The majority of information to this point on industrial and community growth
has involved Athens, with some mention being made of Englewood/Tellico Junction,
Calhoun, and Riceville. It would also have been possible to note that south of
Riceville a woolen mill was established on the farm of Frank Gettys by his
brother Tobe. The mill constructed a depot on the Southern line and named it
"Sanford" after a prominent Knoxville family. The small community also did a
large business in the production and shipment of railroad ties. In addition,
by the early part of the twentieth century, the names of McAlister, Henry, and
Bolen had become important in Calhoun business circles. The name of Dr. H.F.
Taylor, who served a good deal of the county from his office in Ca1houn, cannot
be omitted: 
The names of Porter, Swafford, Parkinson, Erikson, Womac, Oliphant, and
Bishop came to be of lasting importance in Riceville. The old Porter house
still stands south of Riceville on U.S. Highway 11 where it was restored by
Charlie Miller who came to possess one of the largest pedigreed cattle fa..i.--ms
in the State.

Charles Rice, the town's founder, had left in 1859 when land was opened in
Arkansas on a fifty W.3€On "train" which he organized . C. W. Oliphant clerked in
the store that Rice sold to a relative, and later established his own merchantile
business before selling out to J, M. Lockmiller and becoming a f amed salesman.
Dan Roberts became an important business figure at about this same time. Ben
Bishop had a W.3€On shop in the earliest times and was assisted by Charlie and
Dave Boyd, the latter being a famed blacksmith for over sixty-five years.

Charlie Boyd gained fame as an inventor. Bill Vaught operated a tan yard, and
his son , along with the Vincent family, gained a name for creating f ine furniture.
This section will now give more attention to the development that occured
in the two other significant county communities, Niota and Etowah .

The Etowah history owes a great deal of the efforts of the long-time editor of The Etowah
/rank McKinney Enterprise, The history of Niota is probably better secured than any other
community in the county due to the efforts of historian James Burn who has been
mentioned earlier.

Although relatively small s ince its incorporation in 1911, with H. A.
Collins as the first chairman of the city commj ,ion, Niota has always been
noted as a well-established arrl.progressive colTUl 1ity. The persons who have come
to be of significant influence in the Niota community since the turn of the
century have inevitably come to be important in the county and, in fact, in the
State as a whole.

As has been noted, Niota began as a station of the EI'V&G Railroad before
the Civil War known as Mouse Creek. Soon a co1101unity began to be established,
with a sale of lots by H. L. Shultz, and the first industry of any consequence
was a tan yard started by Eli Dixon, Jr. The "Tan Yard" changed hands until
1879 when it became the property of Samuel P. Blair. By this time, the community
had continued to grow and now also housed one of the best-known educational
institutions in the area, Mouse Creek Academy.

Blair was an innovator who contributed in many respects to the community.
In addition to the Niota Leather Company in 1898, he established a department
store known as Blair, John, and Company (today, after changing hands numerous
times, this is H.K. Hicks' General Merchandise Store), and a flour and grist
mill at a small community known as "Surprise" near Niota.

Blair also became important for his work in establishing the Cumberland
Presbyterian Church in Niota. The casting of a church bell was always
significant, and Blair, along with three other men, made provisions for the ~ell.
·The names of "Four Es" were inscribed including Blair, Brock, Buttram, and
Burnes (sic). It is ironic, given the important role that the Burn family would
play in the history of the community, that the bell makers would incorrectly
spell their name on this artifact that now hangs in the Methodist Church steeple.
Unfortunately, Blair would eventually experience financial disaster.

In 1913, in a mortgage foreclosure sale, the majority of his Niota holdings would
be bought by James L. Burn and Walter Forrest for the Cresent Hosiery Mill which
they had organized to give employment to the members of the growing community.
The Cresent mill became a central fixture of the community. The first
stockholders included several members of the Burn family, Forrest, H. M. and
R. S. Willson, J, C. Cate, and T. J. Isbell, H. M. Willson would become the
first president, and W. F. Forrest would manage it until the 19J0s. In later
years, the Willson family would become involved in a variety of activities in
the county including the Athens Plow Company; a later Hugh Willson would make
the Citizens National Bank a thriving instituti?n. The Forrest family name
would be c~ied on by the J, Ben Forrest Ha.rdward and Furniture Company. The
family of the first city commission chairman, H. A. Collins, would become
involved in a successful feed store.

