University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange
Masters Theses Graduate School
8-1998
The Shotgun House in Knoxville, Tennessee
Dagmar VonToal University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes
Recommended Citation VonToal, Dagmar, "The Shotgun House in Knoxville, Tennessee. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1998. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/6039
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council:
I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Dagmar VonToal entitled "The Shotgun House in Knoxville, Tennessee." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Anthropology.
Charles Faulkner, Major Professor
We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance:
Faye Harrison, Benita Howell
Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.)
THE SHOTGUN HOUSE IN KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE
A Thesis Presented for the Master of Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Dagmar VonToal August 1998 Copyright© Dagmar VonToal, 1998
All rights reserved
ii Dedication
This thesis is dedicated to my parents
Dr. Lansdon Bowen
and
Christine Bowen who have given me invaluable educational opportunities.
lll Acknowledgments
There are many people to whom I owe thanks and gratitude for my educational experience at the
University of Tennessee. The relationships I have had with the faculty and students in the Anthropology
Department have been beneficial. I am particularly grateful to my Thesis Committee, Dr. Charles
Faulkner, Dr. Faye Harrison, and Dr. Benita Howell. They have taken the trouble to read the thesis a number of times and their revisions were quite helpful and have improved the thesis immensely.
There are a number of other people whose assistance should be recognized. I would like to thank
Christine Bowen, my mother, for her support. I would also like to thank Lafayette Benjamin for his help in photographing the many shotguns still standing in Knoxville. Finally, I would like to thank Lansdon
Bowen for his kind encouragement.
IV Abstract
In this thesis the origin and history of the shotgun house are examined. The thesis traces the
diffusion of the shotgun house from the Yoruba kingdom in Africa to Haiti and finally to New Orleans, and
the rest of the South (Vlach 1986). The shotgun house may be defined as being one room wide and three
or four rooms long with all of the doors perfectly aligned. Thus, the shotgun house encouraged social
interaction as there is only one flow of movement through the structure. According to folklore, a shotgun
can be fired through the perfectly aligned doorways without ever touching the walls thus giving the
structure its name (Faulkner 1991). The possibility that the house type was instead a response to the need
for cheap company housing must also be considered.
This thesis has compiled data from ethnographic interviews, archaeological field methods, field
survey methods, and a comparison and contrast study between an older neighborhood and a newer one.
Additionally, a comparative study was performed between various cities in the South to see how Knoxville fits into the general overall picture of shotgun housing in the South.
Shotgun architecture in Knoxville, Tennessee is compared to shotgun architecture in the rest of the South. A determination is made as to how the shotgun in Knoxville fits into the history and development of the shotgun in general as it is represented in the literature. This thesis fills in gaps in our knowledge of the shotgun house as a good example of the architecture of the working class. This type of housing is a reflection of the way in which the working class is forced to conform its lifestyle to the type of architecture available to them. In addition to being a house type of the working class there also appears to be an African contribution to the architectural landscape.
The theory oftransculturation is a repeated theme throughout this thesis. Transculturation is a process of transition from one or more cultures to another. This does not merely mean that one culture acquires the traits of another culture as in the case of acculturation. Instead, the process of transculturation involves both deculturation and "neoculturation" of the "creation of new cultural phenomena" (Ortiz
V 1947). The "cultural offspring" resulting from the mteraction of two cultures has traits of both parent cultures but at the same time is different from each (Ortiz 1947). The two parent cultures in the case of the shotgun house are those of African-Americans and blue collar working class Euro-Americans. Thus, the possibilities engendered by class and a blending of a multiple cultural heritage must be considered. Table of Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
l. WHY STIJDY 111E SHOTGUN HOUSE? ...... 1 Goals of the Study ...... 1 The Shotgun House: An Artifact Writ Large ...... 3 Rationale ...... 3
2. AFRICANISMS IN AMERICAN CULTURE ...... 5 Architectural Transculturation in the South ...... 6
3. LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 9 Variations of the Shotgun House ...... 11 Dimensions and Proxemics of the Shotgun House ...... 12 Origins of the Shotgun ...... 15 The Process of Transculturation ...... 20 Specific African Heritage ...... 21 The Shotgun As Cultural Syncretism ...... 22 Ethnic Groups Associated with the Shotgun ...... 23 Company Housing ...... 25 Company Housing In Knoxville ...... 36
4. 111E SHOTGUN HOUSE IN KNOXVILLE: DATA COLLECTION ME111ODS ...... 39 Survey of Knoxville Shotguns ...... 39 Interviews ...... 4 I The Population Sample and Setting for the Interviews ...... 41 Interviews ...... 42 Title Searches and Case Studies ...... 43 Photographic Record ...... 43 Sanborn Insurance Maps ...... 44 City Directories ...... 44 Chain of Title Searches ...... 45 Case Studies ...... 46 Photographic Record and City Directories ...... 46 Company Records ...... 47 Comparison to Shotgun Houses In Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga ...... 48
5. AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN KNOXVILLE ...... 49 Africanisrns In Knoxville ...... 51
vu 6. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE SHOTGUN HOUSE IN K.NOXVILLE ...... 53 Survey Findings ...... 54 Industrialization and the Development of Distinct Neighborhoods In Knoxville ...... 64 Four Case Studies of Shotgun Ownership ...... 65 Transculturation In Two Knoxville Neighborhoods ...... 70
7. USE OF SPACE ...... 72 Self, Space, and Shelter ...... 72 Interviews with Residents of Knoxville Shotguns ...... 7 5
8. THE SHOTGUN HOUSE TYPE IN FOUR OTHER SOUTHERN CITIES ...... 79 The Chattanooga Study ...... 79 The Nashville Study ...... 80 The Memphis Study ...... 81 The Louisville Study ...... 82
9. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ...... 85
REFERENCES ...... 89
APPENDICES ...... 98
VITA ...... 229
viii List of Tables
TABLE PAGE
1. Construction Dates and Number of Early Shotgun Houses Built ...... 54
2. Census Data ...... 60
B-1. Chronologies for Old Photographs of Knoxville Shotguns ...... 120
B-2 Exact Dates for Street Survey in Knoxville ...... 123
B-3. Street Survey of Shotguns in Knoxville in 1996 ...... 126
B-4. Number of African-American Carpenters in Knoxville in 1869 and 1890 ...... 131
B-5. Case Studies and Histories of Houses ...... 134
B-6. Chain of Title ...... 141
B-7. Brookside Village ...... 143
B-8. Downtown, North Knoxville ...... 151
ix List of Figures
FIGURE PAGE l. Photograph of Mulberry Plantation Slave Quarters in South Carolina ...... 7
C-1. Photograph of two of the oldest shotgun houses in Knoxville at 174 and 176 Broad Street...... 160
C-2. Photograph of a shotgun in downtown Knoxville which was used as a white printer's office ..... 161
C-3. Photograph of a shotgun converted into a YWCA in an African-American neighborhood of other shotguns ...... 162
X Chapter One
Why Study the Shotgun House?
According to Vlach (1975: 5) "as an artifact, a house directly represents the individual, his
community, his environment, and in the totality of these three aspects his culture too is revealed in a way
not often glimpsed when artifacts of a lesser order are studied." The house is a product of a complex set of
cultural and psychological factors, and may be the most significant artifact in the material repertoire of a
people. Yet the survival of a house type is not just the survival of a technology. In fact, since architectural
ideas can persist despite variation in environment and medium of construction, it may not involve the
continuation of the skills and techniques involved in house building at all. The essence of architecture is
the "form which it gives to space - the order which it imposes both on humans and their physical
surroundings" (Vlach 1975: 6). Accordingly, houses should be viewed as powerful indicators of
psychological and social attitudes. They are both a personal and a cultural manifestation.
Goals of the Study
In this study the origin, prevalence, and usage of shotgun architecture in Knoxville, Tennessee,
will be examined. Since no intensive studies have been done on shotgun houses in Knoxville, this study
will help to fill in gaps in our knowledge regarding this house type. The shotgun house in Knoxville is
significant as an example of the architecture of the working class. It is a reflection of the way in which
working class households are forced to conform their lifestyle to the type of housing available to them.
The shotgun house is also significant as it may possibly reflect an African contribution to the architectural
landscape. Aspects of African culture are visibly preserved in this country in the areas of art, music, and
folklore, but the institution of slavery destroyed much African tradition. Nevertheless, an exchange did
occur between European-Americans and enslaved Africans. As Phillips ( 1990) points out, African culture has not affected African-Americans exclusively. There is African influence in European-American culture as well.
Syncretism or reinterpretation become undeniably clear when seen acting upon a particular custom or artifact. The emphasis on traits brings to the study of transculturation the controls necessary to comprehend the mental processes operating in the two way borrowing during culture contact. This study will examine one such trait and thereby provide another possible example of African influence on
European-American culture. That trait is the style of American vernacular architecture known as the
"shotgun house." The shotgun house, according to Vlach (1986), springs from an African architectural heritage in West Africa. Along the Guinea coast and western coast of central Africa a rain forest environment exists in which a rectangular, gable-roofed structure is consistently found with standardized room dimensions. According to Vlach ( 1986), both the Yoruba and Edo use this house form, which, through a process of simple diffusion, developed in Haiti and from there moved to New Orleans during the slave trade. Others (e.g. Brown 1995; Grider 1975), however, have argued that Vlach's diffusion theory is too simplistic and that the house type developed instead as a response to the need for cheap company housing which would be tailored to narrow urban lots.
