written by Paul James with Ben Nanny. Read by Josh Brandon.  Listen here.

 

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SEASON TWO 

Sound design and editing by Pete Carty. Theme song composed by Mike Stallings.

 

Creature of the Cumberlands

In early 1794, barely just over two years after the town of Knoxville was established, a short but strange news item appeared in the Knoxville Gazette. A detachment of soldiers, 30 miles outside of Knoxville, encountered a “creature” that appeared nothing like they had ever seen or heard about before. And it wasn’t happy to see these soldiers in its own woods. Soon, the story was run in the Belfast Northern Star in Ireland and the English paper, the Derby Mercury, always crediting the Knoxville Gazette. Some reprints added: “The following account of a wonderful animal, lately discovered in the Cumberland Mountains, may be acceptable to the curious, and oblige a constant reader, it being a fact.” Fact or not, the Creature of the Cumberlands was real enough to those soldiers. And they weren’t afraid to report it.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Alex Haralson.  Listen here.

 

Halloween II: Tricks and Treats

Following on from “Halloween Begins,” the holiday puts on a mask and heads out on to Knoxville city streets.  Although trick or treating and jack-o-lanterns were uncommon here until the early 1900s, by the roaring twenties, Halloween began to take on a livelier, and sometimes a darker turn. Costumed revelers paraded all parts of downtown, especially up and down Gay Street, blowing horns and displaying general merriment. By the early 1940s, the boisterousness had turned into mayhem and the police department began declaring a state of emergency on Halloween nights in a bid to stem widespread vandalism. It was a trend that would continue until the early 1970s.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Josh Brandon. Listen here.

 

Halloween Begins

Some holidays haven’t changed much over the years. Fourth of July has always been noisy, public, and hot; Easter is always centered around church, and Thanksgiving mainly revolves around a family meal. But Halloween is the shape-shifting monster of holidays. And like the Blob, it just keeps getting bigger. In this episode, take a brief historical journey through the evolution of Halloween in Knoxville, from its initial stirrings in the mid-1800s, through to its increasing popularity in the 1870s and ‘80s when “little maidens” would have all-female parties based around festive decorations in the hope that they could predict who they were going to marry. Adults began to embrace the holiday by the end of the 19th century, but it wouldn’t be until just after World War II that trick or treating really began.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Josh Brandon. Listen here.

 

Love in the Time of Upheaval: The Cansler Elopement

There are some names in Knoxville history that seem rarer than others. Cansler is one. In Mechanicsville, there’s a Cansler Street, and on University Avenue, a Cansler Building. Off Western is the old Laura Cansler School, a former “colored” elementary school, now home to Wesley House. And in East Knoxville, there’s the Cansler Family YMCA.  The Cansler family had a big impact on Knoxville in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th. And that name wouldn’t be here if not for a love story.

Most love stories never get written down, at least not in places where historians can find them. Love stories often die with the lovers. But we’re grateful to Charles W. Cansler for writing down his family story, and having it published in his 1939 book Three Generations: The Story of a Colored Family in East Tennessee. That book, narrating the story of Cansler’s unusual family, preceded Alex Haley’s Roots by 37 years. Indeed, Cansler could be called a pioneer of the African American genealogical narrative. Join us in this podcast for a look at his fascinating story.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Don Thress. Listen here.

 

The Immortal Kiosk

The elegant old weather kiosk on the corner of Clinch Avenue and Market Street looks like something built for an Exposition of the beaux-arts era. But in fact, it was originally installed in 1912, not long before Knoxville’s gigantic and elegantly appointed National Conservation Exposition of 1913. People used to gather around it to see what the federal weatherman had observed, and what they could expect next. Checking on the weather was a social event. So many people hung out around it, they earned a nickname – the Kiosk Leaners. Today, the big relic is said to be one of America’s only remnants of the Weather Kiosk Era. It’s both a rarity and a landmark, and one very hot day, more than 90 years ago, it attracted a very large crowd.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Richard Lee. Listen here.

 

Matilda X

In 1856, before the Civil War, Dr. William J. Baker, with assistance from a few others including his suffering patient, hurried medical science along a bit by performing one of the first hysterectomy surgeries in the United States here on Gay Street. Of that historic team of four surgeons, the youngest is the one best remembered today. Knoxvillians may recognize the name, even if they don’t remember right away where they’ve seen it. It’s the name of “Our Beloved Physician,” memorialized with the stout marble arch at the Knox County Courthouse corner of Gay Street and Main Street. At 23, Dr. John Mason Boyd was the youngest of the team that performed surgery on an African American woman named Matilda. But Matilda’s story doesn’t end there. She lived 34 more years and there’s much more to tell…

Written by Jack Neely and read by Chrissy Keuper. Listen here.

 

The Conjure Man

The Knoxville area once known as the Bowery included hundreds of little shops: secondhand stores run by immigrants, some early African American barber shops and movie theaters, some of the city’s first Chinese laundries, some of the city’s last livery stables and blacksmiths, and drugstores that sold things that mainstream drugstores wouldn’t. It was also the epicenter of an underground economy, the herb men. To most people, one such herb man, known as Doc Mullins, was a complete mystery. His death certificate listed him, rather matter-of-factly, as a “Herb Doctor.” But by reputation, he was known as a conjurer. Thanks to curious News-Sentinel columnist Bert Vincent we know some of Doc’s strange story.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Josh Brandon. Listen here.