The other, central fixture in the community's growth and development has
been the Bank of Niota. In fact, in the 1920 edition of Dun and Bradst reet,
t he town was described as "a banking town. 1151 The bank was organized t he same
year t hat the town was incorporated. J. L. Burn was the first president and
C. B. Staley the first cashier.

Niota provides a good example of one aspect of the development of many
communities throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries fires.
I t was not uncommon for fires to destroy important buildings and to devistat e
entire towns. Niota seemed to have more than its share. The entire business
section burned in 1897, another fire destroyed a major business in 1910, and a
section of the business district was again destroyed in the late 1920s. As
late as 1966, fire continued to play havoc with the town as its major industry,
the Cresent Mill, burned.

Athens experienced the same phenomena time and again. Many citizens who are 
alive now can recall the Red Elephant Fire, the first high school fire in the
late 1940s, the second high school fire in the fifties, and the burning of
t he beautifully restored and meticulously remodeled county court house in 1964 .

Returning to Niota, t he way that its name was determined is intriguing
Originally called "Mouse Creek," there was continured confusion of mail and
fre i ght with a "Mossy Creek," present-day Jeffers City. According to James
Burn, a local railroad agent had suggested "Movilla" aince the Morse code station
call letters "MO" would not have to be changed. Several local citizens sent
their ideas to the railroad superintendent, with the dispatch envelope opened
to include John Boggess' suggestion just as the train to carry the dis!)atch
was arriving. Boggess ' suggestion of Niota, which was supposedly the name of
an Indian ~hief in a novel he was reading, was selected. Burn also recalls tha t
the proper, original pronunciation was Nee-o-tah.

Finally, in regard to the city, it can be noted that it became the social
center f or the entire community with the establishment of Springbrook Golf and
Country Club which, for many years, was the only facility of its sort in the
entire area. The country club has continued to be the center of the social and
recreational activities of the leaders of the business, professional, and
political community of the county.

As has been noted, Eowah came into existence because of the L&N Railroad.
The railroad at first had tried to purchase lands for major shops and a terminal
at both Tellico Junction and Wetmore, but failing to do so ultimately bought
for twenty dollars per acre nearly fifteen hundred acres from the farms of James
L. Cooper, William T. Peck, Robert Smith, Robert Reynolds, William Paris, and
Joseph Cobb. The notice of the creation of a new town immediately brought an
influx of businessmen from all over the South. Soon the whole area was brimming
with activity, and by April 8, 1909, when the town was chartered and officially
took up the railroad construction crew's name of "Etowah," meaning "muddy
waters," the makings of a population explosion were at hand.

The town was laid out in a rectangular fashion with avenues named after
states running north and south, and numbered streets running at right angles
to these . The first construction became Tennessee Avenue and this thoroughfare,
joined with U.S. Highway 411, has become the main business district. Realizing
what an industry that would bring in two thousand employees to almost any
community today would be like, it is hard to imagine what occured in Etowah with
the L&N before 1920.

As one might imagine, the first businesses were established to take care
of the.construction crews and later railroad workers that would come. John
Rains put up a small shanty near the new tracks which served as both a store and
Etowah's first post office. J. N. Lewis, who had operat ed a s t ore at Grady
three miles north on the L&N, would move to Etowah with the new tracks and
become· a leading businessman. 

The first major businesses that involved substantial construction were the
hotel-boarding houses that began to spring up throughout the t own - the
Ownbey Boarding House, the Carlock Hot el, the Risk Hotel, the Glenora Hotel
(later t o become the Reed Hotel, and named after Gl en Froneberger and Ora
Nichols , daughters of the first owners), the Hotel St afford , t he Mountair. View
Hotel, and the Tennessee Hotel. The Hotel Stafford would outlast all the
others. A landmark from 1908 until 1929 was the L&if YMCA Building. This
building became the site of all kinds of community affairs from town meetings
to evangelistic rallies. The Glenore Hotel also became known due to its cigar
manufacturing plant. "Glenore Cigars" were made by N. G. Dixon.

The first general store was opened by Lewis' partner 0 . L. Davis, and this
was followed with similar stores run by McKinney Brothers, Reed Brothers, H. D.
Rule and Company, E. A. Adams, M. M. and H. H. Miller, A J.C. Penny Company
store would come later. A store called "The Blue Front" became one of the best
known locations in the city. It was an extremely important meeting place for
the community, and several churches and fraternal groups were organized and
met there.