A major goal of this study is to explore the possibility that the shotgun house is the product, in part, of African influence. This undertaking is particularly significant as the artifact in question is ubiquitous throughout the American architectural landscape, most notably in the South. Shotgun houses are not rare or precious artifacts. Rather there are many of them, and they are often grouped in clusters large enough to constitute distinct architectural landscapes in themselves. Thus, if there is an African connection to shotgun houses, a reevaluation of our thinking concerning African cultural retentions is necessary. It should be pointed out that the shotgun house may not spring solely from either Africa or working class Euro-America. The possibilities engendered by class and a blending of a multiple cultural heritage must also be considered.
2 The Shotgun House: An Artifact Writ Large
The existing literature on the whole presents the idea that shotgun houses were either built as
company housing or were African in their origin. In reality, the facts regarding this house type are not so
clear cut or simple. The shotgun house is instead a cultural syncretism which sprang from the
intermingling of several different cultures. To help resolve this question of origins, ownership of and residence in local shotgun houses will be investigated to determine if any particular pattern is present.
Once it can be determined who owned the land just prior to the construction of the houses, it may become apparent who built them. As Edwards (1976-1980: 3) points out, "if rural Haitian slaves and maroons were free, within limits, to construct their own houses, then one would expect them to employ the psychologically comfortable proxemic practices of their homeland whenever possible. On the other hand, the external appearance of their houses might be expected to conform to the popular contemporary styles of
European planters."
Further, there is the possibility that companies may have purchased housing for their workers which already existed due to an earlier African-American occupation. The purchase of this housing may have, in turn, encouraged the spread of this style of architecture as housing demands grew to accommodate an increasing work force. Construction dates can be determined from construction materials in standing shotgun houses.
Rationale
This study will make definite contributions to transculturation theory, to the field of African
American material folk culture, to our understanding of one example of the architecture of the working class, and to our knowledge oflocal African-American history, at times hidden within the greater history of the city of Knoxville, Tennessee.
First, the effects ofproxemics as they relate to transculturation can be more clearly understood through the analysis of a house type as it can provide information about the persistence of spatial values in a situation of cultural contact. Second, an analysis of shotgun houses provides data that add to current
3 knowledge about African-American artifacts and subsequently becomes useful for future cross-cultural comparisons. Third, our knowledge of how the working class lived in relation to the architecture they inhabit is enhanced as we gain an understanding of how people live within the constraints of the shape of the shotgun and how their issues of privacy are handled. Fourth, the history of Knoxville will be enriched as new information regarding the residences of the working class and of African-Americans is revealed.
And finally, we will add to the current history of the shotgun house and place of Knoxville shotguns within the larger context of this house type throughout the South. Chapter Two
Africanisms In American Culture
Contributions to American culture by Africans and early African-Americans have been poorly
understood. Most studies of Africanisrns in America have focused almost exclusively on the impact of
African culture upon African-Americans (Phillips 1990). Yet many different African influences are
apparent among various ethnic groups in America. In particular, the impact of Africanisms on European
Americans has been vastly underestimated.
The constant interaction of Euro-American and African-American material repertoires resulted not
only in the sharing of cultural items but also in the borrowing and hybridization of them as well. Such
cultural syncretisrns and reinterpretations are the result of the process of"transculturation" (Ortiz 1947).
Transculturation is the transition from one or more culture(s) to another. This does not merely consist of
the acquisition of another culture, as in the case of acculturation. Rather, the process involves both deculturation and the "consequent creation of new cultural phenomena" or "neoculturation" (Ortiz 1947:
102-103). With transculturation, the "offspring from the interaction of two or more cultures has qualities of the parent cultures but at the same time is different from each" (Ortiz 1947: 102-103). Transculturation is different from diffusion in that diffusion involves the flow of cultural artifacts from one culture to another. Transculturation involves two or more cultures in a mutual exchange.
This theory of transculturation or cultural borrowing, which results in a subsequent blending of two or more cultural repertoires, can be seen in many cultural areas, such as music, cuisine, and language
(Ortiz 1947; Phillips 1990). Transculturation may give way to other factors, though the end product of cultural fusion is the same. Similarities in cultures may also be due, at least in part, to the interconnectedness of humankind on a subjective level. Certain basic human traits, such as greed or altruism, are manifest in human nature irrespective of the culture. Yet regardless of whether cultural similarities are the result of the oneness inherent in the human condition or a result of the process of
5 transculturation, the fact of the matter is that cultural syncretisms occur with great regularity. It should also
be noted that while the interconnectedness of humankind can not as yet be measured, the process of
transculturation is one that lends itself readily to scientific observation. Thus, transculturation appears to
be a primary causal factor in the development of these new cultural forms.
One of the few studies that deals with the transcultural impact of Africanisms on Euro-Americans
in a systematic way was conducted by Melville Herskovits (1935). In his study Herskovits cited five areas
in which African culture influenced Euro-Americans: American jazz and spirituals, southern dialects,
elaborate southern etiquette, southern cuisine, and such religious behavior as the group excitation induced by a rythmatic liturgy. However, another major area of influence, the area of architecture, may be added to those cultural legacies that Herskovits cited.
Architectural Transculturation in the South
In the area of architecture, transculturation as it relates to Africanisms is perhaps most noticeable in the South. Although many architectural historians contend that enslaved African-Americans did not contribute to early architectural forms in this country, Carl Anthony (1976b) says that it is erroneous to believe that millions of Africans would leave no trace of their architectural heritage as they helped colonize the New World. He points out that since enslaved Africans built so many buildings in the South, they no doubt added a particularly African cultural logic to their construction. For example, in Nachitoches, the oldest settlement in the Louisiana territory, there is a building known as Africa House, built by a freed man named Metoyer in the early nineteenth century. The structure of the roof on this building had a steep pitch and deep overhang which recalls similar buildings in the West African intermediate rain forest (Anthony
1976b).
The native climate of transplanted Africans and their resulting architectural solutions were more suitable in the South where they were used as enslaved laborers in the plantation system. Examples of architectural Africanisms have been described in the South. In 1859, the traveler Frederick Law Olmsted came upon a group of peculiar, small cabins on a large southern plantation: "except for the chimney, the
6 purpose of which I would not have readily guessed, I should have conjectured that it had been built for a powder house, or perhaps an icehouse, never for someone to sleep in" (Olmsted 1970: 161 ). Yet in West
Africa there are many such buildings of similar size built only for storage or sleeping. Due to the climate and social customs in West Africa, it seems that most family activities take place outdoors (Anthony
1976b).
At Mulberry plantation in South Carolina, a row of slave quarters which appear to be most distinctly African can be seen in a painting (see Figure 1). The big house in the painting seems to be a fusion of French Huguenot and African architecture. Indeed, Swiss newcomer Samuel Dyssle, perhaps reacting to the African influences on the structures prevalent in South Carolina, wrote in 1737 that,
"Carolina looks more like a negro country than a country settled by white people" (Anthony 1976b: 11).
Other examples of African architectural influences abound in the South. The West African rain forest architectural concept of the veranda may well have been transferred to many Southern colonial structures of primarily European origin via its earlier implementation in Caribbean colonies (Anthony 1976b: 12).
Figure I. Photograph of Mulberry Plantation Slave Quarters in South Carolina. From The Big House and the Slave Quarters, Part II. African Contributions to the New World by Carl Anthony. 1976 by Landscape 21 : 9-15. Reprinted by permission ofGibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina.
7 Anthony (1976b) points out some obvious African influences responsible for much of the architecture of Colonial Williamsburg in tidewater Virginia. "To a visitor familiar with African architecture, the impact on Williamsburg is startling. Several groups of outbuildings with their modest dimensions and pyramidal roofs create the visual effect of a piece of an African village with its multiplicity of dwelling units and granaries" (Anthony 1976b: 11 ). However, the techniques of construction on those same buildings, he notes, are eighteenth-century British colonial. Such hybridization is a result of the process of transculturation.
8 Chapter Three
Literature Review
The term "shotgun" house encapsulates the nature of its structure. Folklore has it that if one
opened the external and internal doors of the house and then fired a shotgun through the front door, the
discharged pellets would travel through the rooms of the house and exit through the back door without ever
touching anything inside (Faulkner 1991: 2). The mental picture drawn from this theoretical exercise is
one of a simple, linear structure, which happens to be the case. A shotgun house is one room wide, one
story high, and two, three, or four rooms deep, with rooms connected by doorways that are usually all
directly aligned. It has gables at both ends. Unlike conventional Southern folk housing, it is situated perpendicular to the street or road, thus presenting a narrow facade with relatively long sides (Vlach 1975:
29).