 

The Matron of Depot Street

From the day it was finished in 1903, the mortar had hardly dried between the bricks at the Southern Railway Station before people began complaining it wasn’t nearly big enough for the job.

But there was one face that everyone got used to seeing every day–a woman in uniform and a white hat. Her name was Maggie Lattimore. Although she was an African American in a segregated train station, she often seemed to be in charge, catering to passengers of all colors. If there was trouble, she would fix it. She was the station matron.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Dationa Carter Mitchell. Listen here.

The Night the FBI Collared a Nazi Spy

The man everyone knew as Walter Othmer, worked quietly as an electrician on Market Street near the Pryor Brown Garage. In 1944, he lived at the downtown YMCA, which offered simple, dormitory-like accommodations for guys who were new to town. He may have seemed like a regular guy –he was a thin man with wire-rimmed glasses and a very small mustache. A humble, friendly fellow who missed his wife and kid who lived back in Germany. But Walter Othmer wasn’t just another guy – he was a Nazi spy and the FBI were about to nab him.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Todd Ethridge. Listen here.

 

Prof. Ijams and the Asylum

One of Knoxville’s oldest buildings, the old deaf school (now Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law), with its 1848 date proudly on the front, still stands on Summit Hill Drive. The school had barely begun to prosper when it was commandeered during the Civil War for use as a military hospital. After the conflict, Prof. Ijams, one of the nation’s leading deaf and mute teachers, hired to bring the school back to prominence, brought stature and grace to the school.  But although his time in Knoxville was short-lived, his children have made a lasting impact – one son was one of the first quarterbacks for the University of Tennessee Vols football team and a respected physician; his youngest son became a notable commercial artist and a renowned naturalist whose semi-private bird sanctuary later became Ijams Nature Center.

Written by Paul James and narrated by Alex Haralson. Listen here.

 

THANK YOU TO OUR SEASON TWO FUNDERS:

This season is funded in part by federal award number 21.027 awarded to the City of Knoxville by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Arts & Culture Alliance.

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SEASON ONE 

Sound design and editing by Pete Carty. Theme song composed by Mike Stallings.

 

 The Saturnalia of 1893

Three days before Christmas in 1893, Whittle’s sawmill by the river exploded and the disaster proved to be a portent of trouble ahead on the streets of Knoxville. While for some, Christmas was a quiet, family affair, with gifts and Christmas trees, for others it was a time for looking for some fun or for some trouble. The ensuing mayhem meant that it was a Christmas period like no other. Jack Neely chronicles the balmy twists and turns of the Christmas season that year when madness and mayhem prevailed. Written by Jack Neely and read by Todd Ethridge. Listen here.

 

A Dickens of a Knoxville Christmas

Written by Jack Neely, this short account looks back on how Knoxville’s Christmas traditions were influenced by one of the most popular authors of all time, Charles Dickens, and his most beloved story, A Christmas Carol first published in England in 1843.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Todd Ethridge. Listen here.

Knoxville’s Thanksgiving Traditions

Written by Jack Neely, this short podcast looks back on how national and local events influenced the celebration of Thanksgiving in Knoxville, connecting seemingly disparate events such as the Siege of Knoxville during the Civil War, prohibitionist Carrie Nation’s visit in 1906, and later, even UT football.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Todd Ethridge. Listen here.

 

In Walked Mr. Ghost

Originally written by Jack Neely for the Knoxville Mercury, this short story focuses on the ghostly happenings at an old double-house, actually two small antebellum houses linked by a vestibule, at 309 East Cumberland Avenue, on the eastern fringe of downtown. The house was torn down at the onset of Urban Renewal in 1959, but part of its story remains.

Written by Jack Neely and read by Rebecca Longmire. Listen here.

 

The Printer’s Devil

The pilot episode, The Printer’s Devil, written and narrated by Jack Neely, tells the story of Adolph Ochs, a kid who was scared of a graveyard while he learned the ropes of of newspaper publishing here in Knoxville as a Printer’s Devil. The lad went on to become the founder of a major American institution, a cultural leader who changed a whole profession, established a landmark, and introduced a new way of celebrating a holiday. The story connects Knoxville in post-Civil War Tennessee to booming, electric New York in the 20th century.

Written and read by jack Neely. Listen here. (An extended written account of this story can be found on our Stories page.)

 

Special thanks to Pete Carty

for producing the Knoxville Chronicles podcast series.

 

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Individual Podcasts

A Knoxville Tamale Tale with Jack Neely and Amy Campbell, Tennessee Farm Table

The Life of Bob Booker Historian: Growing up in the “Bottom,” Civil Rights Era, and more

Knoxville’s Red Summer of 1919 with Jack Neely

Knoxville History Project on the Flipside? With Jack Neely and Paul James

Did Knoxville Run Off Country Music? with Jack Neely and Bradley Reeves

Dialogue: Country Music’s History in Knoxville ad East Tennessee with Jack Neely and Ernie Freeberg

Cas Walker Stories with Ernie Freeberg (KHP Board Member)

Walk With Me: Poetry and Place:

 

Special thanks to the Aslan Foundation for programmatic support.