Other early businesses included: a furniture store, Ster chi Brothers and
Tillery, which arose from the partnership of · Knoxville based furniture and
J.M. Tillery; Center and Powell, a hard.ware store organized by Carl Center of
Pendergast (present Delano) and N. C. Powell; O. A. Rule Furniture Company; and,
Cunningham and Watts Livery. Hugh Manning would establish the Gem Theatre
(later the Martin) in 1918, and stayed on to become one of the leading citizens
of the town's early history.

P. A, Kinser opened the first drug: store which later became Gem Drugs,
Charles E. Mcconkey ca.me from Monroe County in 1908 to organize Etowah Drugs,
and B. M. Tallent of Englewood opened Tallent Drugs in 1923, Frank Rutledge
came to town in 1909 from Tullahoma and was initially active in the Etowah Bank
and Trust Company before becoming instrumental in both an insurance company and
the Etowah Water and Light Company. Alex Adams and his son, Stacy, established
an early men's store.

Lawmen were also needed, and following S. H. Vandivere, who was known as the
"town marshall," several law officers have become noteworthy. Foremost of
these are Burch E. Biggs, who would also become important in the history of
Polk County, and C. O. (Bull) Kennedy, Otto Kennedy would become a similarly
well-known law officer in the county's history.

Hardly any business could have taken better advantage of a "boom town"
. environment than a lumber company . R. L. Tucker established the Etowah Lumber
Company in 1910. This was later sold to the Cantrell family, and would help to
make them one of the most important families in the town's history, They would
become of particular importance, especially Paul Cantrell, because of their
banking and political interests .

A n'.lillber of well-known names in Etowah's history have been those of
lawyers . The first permanent lawyer was Eugene Ivins who was the first city
attorney in 1909. The Ivins' name has long been important, with Dan Ivins
having served as town recorder for many years. D. W. Lillard came from Decatur
to practice for several years. Lillard was a hero of Wbrld War I. Donald
Todd, who would ultimately establish Green Hill Cemetery, came to the city to
practice law in 1910.

A large number of l ocal youngsters would become lawyers and establish t heir
practices in the city. These included Reuel Webb , Sam Gi lreath , C. B. Stanberry,
Amzy Steed ( who would later become general counsel for the Texaco Oil Corporation),
Shields Cagle, Knox (and Nell) Williams, and William M. Dender. Cousins Ralph
Duggan and Tom Taylor would establish practices in Athens and both become of
high importance to the county's history following World War II.

Two of the first physicians to come to Etowah were W.R. Froneberger and
J. 0 . Nichols. These men were keen businessmen and, in addition to the medical
practi ces, each established drug stores - the Gem and Rexall respectively -
and jointly established a hotel. Other early physicians were E. M .. Foreman,
Olin Rogers, and H. E. Center.

Early dentists were G. L. Keith, W. S. Moore, L. C. Ogle, and E. M. Akins.
E. R. Battle and W. R. Anderson would maintain long pract ices later.
It was not until 1929 that Etowah got i ts f irst hospital. Dr. P. E.
Parker from Sweetwater erected a two-story hospital on Fifth Street which did
well until t he Depression when it closed. Dr. Spenser Mcclary, who had moved
his practice to Etowah in 1925, was persuaded to reopen the hospital in 1935 .
He and his son, Boyd, operated the hospital until the beginning of World War II
when Boyd entered the service and his father died.

One important community landmark is the Carnegie Library. The Carnegie
Foundation was offering grants for the establishment of free public libraries
in new communities such as Etowah. A group of citizens including C. D. Bevan,
John M. Johnson, T. A. Abner, Haywood York, A. B. Bayless, and N. Z. Dewees
successfully pursued a grant that led to Etowah having the only Carnegie
Library in Southeast Tennessee. Until 1922, the local high school met in the
library.

In many respects, Etowah is still a young town, not yet close to a
centennial celebration. Many of the old buildings that originally constituted
t he business district still stand, and there seems to be a community spirit of
preservation that has been lacking in other communities in the county. Many
beautiful, fine homes still exist along tree-lined avenues - sometimes like a
.scene from some idealized past. One can only imagine what Etowah might have
been like today had the Depression not occured and the decision by L&N not to
equip the wood car repair shops to repair metal cars not been ma.de.

This section will be concluded by giving attention to the growth and
development of the Black community in McMinn County. Unfortunately, there has
been a great deal of inattention to this aspect of the development of most
communities, and much of the information has been lost.

While that which is recalled here is certainly incomplete, it is fortunate
t hat a central figure of the· Black community of the county, Professor W. E.
Nash, at ninety-six was alive at the time of this writing. Not only are Professor
Nash's recollections an important repository of historical information, but his
own life story is a high moment in the county's overall history.