There is, however, another theory of how the shotgun may have been so named, a theory that
sheds light on its cultural origin rather than on its physical characteristics as sunnised from the hypothetical shotgun blast. In the Fon area of Dahomey in West Africa - the origin of the majority of slaves brought into the New World during colonization - the term used to describe a house is to-gun. That term was possibly used by Afro-Haitians who migrated to New Orleans and was subsequently misinterpreted as
"shotgun" (Vlach 1990: 131). The possible semantic connection becomes more possible when one considers that the same type of structure as the shotgun house, which is believed to have proliferated in
Louisiana, is strikingly similar to the standard mode of dwelling among the Yoruba people of West Africa
(Vlach 1975). Though it is not likely that the factual origin of the term "shotgun" house will ever be determined, it is interesting to note that it may possibly be the result of a blending of the two separate influences, much as the existence of the structures themselves may be the result of such transculturation.
The Yoruba word "to-gun" may well have been used by the Afro-Haitians who constructed thousands of dwellings in New Orleans after 1809 (Vlach 1990: 131 ). It is also not unreasonable to believe that the
9 single term "shotgun" applies to the structure as a result of the combination of the African word for house
and the Euro-American familiarity with the ballistic properties of the shotgun firearm.
As indicated above, it is believed that a house type known in this country as the shotgun may have
its origins in West Africa. It was then transferred to Haiti, where Africans were imported for plantation
labor in large numbers in the eighteenth century, and from there arrived in New Orleans at the beginning of
the nineteenth century (Vlach 1975, 1977, 1986, 1990). In Haiti, which shares with Louisiana similar
exposures to French culture and trade, shotgun type houses are common, both in the capital of Port-au
Prince and in the southern towns as well. The community of free blacks in New Orleans was about 1,355
persons (one-ninth of the population) in 1803. A few free blacks from Haiti immigrated to New Orleans
and found a place in the community following the revolt of Toussaint !'Overture in 1791 in Santo
Domingo. The most significant influx of free blacks from Haiti occurred in 1809, when 2,060 immigrated between May 10 and August 19, along with 2,112 slaves and 1,887 whites. These free blacks immigrated despite U.S. legislation of 1806 that prohibited immigration of free blacks from Haiti to the Louisiana
Territory. It was thought that these free blacks would have a destabilizing effect on the slave population.
Nevertheless, by 1810, African-Americans in New Orleans were almost twice the number of whites, with
4,386 slaves, 3,332 free blacks and 4,386 whites (Vlach 1975: 69).
This large influx necessitated the construction of additional housing. As many of the carpenters and masons were Haitian, it was at this time that Vlach (1990) believes the urban shotgun house diffused to the United States directly from Haiti. The structures built in New Orleans were almost identical to those that existed in Port-au-Prince, as the new immigrants built structures that they already knew how to build.
They also probably sought to mirror in their dwellings a part of the lifestyle they had in Haiti (Vlach 197 5:
194). The oldest record of a shotgun house going up for sale in New Orleans indicates a house on Bourbon
Street in the French Quarter sold in November, 1834. Records at this early time in the city's history were sporadic, however. Furthermore, the house in the 1834 sale was a shotgun with a minor modification - a hipped roof. Such a modification suggests that it was derived from an established older pattern. Since it is probable that the original owner had lived on the property for some time, it is feasible that the original
10 construction date might coincide directly with the large influx of Afro-Haitians around 1809. Other contract records of that period indicate that buildings with the dimensions consistent with the shotgun style were being built (Vlach 1986).
Variations of the Shotgun House
This shotgun design easily lends itself to variations other than that of the hipped roof example mentioned above (Vlach 1977: 51). New Orleans, which Vlach considers to be the hub from which the shotgun diffused into other parts of the country, displayed variations of the structure by the mid- l 800s.
For example, by 1854 a "double shotgun" was recognizable. This consisted of two units built side by side under one roof (Vlach 1977: 51). These double occupancy units are similar in use to what is known today as a duplex. Another notable variation evident in the New Orleans area is the "camelback" (also called the
"humpback"), so named because the rear section of the shotgun has two stories whereas the front remains single-storied. Double camelbacks were also built. These two variations, the double shotgun and camelback, were probably a solution to expensive urban land prices (Vlach 1977: 51). The "north shore" variation of the basic shotgun house was first observed in New Orleans in 1832 (Vlach 1977: 51). So named because it was primarily evident in the pine wood area of the "north shore" of Lake Pontchartrain, the north shore is distinguished by its wide veranda on three sides. This variation on an otherwise simple shotgun was used as a summer house by wealthy New Orleans residents (Vlach 1977: 51). The early appearance of these variations reinforces the idea that shotgun houses were a regular part of New Orleans architecture from the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Indeed, by the 1870s, shotgun houses and their variations were a regular form of dwelling very frequently built as cheap rental housing (Vlach 1990: 131). As variations continued, the shotgun began to lose some of its clear ethnic connection, particularly with the advent of two basic changes in New Orleans.
External ornamentation in the form of "gingerbread" decorations was added to the front resulting in what became known as a "Victorian cottage." Another major change was the addition of a hallway along one
11 side of the shotgun connecting each room. This allowed for much more privacy and resulted in this
adapted shotgun structure becoming more appealing to white inhabitants (Vlach 1976b: 57).
Yet most shotgun houses built in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century retained the original design (Vlach 1990). They are an important part of vernacular housing and were often built
and lived in by members of the American working class (Faulkner 1991). With the availability of milled
lumber cut with a circular saw and the machined cut nail, the previously local character of the shotgun gave way to a national character after the mid-nineteenth century. Balloon framing, in which the house is framed by closely spaced 2"x4" boards fastened solely with nails, began to be the predominant means of construction for the shotgun house. These mass-produced materials including machine-made bricks were available everywhere and resulted in cheap mass-produced housing available to members of the working class in urban areas (Faulkner 1991).
Of the structures that exist today in the United States, uniform configuration is what marks them as shotguns. As is the case with almost all building types, variations in building materials are common and often determined by the availability and cost of particular materials in the local area. For example, a shotgun may be made of wood or bricks, its roof may be tin or shingles, and its walls might be cladded with clapboard or board-and-batten weatherboard (Vlach 1990). It may have a porch addition on the facade and/or rear elevation, particularly if the structure's gables provide an adequate overhang from the exterior wall, as is the case with many shotgun houses. Exterior ornamentation also varies, although some shotguns are very plain with no adornments. Other shotguns may have banistered and pillared porches, full-shuttered doors and windows, or elements of detailed woodwork trim around the windows and doors, under the eaves, and across the gables, especially on the facade of the house that faces the roadway.
Dimensions and Proxemics of the Shotgun House
In folk houses like the shotgun the space certainly shelters the occupant but also incorporates him or her into the community. The exterior repeats the shape of surrounding shotguns, leading to a sameness that makes an overall statement about shared values and similar experiences (Vlach 1975). While many
12 people accept that houses are meaningful cultural achievements, few realize that architectural values are also rooted deeply in human nature. Hall ( 1960) suggests that the way an individual uses space is related to the base concept of territoriality, the behavior which humans and animals use to defend a claimed area.
Combinations of sights, hearings, and smells influence the particular limits of space, thus the basis for personal spatial decisions is most often determined by the senses (Vlach 1975). Spatial preferences develop from the use of particular architectural forms, which cause architectural repetition. Familiar forms continue to satisfy familiar needs - both sensual and territorial. "Thus proxemic sensitivities are bio cultural and the effects of architecture are felt at both a pre-cultural and a cultural level" (Vlach 1975: 8).
Dimensions of the three or four rooms in most shotgun houses are very similar including shotguns in New Orleans and Haiti. Floor to ceiling height is generally 12 feet- a tall enough space to facilitate ventilation which added some comfort in the tropical climates where early shotgun houses were located
(Vlach 1986: 67). Vlach (1975) found New Orleans shotgun room dimensions average 12'x14'; their
Haitian counterparts had rooms that were more exactly square and somewhat smaller with an average size of 12'x12'. The urban Haitian shotgun in Port-au-Prince is actually a derivative of a rural Haitian house called a cai//e (Vlach 1978: 128). This structure, which has changed little from the late seventeenth century to present, has smaller rooms than the urban shotgun and generally consisted of two rooms and a porch, with each room measuring 10'x8' and the porch being between four and five feet deep. The dimensions and general structure of this Haitian forerunner to the American shotgun provide another significant link to Africa as the ultimate origin. The cai//e rooms and the rooms of a typical Yoruba house are nearly identical in size, with the Yoruba room measuring 9'x9' for a total of 81 square feet. The cai//e room has 80 square feet. Thus, the Haitian caille and Yoruba dwelling differ only slightly in total space.
Even though the door of the Haitian caille is located in the direct alignment fashion seen in later shotgun houses and the door of the Yoruba house was located on the side of the structure, the caille remains basically African in its proxemics as a dwelling (Vlach 1990).
This similarity in the structures' shapes and dimensions suggests that Afro-Haitians - and later,
Afro-Americans - deliberately chose to build and live in dwellings that reflect their African heritage and
13 culture. Consider the unifying design element, the direct alignment and connection of rooms. Basic
shotgun houses - today in the United States and in colonial Haiti - do not have halls between rooms or
rooms off to a side. The modem shotgun's front room is generally the living room, the center a bedroom,
and the rear a kitchen, which includes a small bathroom area. To get from the common living area to the
kitchen, one must pass through the bedroom. The effect of such access between the rooms of the dwelling
is well-stated by a response Vlach received when he spoke to several occupants of shotgun houses in New
Orleans: "I asked a group of black women in New Orleans to define a shotgun house," Vlach wrote.