Nash was born in Virginia in Lunenburg County, and by the time he was eight
had been hired out by his mother as a water1:oy carrying water to field hands
working on large farms. The first year that he worked, he earned his food and
a few cloth~s; the second year, he earned nine dollars and twelve the third. By
the time he was sixteen, he was earning fourty dollar a year, and had begun to
operate team-driven freight wagons.

However, there had always been a burning desire in his heart, and that of
his mother, to get an education. Undaunted by what many might consider a late
start, Nash left horrein 1905 with eleven dollars and two pair of pants, and
walked t wenty miles to Chase City, Virginia, and entered school. Working at
whatever jobs were available, he completed high school when he was twenty-seven.

He returned to his home where a group of parents and community leaders
agreed to start a private school with Nash as the teacher. Each student paid
fifty cents a month - at that time, twenty-five dollars a month was good pay
for a teacher in many areas.

Soon after this work had begun, a local Presbyterian group decided that it
would be a good idea to grant a scholarship to some deserving youth to attend
Knoxville College, and Nash was chosen. He sold a tobacco crop and a calf ,
and with his belongings carried in a small "telescope" case , set out for
Knoxville. There be worked on campus and helped with the tutoring of the
younger students. His work was done so well that when World War I started, the
president of the college got him exempted from the draft to stay at the school
and work. In 1921, following his graduation, Nash came to Athens to be assistant
to J. L. Cook at the Athens Academy. Nash knew Booker T. Washington personally, 
and was greatly influenced by him.

When Nash arrived in the county, there wer, Black persons in their 80s and
90s who were among the first to come to the county. Blacks had originally come
to the county in two ways, either with the settlers as they arrived, or as a
result of being purchased at "slave sales" up until the time of the Civil War.
By the 1800s, few - if any - slaves were coming to this immediate area directly
from Africa. Virginia had come to be known as the "slave breeding ground," and
most major c.i ties in that state would have periodic sales in which the slaves
were sold at auction.

Typically, the slaveowners would work in groups, and after purchases were
made, march the slaves back to their new homes. East Tennessee was a major
route south toward Atlanta. If someone became ill or could not make the full
trip , there would be sold, traded, or given away along the way. In this way,
people of less affluence might acquire one or two slaves across several years.
"Slaves" to these people typically meant an additional hand to work alongside of
them in their fields and mills. The huge sprawl of cotton fields, with hundreds
of field hands and their overseers spread out across a vast acreage, would have
been foreign to McMinn County. At the height of slavery, there were only a
small number of persons in the county owning more than a half dozen slaves.

Nash stressed that the general cruelties of the slavery period notwithstand-
. i ng, that the relations between the races was peaceful and harmonious most of
the t ime. People were respected for the quality of their work - a hard worker,
who was trustworthy and dependable, was considered to be a positive member of
the community regardless of color. Slothfulness of any color was, on the other
hand, despised. Obviously, a minority group within any population is not going
to have the same access as the majority, and freedom of accessibility never
comes without anxious moments and event conflict. At least, an environment was
being generally created throughout the middle 1900s that would allow for
substantial movements towards equality in the 1960s.

Four of the best-known, Black citizens who were still alive in the early
1920s were Rose Baker, Issac Matlock, George Gettys, and William Keith. As the
names suggest, the slaves were given the last names of their owners, and thus
the same names are handed down in the Black community that are found in the
White community. The names are also typically preceeded by the respectful
designations "Aunt" and "Uncle." Mrs. Baker had been a slave, and was an active
leader as one of the first member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Freedman's
Chapel). Matlock was known f or his gardening abilities , and Keith was a drayman
delivering freight from the Southern depot.

Another old citizen was Pat Spriggs, who gained some degree of notoriety
because of an event that had occured during the Civil War. Spriggs, like
several other young Black men f rom the area , fought in Sherman's army, was
involved in most of the fighting in East Tennessee, and participated in the
"March to the Sea." One night near Atlanta, the cry arose about t wo in the
morning that camp must be broken and a rushed march immediately begun, In his
haste, Spriggs did not have time to pull on his socks. Evidently, a morning of ........_,
marching and a day of fighting without socks left a deep impression - until he
died in 1930, Spriggs never slept a single night without wearing his socks.

Finally, in this early period, mention would need to be made of Bart
Arnwine. Arnwine had three trademarks - a broad sense of humor, asiining,
double-bladed ax, and the reputation of being able to thresh more wheat in one
day than anyone in the county. Like so many of these memorable people, Arnwine
lived to be over one-hundred years old.