"After a few moments of deliberation their collective reply was: 'A shotgun house is a house without
privacy.' Expressed positively, it is a building with a decided communal focus - either the community of
the family or the community of the sidewalk" (Vlach 1990: 123). The people who live in a shotgun house
have two choices of movement: one pushes them into interaction with others living in the dwelling and the
other moves them to the porch or out of the house, thus interacting with members of the immediate
community (Vlach 1990: 123).
This observation of proxemics caused Vlach to claim that the shotgun is perhaps "the most
significant expression of Afro-American material culture" and "the end product of a long evolution of an
architecture of intimacy among black people" (Vlach 1990: 123). There exists an "etiquette of
involvement" among neighbors in areas where shotgun houses are concentrated and it is due in part to the
communal nature of coexisting that is a result of the structure of the house itself(Vlach 1990: 123). This
is consistent with Yoruba housing traditions. Yoruba architecture ranges from the simple two-room
rectangular hut to palaces. However, even the more complex structures are made up of a combination of the two-room rectangular module (Vlach 1990: 125).
When the American shotgun, a house that discourages internal privacy, is situated with other
adjacent shotgun houses, as is the case in many urban areas, the result is a community of close and frequent
interaction by inhabitants dictated by building structure. Vlach ( 1977) notes that in many African
American neighborhoods there are generally more signs of physical intimacy between inhabitants
expressed in elaborate handshaking and other forms of tactile interaction than in European-American
14 neighborhoods. This, of course, is remarkably similar to the effect on lifestyle engendered by the Yoruba agboile compound.
Origins of the Shotgun
During the time of the Civil War, African-Americans were in need of protection from persecution by Confederates who were interested in maintaining the economy and social structure of the South. It was at this time that General Burnside offered blacks, both slave and free, an opportunity for protection from the outbursts of the Civil War. As Burnside was planning a major military maneuver in Knoxville, due to its strategic position as a transportation hub, he announced to blacks, both slave and free, that he was kindly offering protection to them and offering them their freedom after the Civil War had ended
(Rothrock 1946). At this point, he staked out Mechanicsville and prepared an area near the Knoxville
College (just before it was built) for encampment. During this time, General Longstreet of the Confederate side had made a maneuver which was aimed at blockading the Union Army's supplies from reaching the
Union army's supply officer who would then distribute the equipment to the rest of the troops (Deaderick
1976). To counter the offensive maneuver that General Longstreet put into place along the riverways,
General Burnside proceeded to head down to New Orleans by rail to obtain the supplies he needed and thereby, pass the enemy. Upon arrival, Burnside was greeted with cheers from blacks who were expecting his aid against the Confederates (Morrison 1890). These blacks had news of his arrival from other Union
Army troops that had been passing through New Orleans. General Burnside went directly to the bar iron mining camps to save the African-American workers from persecution and so he could tap into the direct source of his army supplies. At this time, General Burnside explained to the African-Americans that he would be protecting them in Knoxville and that after the Civil War, his friend, Hiram S. Chamberlain, would be offering them an economic opportunity for work at the Knoxville Iron Company which was receiving its supplies from the iron mines in New Orleans. Upon hearing this, these African-American mine workers went back to Knoxville with the hope that they would be protected by General Burnside.
Upon arrival, they set up camp at Knoxville College in Mechanicsville. After the Civil War ended, the
15 close friend of General Burnside, Hiram S. Chamberlain, hired the Burnside blacks to work for him in the
Knoxville Iron Company in Mechanicsville. The Knoxville Iron Company, at that time, hired almost
exclusively black company workers and to house these workers, shotgun houses were built after the Civil
War. These houses were built to house the workers at the Knoxville Iron Company, both those who
worked in the company itself plus those who worked in the iron mines nearby. As Neel and Li (1978) both
have stated, "Even smaller shotgun houses were built in McAnnally Flats, now also known as
Mechanicsville by black mechanics and workers." The earliest shotguns were constructed in 1865 in
Mechanicsville by workers at the Knoxville Iron Company who invited friends and relatives from as far
away as New Orleans to remain in Mechanicsville for the economic opportunities there. These blacks then
built shotgun houses which thus completed the diffusion process from New Orleans to Knoxville (Neel
1978).
Vlach contends that the origin of the shotgun house in the United States directly relates to the flow
of West African people to this country (Vlach 1975). Houses in the southern towns of Haiti and Port-au
Prince bear striking similarities to those found in the New Orleans area and rural Louisiana. These
similarities include both the basic shotgun structure and modifications, such as verandas, single camelbacks, and double shotguns. This would seem a natural occurrence, as historical and cultural links between Louisiana and Haiti are strong. The migration of Haitian Creoles to Louisiana indicates a direct link (Vlach 1975). In Haiti, half-timbered shotgun structures have been identified in Port-au-Prince and in the southern part of the island (Vlach 1975). Herskovits (1935) found that the half-timbered shotgun, built of wood that is plastered with clay, painted, and having a sheet-iron roof, also appears in the southwest section of the country, such as in the town ofMirebalis in the Artibonite Valley. These shotguns are exactly like those in Port-au-Prince, as are others found in the town of Petite Rivere 40 miles down river from Mirebalis (Vlach 1975: 105). Most rural Haitian dwellings are small rectangles with wattled walls covered with mud plaster and roofed with thatch. Early nineteenth century travel accounts in Haiti refer to these structures, one type sitting perpendicular to the road with the entrance in the gabled wall. It is this
16 structure, which is always one room wide, one story high, two rooms deep, and with a porch, that is the model for the urban Haitian shotgun (Vlach 1975: 29).
The development of the shotgun house in the United States involves the adoption of an African
American artifact by the majority white population. This is one more example of the constant interaction between black and white cultures in this country that includes the borrowing and sharing of ideas in the two material repertoires. Three distinct source areas for folk architecture can be observed in the United
States as evidenced by house and barn types found in selected settlement elements. These are the New
England, Middle Atlantic (including Upland South and Lower Chesapeake), and the Tidewater South.
These source areas compare favorably with divisions based on dialect and on sociological, political, and ethnographic considerations. Such agreement of cultural origin and continuity indicate that folk housing is significant as a diagnostic marker of cultural wholes. This supports the premise that groups will adhere to cultural traditions unless they are given the opportunity to choose otherwise. Environmental influences certainly affect these traditions, and at the same time help to preserve and extend well-adapted cultural practices. Though the shotgun house is not mentioned specifically, it is reasonable to accept that it, too, falls under the same influences of preservation and diffusion (Kniffen 1965).
Kniffen ( 1965: 23) also demonstrates that the Upland South region contains areas where a plantation economy and settlement pattern prevail, transferred from eastern plantation areas to mingle with the traditional small farmer with log buildings evident in this upland region. These eastern migrations brought to the area settlement features of the old Tidewater plantations, although settlers with an Upland cultural background also retained their settlement features in areas that had extensive acreages of good soil conducive to the plantation system. It is assumed that these groups naturally adhered to their cultural practices as being the rational way to do things. There is evidence that the older elements in an area of mixed heritage do survive; however, an eventual mixture of greater cultural uniformity is evident as well.
William B. Knipmeyer (1956: 68-71, 87), a student of Kniffen, asserts that the shotgun had evolved from American Indian dwellings and was the evolutionary precursor of the bungalow. This seems to have been based on Kniffen's stressing of the regional affiliation of the shotgun (1936). Knipmeyer
17 (1956) also holds that the shotgun was a late nineteenth century development when milled lumber was
readily available. Yvonne Phillips (1990) accepts this late-development thesis, as does John Burkhardt
Rehder (Rehder 1971 ). These views hold that the shotgun was a creation of the peculiarities of southern
Louisiana's cultural and ecological resources. Vlach (1976) disagrees with these findings and counts them
as being shallowly based on existing structures, many of which are of frame construction. He faults the
above theories as being void of any consideration of origin beyond the surface observations of existing
structures (Vlach 1976).
According to Thompson ( 1989), the African roots of the shotgun style are at least as much derived
from the Kongo/Angola section as it is from the Fon/Yoruba area. A study of the traditional Bembee house
of Northern Kongo reveals a structure very similar to the Haitian shotgun: a narrow and tall gable-roofed
building with a door at the front and handsome facade decorations. A Shrine House for a ritual expert
(nganga) built in 1985 at Yema among the Woyo Kongo south of the Cabinda border in Bas-Zaire
compares with the legendary tomb of the nineteenth century New Orleans vodun priestess Marie Laveau.
Both are shotgun-like structures with a narrow compact plan and an elevation of the Kongo buildings.
Another similarity to Haitian shotguns with a porch added can be found in the Chokwe dwelling of northeast Angola (Thompson 1989: 119-120).
Perceiving West Africa as the place of origin of the shotgun house is strikingly indicated by a study of architectural dimensions of slave quarters. A comparison of width to length ratios suggests to
Wheaton et al. (1983) that the more rectangular structures built by slaves in the New World (shotgun-like in nature) are reflective of the West African origin of the rectangular shotgun. While similar square footage totals were observed between African-American structures in the New World and in West Africa, more telling similarities are found in width-to-length ratios, which remain constant regardless of the size of a structure. By analyzing measurements of shotgun-like structures found in comparative literature on the subject, it was noted that slave structures were much more rectangular than freed slave and white structures. The freed slave and Anglo-American structures were nearly square, whereas the slave structures were not. According to Wheaton et al., freed slaves, assumed to be more acculturated than their
18 slave counterparts, built structures that were more similar to those of their white neighbors. Such a
relationship between structures which are more square and a heightened situation of acculturation among
freed blacks suggest that width-to-length ratios of slave structures can also be used as a gauge of the level
of acculturation. Though more separate houses would have to be examined with better controls before a
statistically meaningful comparison can be made, these findings suggest that West Africa is the first
appropriate area of investigation to determine the origin of African-American structures in the Caribbean,
and hence in the United States (Wheaton et al. 1983).
A French origin for shotgun house types found in Louisiana is discounted, as no similar structures
are found in France or in Eastern Canada first settled by the Acadians. French architectural styles are
distinct and separate from English styles, which dominate the structures of the eastern and southern regions
of the current United States. Kniffen (1936) suggests that the gable-fronted palmetto house used by
Amerindians along the coast of Louisiana may have been taken over by early French settlers and later
elaborated into the "trapper" and later shotgun styles. Though Indians in the late nineteenth century did
use houses similar to the gable-fronted trapper style and shotgun house, it appears that these uses were
borrowed from the French, rather than the French borrowing them from the Indians (Edwards 1976-1980).
One examination of non-traditional housing found in Mississippi suggests that the shotgun house
might be a variation of the Greek revival style (McAlester and McAlester 1984: 90-91 ). This shotgun
house began to build in popularity in the Mississippi Valley before or near the beginning of the twentieth
century at a time when milled lumber was becoming more available but it was probably introduced in the
mid- to late-nineteenth century. However, the shotgun's origin as a Haitian structure that filtered into the
area from New Orleans is given credence (Latham 1977).
The native Arawak Haitian bohio structure, with its rectangular shotgun-like style, was adopted by the early French in Haiti. However, when slaves built their plantation houses and used the bohio form,
they added a second room. This second room and the general I O'x20' foot dimension are exactly similar to
the basic Yoruba house of Western and Central Africa (Vlach 1977). These features were incorporated
19 along with Indian and European housing features into the rural Haitian shotgun. This relationship between
African-Americans and the shotgun did not end when slaves were granted their freedom (Vlach 1977).
Phillips (1990) suggests that as much African culture survives among whites as among blacks,
although it would require a long and detailed search among both populations in America to definitively
prove this. This will be especially difficult to trace because there is a tradition among whites to deny any
learning from blacks or influences from their African culture. Black intellectual contributions are routinely
slighted, as evidenced by the life stories of W. E. B. DuBois. Furthermore, blacks sometimes have had to
hide their intelligence to survive in the white dominated society of America (Phillips 1990).
The Process of Transculturation
Within the ecological system that interrelates coexistent natural and artificial realities, technology
is the means by which the natural becomes the cultural, as man wins substances from nature, making them
useful to himself(Glassie 1975). Folk architecture gave the designer an easy way out of the problem of
confining his design into the social context, for it incorporates a traditional form based on the results of
millennia of experimentation (Glassie 1975).
Scholars of folk architecture note that houses represent powerful statements about the designers
and inhabitants of the buildings. Inhabitants of common houses are able to identify their structures as being traditional and relate their values to that traditionality expressed by their house. The inhabitants of traditional folk architecture types interpreted their houses as being signs that say both, "This is who I am" and that "I belong" (Moe 1977). Traditional wisdom about the importance of habitat and housing provides people with conceptions of how a house ought to be. Such folk concepts of shelter, which have found their way into the prose of the culture, are valuable in understanding housing settlements and patterns in the
United States (Moe 1977).
A current of transculturation associated with the origin of the shotgun concerns the Arawak
Indians, who were natives of Haiti and part of the Taino culture indigenous to other Caribbean areas. It is
20 possible that the Haitian shotgun may have also incorporated influences from the Arawak Indian's bohio structure (Vlach 1975: 108). The bohio was a residence for the chief and is much like the shotgun.
The shotgun clearly has African and Indian forebears, linked in a syncretic process with the
French, who copied the house style for slave quarters (Vlach 1975, 1977, 1986). The transplanted
Africans, however, found that form of dwelling comparable to what they had been accustomed to. Here is a coalescence of housing types, featuring the rectangular form with wattling and thatching techniques familiar in both Europe and West Africa (Vlach 1975). Throughout the Caribbean, then, related house forms were being used by three distinct cultures: aboriginal populations, European settlers, and enslaved
Africans. Such a commingling of people affected the shotgun style of architecture. Yet the intimate association of blacks with the house type suggests that the New World building may significantly reflect the influence of African architectural traditions (Vlach 1975). These examples of the development of the shotgun in the Caribbean provide an illustration of transcultration at work.
Specific African Heritage
The slave trade in Haiti was conducted with enough consistency that it is possible to attribute characteristics of the later African-American culture to certain ethnic groups. A brief survey of this trade helps identify specific African heritage evident in Haitian architecture (Vlach 1975). Although slavery was established in Haiti in 1510 under the Spanish, it wasn't until after the 1697 Treaty ofRyswick that any significant slaving traffic began. It is in the later part of this heavy slave-trading time when the slaves began to assert their social dominance. It is possible to identify a geographic pattern as the source of these
Haitian slaves, thereby identifying the source of primary cultural and architectural elements in Haiti.
Though various African people were brought to Haiti in the period 1730-1791, the majority of Africans enslaved in Haiti were from the West coastal area of Africa or from the forest regions just beyond the coast
(Vlach 1975). In the Bight of Benin section of coastal West Africa, the dominance of Yoruba people was the most important factor for cultural cohesion. So the majority of slaves taken by the kingdoms of Benin and Dahomey, and sold to traders who sent them to Haiti, would have been Yoruba (Vlach 1975). Yoruba
21 peoples were brought to Haiti in significant numbers in the early days of the 1730-1791 heavy trading period, thereby encouraging the preservation of Yoruban cultural traits in their new home in Haiti.
Although a large number of Central African slaves followed, the end of the period saw another dominance ofYoruban slaves enter Haiti. So the later Yoruban arrivals reinforced the earlier dominant Yoruban elements in Haiti, serving as a more immediate link to Africa (Vlach 1975).
There were two basic shelter concepts used by these Yoruba in their African homeland.
Compound houses in towns were clustered together as extended family dwellings, often in groups of more than I 00 people (Vlach 1986: 75-76). Free standing dwellings of the farm hamlets were the other type.
The houses on these farms in the bush were used by only a few family members. The structure's basic form is a I 0'x20' two-room building, and it is used by the Yoruba and the Edo people located to the southeast (Vlach 1975). These bush houses were the core ofYoruban architecture, even though they were less impressive than the town compound houses. The bush houses were generally divided into two 9'x9' rooms. It is this two room module that seems to have been the common house type during the period of enslavement in Haiti (Vlach 1975). There is a distinct architectural style in the Bight of Benin slave region, in both simple and elaborate housing. An African taken from anywhere in the area would be familiar with the same kinds of houses (Vlach 1975). Other African groups that were transplanted to Haiti had similar dwellings to those of the Yoruba and may have helped inspire the development of the shotgun.
Houses of the Kimbundu were similar in dimension and plan to the Yoruban rectangular, two-room module.
The Shotgun As Cultural Syncretism
Discussions of cultural syncretism and transculturation provide insight into the idea of the shotgun house as an American link to African culture. Because of the proliferation of the shotgun in American culture, as evidenced in the previous review of shotgun houses employed by companies for their labor forces, an understanding of transculturation involved in this architectural choice is even more important.
Since studying the shotgun in America reveals strong evidence of an African origin and of its subsequent
22 co-opting by mercantile whites, the overall impact of the shotgun as a cultural artifact can not be complete
without considering the flows of transculturation.
Following Herskovits' (1935) theory that African cultural retentions in the New World were best
preserved in areas that fall below the consciousness ofa decision, Vlach (1975) contends that the shotgun
house is an example of such subconscious retention. Rural Haitian slaves and maroons free to build their
own shelter chose the form that brought them psychological comfort attuned to their African culture yet not
foreign enough in appearance to upset contemporary European styles (Edwards 1976-1980).
Ethnic Groups Associated with the Shotgun
From a review of the literature on shotgun houses we find that the various ethnic groups associated with this style of housing are: blacks (Yorubas and Haitians), whites in New Orleans, the
Arawak, Native Americans in general, and some early French in Haiti.
The Notorial Archives of New Orleans maintains a large library of posters advertising property sales. As early as 1833, a shotgun house on Bourbon Street was sold. Records indicate other shotguns in
New Orleans in 1835, 1837, and in 1854. These records, though sketchy in the early years, show that the shotgun had taken root in the first quarter of the nineteenth century in New Orleans. This date of origin coincides with the massive influx of free blacks to New Orleans thus implying a possible connection between those blacks and the shotguns (Vlach 1976).
Free blacks in New Orleans at the early part of the nineteenth century were very active in the building trade. Records show that there were 355 free black carpenters in the city in 1850 and 325 masons, indicating that significant numbers of such black tradesmen existed in the earlier part of the century. The housing shortage following the 1809 influx of Haitian blacks was accompanied by the presence of free blacks who could buy and build housing of their own choosing. While some documents from that time do not specifically mention a shotgun house, examples suggest that such dwellings were constructed by blacks. A free mulatto named Charles was contracted to build a plantation in 1787. A free black mason named Bazile Dede is mentioned in building contracts of 1810 and 1811. A free man of color, James Jolle,
23 built a house in 1835 that was 15' across the front and 45' long-almost certainly a shotgun-style house.
Records indicate that another free black builder, J. B. Joublanc, constructed a "typical cottage" for J.B.
Massicot in 1837. In Haiti at this time, documents indicate that free blacks were building shotgun houses.
In 1839 Francois Ducoing requested that Laurent Cordier build a maison basse, the term for shotgun house.
In New Orleans in 1840, Martial Le Boeuf stated in a contract that his house was to be built after examples of the buildings in Santo Domingo. These examples provide ample evidence that some building styles in
New Orleans were derived from Haitian examples (Vlach 1976).
Shotguns were illustrated as highly adorned in the 1880 Roberts and Company decorative house trim catalog. This indicates that the shotgun had been in use for a considerable time for it to have been so displayed in a commercial publication. Urban use and an older architectural form that needed trim to keep up with the times, contrast with the idea of a primarily rural, post-1880 existence (Vlach 1976).
The half-timbering construction method, known to have existed in New Orleans, and the roof framing system are reminiscent of Norman modes of construction. This change, the shifting of the doorway, and the adaptation of a secondary feature of the front porch suggest that the slaves were able to make a mental adjustment, in architectural terms, to the society in which they found themselves while maintaining close links to their Yoruba heritage. They responded to the foreign influences by transforming them into an existing familiar tradition that resulted in a familiar pattern of housing (Vlach 1976). The half-timbering technique of building a shotgun was introduced into Haiti and Louisiana by the French. It is hence possible to suggest a continuity of shotgun construction existed in the two places, though no half timbered shotguns are known to still exist in New Orleans (Vlach 1986).
Also adjusting to foreign architectural terms were the early French settlers. They lived in imitations of the bohio, whose construction mode is only slightly similar to the shotgun but whose spatial style is almost identical. These imitations, called ajupa by the French, which is an Indian term, were fairly commonplace among the French boucaniers in Haiti. This suggests that a syncretic process links the buildings of the Arawak, the French, and the Africans. That Europeans and Africans both had traditions of rectangular houses with wattling and thatched building techniques suggests that an aboriginal influence in
24 Haiti may have commingled with these styles and resulted in a building style that was familiar and acceptable to the three cultures in Haiti (Vlach 1976b). Fancy urban versions of the rural Haitian shotgun, the callie, had a distinct sophisticated air that enabled the free black owners to participate in the culture of
France and Africa simultaneously (Vlach 1978).
The approach to African influences on white culture has not been taken by researchers, who primarily discover these influences when examining African influences on blacks in America (in an effort to stress the otherness of blacks). Such cultural transference is more likely to have occurred in areas where blacks were a majority in white/black populations, such as in South Carolina and Mississippi and black majority areas in the West Indies and Latin America. Transference of African cultural traditions to whites was also likely in colonial days when the relationship between master and slave was close, encouraging mutual influence (Phillips 1990).
Company Housing
A review of the literature relating to the use of the shotgun style of architecture in company housing suggests the continuation of the housing type and its use in American culture into the twentieth century. A connection between African-Americans and the shotgun through its diffusion becomes apparent from the following review.
The primary motivations for a company to house workers are threefold: First, companies built housing out of sheer necessity where housing did not exist; second is the motive of philanthropy; and third they built company housing due to enlightened self interest; that is, employers realized that a badly housed worker is an inefficient worker, thus reducing profits (Wood 1919: 114).
Costs of a typical four-room shotgun style company house varied depending on local conditions and the market for materials. A double mine-type dwelling in Pennsylvania and West Virginia ranged in cost from $600 to $800, with four or five rentable rooms in each. In Michigan in 1907, a similar five room family house cost $825. A ready-built four-room, one-story family house in Virginia cost $1,500 in 1913, while a similar house in New Jersey in 1915 cost only $1,200 (Southern Pine 1919: 43).
25 Cost is the first consideration for an employer building housing, and return on investment is
another important consideration. In a study of60 different companies in the period 1911-1915, 42 percent
of their workers were housed by the companies. Those employers received a gross return of 8.3 percent on
housing investments. Rate ofreturns varied by company type and location. For example, in certain
Alabama mining companies the return was as high as 20 percent, while in some Pennsylvania and Ohio
steel companies the return was as low as 6.2 percent. Calculated on the original cost of building a house
only, the cost ofhousing per employee was $38 (Southern Pine 1919: 45).
Employers build company housing if none exists in the area of work. However, other reasons are
often cited for maintaining at least a nucleus of company housing, one being the need to have certain
emergency men near the plant for safety. Other reasons given are: the desire for a stable workforce,
particularly of married men; the belief that company housing promoted a more efficient workforce; some
stockholders of companies had interests in real estate companies that built the housing; it utilized property
bought for future plant expansion; it demonstrated that the employer owed something to the employee; it
was done as an experiment; it was an exposition of the theory of a factory village plan; it was a benefit to
mankind; and it was a means to attract a supply of foreign labor. In addition to these reasons, many
employers recognized that they had a social responsibility, and that their housing for workers was a
manifestation of their ability to control the character ofa community (Southern Pine 1919).
Though row houses were a common type of construction layout in pre-1881 mining areas, the
increase of row housing by companies built in urban areas around 1916 and 191 7 was due to the high cost
of urban real estate (Southern Pine 1919: 48). Thus the shotgun house represented an expedient way of
coping with the expensive land prices as many of these houses can fit on a city block face.
Economy was not realized by using cheap materials of temporary construction, but by using low cost materials of real value constructed in the best manner possible. Unnecessary elements and luxuries were omitted, but the worker was not faced with having to pay for a cheap shack at the price of what would
obtain a better built house (Southern Pine 1919). In Georgia, where shotgun houses are plentiful, the
26 Macon News related in an article describing this house type that, "these structures were an economical
means for companies to house workers earlier in this century" (Moe 1977: 227).
George Stokes' description on how the lwnbering industry impacted the landscape of western
Louisiana provides a helpful look at the nature of company housing (Stokes 1957). Lwnbering in western
Louisiana occurred in three stages: a long period of slow development that began as early as 1726; an
intensive second phase of boom development beginning in 1895; and a lingering third phase of reduced
operations beginning in 1937. The second phase ushers in company housing and the subsequent co-opting
of the shotgun style (Stokes 1957).
Stokes (1957: 255) points out that the unskilled labor force used in these sawmill towns with a
population of 400 to 1,000 workers was predominantly African-American, with some whites and
Mexicans. The sawmill boom towns shared characteristics distinguishing them from older settlements.
These distinguishing characteristics are: orientation toward a single function resulting in the disappearance
of the town once logging the area was complete; a large mill plant; a company-owned commercial district;
residential sections called "quarters" that were racially segregated; adoption of a few housing types and
their construction by the company in great nwnbers; and an extensive system of logging railroads
connecting the company town to the harvested forest (Stokes 1957: 255). Almost every function of these towns was geared in some way toward the production oflwnber. It is not surprising then that the mill itself was the central and largest structure of these boom towns. African-American quarters were situated near the mill, European-American areas were located nearer to the town's business district and separated from the African-American area by some feature, such as woods, railroad, or field. Almost all the company housing was built before the arrival of the workers to the mill site. Stokes (1957: 262) explains: "The dwellings built by the lwnber companies were remarkable for the uniformity of their construction, and sometimes entire quarters were made up of houses identical in nearly every respect." This was because the housing was built before the occupants arrived, and personalization was not a part of the building process.
Four house plans were popular: the pyramidal, the bungalow, the log-pen derivative, and the shotgun
(Stokes 1957: 258).
27 Each house style was simple and inexpensive to build; however, Stokes (1957: 262) is unsure as to why any one of the house styles might have been utilized. He suggests that in some cases, house type was dictated by custom and style alone, whereas some types provided obvious benefits considering the locale. That companies appear to have been sensitive to cultural customs seems to provide a possible clue which may further substantiate the connection between African-Americans and shotgun houses. This connection will be more fully explored in Chapter Five. The choice of house type varied from time to time, with the growth of a residential area sometimes traceable in the accretion of groups of houses of a different type (Stokes 1957). The shotgun style of company-built housing appeared in logging camps and boom towns, and as a general rule it was the structure in which African-Americans were sheltered. Whites were housed in more spacious dwellings. Shotguns were often moved by rail from one location to another.
Studying 20 sawmill towns, Stokes was able to pinpoint which house types were utilized where, and thus indicate the origins of the house type. For example, the pyramidal style was already popular in states north of Louisiana and appears most frequently in the northern part of western Louisiana as company housing.
"The shotgun house," writes Stokes, "was introduced from two directions, one variety being brought in from the north by lumber companies which chose the house for its portability. A slightly different version, borrowed from the French farmers to the south, was carried northward with the bungalow" (Stokes 1957:
264).
Stokes observed that all housing types remained occupied long after the boom towns faded, inhabited by people many years after their utility as a laborer's home supplied by the employing company had ended (Stokes 1957: 263). The movement of shotgun-style company housing into Texas is described by Grider as evidently coming from the western Louisiana usage in sawmill towns (Grider 1975: 48).
Although Grider states that a direct connection between the two cannot be made without more extensive study, he indicates that this is a likely assumption. The reasoning is that the oil boom progressed from east to west Texas. Shotguns were not previously known in the region, and there were direct railroad links with western Louisiana mill towns (Grider 1975). Stokes (1957) notes that the existence of the shotgun as one style of company housing in western Louisiana sawmill towns was the result of that housing style being
28 copied from southern Louisiana folk housing. However, Stokes makes no further connection to origins of
the shotgun (Stokes 1957) but Grider acknowledges Kniffen's suggestion (1936) that the origin of the style
comes from Haitian slaves or coastal Indian huts in Louisiana (Grider 1975: 48).
This concept of company housing economy contrasts with the practices in the Texas boom towns,
where company shacks were thrown up with no intention of these structures lasting beyond the short-lived
boom of oil operations that required a significant quantity of workers (Grider 1972). Grider (1972) writes
that the shotgun house was the most common form of company housing built to accommodate the large
number of laborers needed in the oil boom towns of the Texas panhandle in the 1920s and 1930s. As far as
specific costs of construction are concerned, the Knight Lumber Company in Borger, Texas, advertised a
set price of $90 for materials and labor to construct a 10'x20' shotgun house, which could be completed in
two days or less (Grider 1972). Such a cheap price was attractive to companies building housing intended
to be abandoned when the well drilling was finished and the crews moved on (Grider 1972). As the oil
boom proceeded to the Borger area, carpenters built the standard shotgun because it was what they built in
earlier booms in Odessa, Burkburnett, and Midland. These shotguns were often referred to as "two rooms
and a path" (indicating lack of plumbing and a path to an outhouse) (Grider 1972).
The shotgun in oil boom areas of the Texas panhandle in the 1920s and 1930s represented the adaptation of a housing style to an immediate need. The restrictive style of the house forced the inhabitants to adapt their day to day living practices to the structure (Grider 1972). That many people unrelated to oil operations lived in shotgun houses in Texas well after their use as company housing demonstrates a continuing cultural influence. The studies by Grider (1972, 1975) and Stokes (1957) are helpful in gaining a specific understanding of circumstances involving shotguns used as company housing.
The need for such fast and plentiful housing often arose as a result of a "boom" economic development in an area. These "boom towns" became a recurring phenomenon in the United States, as commercial concerns swept in to take fast advantage of a natural resource (Grider 1975). For profitability to result, a large number of workers were needed to assault and process the resource, whether it was lumber or oil. Housing workers in these boom towns, which often disappeared as fast as they were created, was a
29 requisite for success, one that the company had to undertake in areas that frequently had no existing
housing resources for a large workforce (Grider 1975).
Two early examples of such economic bursts and the subsequent company housing that utilized
shotguns as part of a mass housing solution are in the western Louisiana logging boom of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the oil drilling boom in the Texas panhandle region in the
early twentieth century (Grider 1975; Stokes 1957).
For shotguns, boards were generally sawed at the lumber yard, with some pre-fab windows also
shipped. Complete shotgun kits could be ordered at the yard. Only a rig axe and a hammer were needed to
construct them. Builders repeated the same style in subsequently constructed boom towns and often took
little care with leveling windows and doors. In Borger, as many as ten shotguns were crowded into some
of the long lots. (Grider 1972).
There is no direct relation between the railroad boxcar and the shotgun, yet their appearance is
strikingly similar in Texas according to Grider (1972). The Texas shotgun's curved roofresemblance to
the boxcar was apparently a result of it being the simplest construction for the roof, consisting of bending
1'x12's over the width of the roof, which had a raised center ridge. No blueprints were needed to build the house, which one carpenter said were built "by ear." The carpenters who built these houses were following the oil boom and its need for housing (Grider 1975).
The shotgun in oil boom areas of Texas is locally referred to as a shack (Grider 1972: 434).
Other terms for the shotgun, each followed by "shack," were oilfield, boxcar (for its resemblance to a railroad boxcar), two-roomed, tarpaper, and clapboard (Grider 1972: 434). In addition to being used as dwellings for workers' families in the boom towns, they functioned as sleeping facilities for single men in the oilfields. Transients following the oil work rented shotguns as fast as they could be built, generally for
$50-$100 a month during the boom. Most residents did not foresee living in a shotgun shack for more time than they had to (usually about two years), though many families stayed in them for much longer periods than originally intended. The shotgun was the cheapest form of housing available, and always a structure that was abandoned for a more ample housing style when affordable (Grider 1972). Grider ( 1972) points
30 out that even after the booms, the Depression, and World War II, these company-built shotguns were still
being inhabited, often located on the poor side of town, which most often meant the African-American side
of town. In addressing the shotgun house in oil boom towns of the Texas panhandle, Grider (1975: 53)
found that the shotgun houses in Pampa were associated with African-Americans and Mexicans living on
the wrong side of the tracks.
These two examples of shotguns used as company housing occur in areas that suggest diffusion
from the first noted observance of the shotgun in the United States in New Orleans. How the company
builders in western Louisiana sawmill boom towns arrived at the selection of the shotgun can not be
ascertained from existing work in this area. However, some other observations can be made. African
Americans were the primary unskilled laborers in sawmill boom towns; they were ordinarily housed in
shotguns by the sawmill companies; and the shotgun style in these areas came from northerly companies
because of its portability and from southern Louisiana folk housing influences (Stokes 1957: 263-264).
That shotguns were selected as a borrowed housing style familiar to the predominantly African
American workers in these camps can not be completely substantiated by current studies. Yet, that such a
conscious decision may have been made by company builders is not an unreasonable conjecture. These are
examples of an economically motivated movement of African-American workers, living in culturally
familiar housing that was chosen and built for them by white business operators. It represents another
direct linking of cultural attributes in an assimilation process involving the shotgun housing style. Whites,
motivated by maximum profitability, provided a housing style familiar to the majority of their workers.
The shotgun was doubly adaptable to the need: it was cheap and it was a familiar structure for workers
who were often displaced.
The shotgun in western Louisiana and Texas boom towns was a Spartan structure providing the basics of shelter as an economic solution (Grider 1975; Stokes 1957). They are culturally significant and
represent the adaptation of existing folk housing to an immediate need (Grider 1972). Like other shotguns
in earlier periods of American history previously noted in this study, the simple linear floor plan with two
connecting rooms restricted and dictated living use. In the Texas shotguns, the front rooms were
31 sleeping/sitting quarters and the back room was the kitchen area, some with water, gas, or electricity depending on the location of the house to those resources (Grider 1972: 436). Though characteristically abandoned by new-coming residents in the Texas oil boom as soon as such a move was possible, the shotgun proved to be very durable and long lasting (Grider 1972).
These examinations of shotgun housing in company towns do not directly explore the origin of the housing style in any terms other than having been chosen by commercial concerns for economic purposes. Nonetheless, this might reflect one aspect of the transcultural impact of the shotgun style in
American housing. These studies give substantial evidence of cross-cultural developments in the evolution and diffusion of this housing structure. It is only by combining and examining the existing threads of the research on this topic that a complete analysis can be formed. And while not all examinations of the shotgun house in American architectural history contain a detailed and linear account of the housing style's origins, continued and variously motivated appearances of the form are resources for arriving at an understanding of the commingled reality of the shotgun in our culture.
It is also important to examine company built housing to reconstruct the history of the shotgun house in Knoxville. Shotguns in Knoxville are definitely associated with company housing as they are in
Louisiana saw mill towns and Texas panhandle oil boom towns. The commercial relationship between labor and the African-American house type may also be seen as an element oftransculturation and an important link in following the diffusion of the shotgun into Knoxville and other areas of the nation.
Textile mills in the South often built company housing for their workers. For example,
Englewood, Tennessee, was established as a community around its mill, even though the mill was located close to an established town (Community Action Group of Englewood 1993: 23). Some mill owners created separate villages for their workers with the mixed motives of control and benevolence (Community
Action Group of Englewood 1993: 23 ). Mill worker villages certainly appeared out of economic necessity. Mill owners had to furnish housing to obtain and maintain a labor force. Yet they also used this village to control the lives of their workers (Garner 1992). A federal investigator reported in 1908 that all affairs of the village and the living conditions of the workers were regulated by the mill company. "The
32 company owns everything and controls everything and to a large extent controls everybody in the mill
village," wrote the authority (Garner 1992: 144).
The establishment of a stable workforce made up of transient and undisciplined laborers was a
major impetus behind the foundation of company towns (Eller 1982). One southern mine owner said the
primary reason for company housing was "to give stability to the labor supply" (Eller 1982: 192). Such
housing, said another mine owner, concentrated men under proper supervision to better manipulate them in
times of labor unrest and strikes (Eller 1982: 192-193). This company attitude of paternalism carried over
into the personal lives of workers in company towns through the company's active involvement in
promoting a tranquil, harmonious atmosphere where support for the company was an element (Mayor
1988).
In a study oflife in seven mill towns in Texas established by William Buchanan, Mayor (1988:
63) found that they all shared physical and sociological similarities and that these towns were practical in
appearance because of their grid layout of interchangeable shotgun houses. Each house faced a street,
backed up to an alley, and had a small yard and outhouse by the alley. Grids were split into quarters and
further divided according to the race of the inhabitants (Mayor 1988: 63). Other studies and the historical
record confirm the use of shotgun housing by companies. In addition, many workers in the South also
lived in shotgun houses when their employer provided no housing (Berglund et al. 1930). Furthermore,
these houses were inferior to other company-provided mill housing as observed by the authors of the
comprehensive study. Additionally, the rent was about twice as much as the company charged (Berglund
et al. 1930). These and the other studies cited show that housing was traditionally a means of creating
economic and racial segregation.
The totality of the place of the shotgun house in Southern culture may also be understood through
an examination of its use as company housing. Whether financed solely by the employing company or by private landlords providing housing intended for company workers this study should provide information
on the spread of the shotgun house throughout the South. The data indicate that the shotgun style was used
for some company housing and not in others. Stock plan housing in basic forms was used for workers by
33 the Tennessee Copper Company in Ducktown and Copperhill, Tennessee, at the beginning of the twentieth
century (Daniels 1992: 15-17). These houses were evidently not shotgun designs, nor were the company
houses in McMinn County, Tennessee built by the L&N Railroad. The L&N company housing in McMinn
County was either the pyramid or catslide houses (Caldwell 1996). The pyramidal style is characterized
by a pyramid-shaped roof and the catslide by the fact that one side of the house is longer than the other
resulting in a an uneven slanting of the structure on the frame (Caldwell 1996). Caldwell links the shotgun
house style with African-Americans, saying that shotguns were mostly found in African-American
neighborhoods in McMinn County (Caldwell 1996). She also found that there were national standards for
certain types of company housing, the pyramid and catslide being the standards used by the L&N Railroad
wherever it built company housing (Caldwell 1996). Her study involved L&N "section houses," houses
with two front doors inhabited by two families, one of whose members was a worker responsible for the
section of track where the house was located (Caldwell 1996; University of Louisville archives and
records).
Like the L&N Railroad other employers adopted standardized plans for company housing.
Engineer Daniel August Tompkins was a nineteenth century authority on such standardization, and codified the vernacular forms of housing that were used in Southern mill towns (Hall et al. 1987). His
1899 handbook Cotton Mill, Commercial Features became a standard text for mill officials. In the book he provided detailed drawings of standard three and four room factory cottages. Much of the mill housing afterwards reflected Tompkins' recommendations (Hall et al. 1987). Workers from different backgrounds should be offered housing that appealed to their sense of taste, thus making them feel more at home
(Tompkins 1899). Tompkins ( 1899: 117) noted that this sensitivity to the workers' residential comfort was behind the move to stop building identical houses in rows, often connected to one another. Regarding housing for Southern cotton mill workers, Tompkins said that it should be reminiscent of the rural background from which these mill workers came. Though their conditions in the city were better than their rural lifestyles, it was important to carry into their dwellings some sense of their past. "The ideal arrangement is to preserve the general conditions of rural life and add some of the comforts of city life,"
34 wrote Tompkins ( 1899: 117). He recalled that in at least one instance, failure to provide housing that
catered to the workers' background resulted in the failure of the mill operation (Tompkins 1899: 117).
Of particular note is Tompkins' assertion that the two- or three-room narrow house style was most
appropriate for African-American workers (Vlach 1996). Drawings of these two house types in Tompkins'
handbook are unmistakably shotgun style structures (Tompkins 1899: 119-120). Other house styles, such
as the T-plan and the three-room and four-room gable houses, were recommended for other workers
(Tompkins 1899: 118). As has been discussed previously, the shotgun house certainly provided an
appealing means of housing for companies to use since they were easily pre-cut, transportable by rail, and
inexpensive and simple to build. Tompkins' assertion that mills should build housing compatible with the
background of their workers to promote a psychological comfort (and increased productivity) created by a
familiar environment and his note that the two- and three-room narrow style (shotgun) was most
appropriate for the African-American workers is important. It suggests that mill owners in the South were
aware that African-Americans had a past association with the shotgun style of house, and that they should
continue to provide this type of housing for them. This is clear evidence of transculturalization of the
shotgun housing style at work in the realm of company housing at the turn of this century. At this juncture,
white businessmen were consciously adapting this housing structure known to be associated with African
Americans to their own purposes. These businessmen strove to provide an appealing living quarters for
their workers based on those workers' past housing practices, thus insuring happier workers, a more stable workforce, and maximum profits. The specific spatial influences of the shotgun house, with its intimately connected rooms that promote familial openness and interdependence rather than individual privacy, were deemed appropriate for African-Americans. This late nineteenth century testimony serves as a guide post in bridging the gap of information in the historical record concerning the movement and association of this house type between its early nineteenth century prevalence as an identifiable African-American cultural artifact in the New Orleans area and its appearance in the late nineteenth century as an instrument of
European-American industrialization enterprises throughout the South. An examination of the industrialization and subsequent company housing efforts in Knoxville, Tennessee, is in order to further
35 solidify the understanding of the shotgun house in Knoxville and the transculturation that may have taken place.
Company Housing In Knoxville
How extensive was the use of the shotgun house for company housing in Knoxville? The following set of questions will address that topic. Did industry help perpetuate this style of architecture in
Knoxville? Is it likely that the shotgun came to Knoxville by rail, which would indicate a mass-produced product most likely used as company housing? How was the house type used? Who lived in these houses?
Further, did companies purchase shotgun housing that already existed and was it introduced by African
Americans? If so, the purchase of this housing may have in tum encouraged the spread of the style of architecture as housing demands grew to accommodate an increasing work force. Finally, do construction dates on the majority of these dwellings suggest they were built at the same time that industry expanded in
Knoxville?
Brookside Village is one example of a Knoxville industry providing housing for its workers.
Brookside's shotguns were designed by architect L.C. Waters in 1899 (Waters 1899). There were 24 houses in all; four room cottages on Marion and Van streets constructed in 1909 (Knoxville City Directory
1909). Brookside Mills workers lived in all of these houses through 1917 (Knoxville City Directories
1909-1917). The railroads are another example of shotgun housing being used by local industries.
According to Paul Brabson ( 1997), who is the present owner of several shotguns on Citico Street in
Knoxville, local railroad companies used shotguns for their workers in a number of cases. In addition to the ETV &G company housing already cited, the L&N railroad used shotgun houses for its workers as well.
There were several shotguns in 1900 along South Broadway near the L&N freight office that were built as section houses. When the railroad expanded, these houses were moved to Citico Street in 1905 and 1906
(Brabson 1997; Knoxville City Directory 1905-06). While Brabson's (1997) oral history seems to contradict Caldwell's (1996) account, it seems likely that Caldwell was familiar mainly with McMinn
County company housing. In Knoxville other railroad lines appear to be connected to shotguns, such as
36 the ETV&G line (Knoxville City Directory 1869-1890) making Brabson's (1997) account of the L&N constructing shotguns plausible.
Many shotgun houses in Knoxville were occupied by company workers even though the houses themselves were not owned by the company. Generally, the houses were owned by absentee landlords renting to working class Knoxvillians (Warranty Deed Book 210, page 149; Warranty Deed Book 124, page 207; Warranty Deed Book 125, page 105; Knoxville City Directories 1890-1910). In some cases the owners were African-Americans (Warranty Deed Book 124, page 207; Warranty Deed Book 523, page
349; Warranty Deed Book 155, page 317; Warranty Deed Book 187, page 17). Regardless of the ethnicity of the owners, however, the large majority of the residents were blue collar workers (Knoxville City
Directories 1890-1910). If the case studies of Knoxville shotguns are any indication, 64 percent of occupants were company workers at local industries.
One final example of the shotgun as company housing in Knoxville involves the Knoxville Iron
Company. The 1909 company records of the Knoxville Iron Company reveal that management was directed to build 50 dwellings as fast as possible (Clark 1949). Some of these houses may have been located on Schofield and W. Louisiana A venues in Lonsdale (Knoxville City Directory 1917; Sanborn
Insurance Map 1917) since all the residents of the row of shotguns on these streets worked for the
Knoxville Iron Company (Knoxville City Directories 1913-1917). The company appears to have made an arrangement with a large real estate developer named E. L. Ragsdale to house its workers. Ragsdale was a relative of the founder and developer of the Lonsdale neighborhood (Cason et al. 1992). Although no records regarding a relationship between E. L. Ragsdale and the Knoxville Iron Company were found, the historical record seems to imply that an arrangement between the two existed. E. L. Ragsdale owned the houses along W. Louisiana Avenue in 1916, and the property had been in the family since 1903 (Warranty
Deed Book 295, page 355; Warranty Deed Book 182, page 110). As in the case of Henry Bloom's houses on Citico Street (Warranty Deed Book 210, page 149), these real estate investors often capitalized on a nearby local industry that could supply a steady flow of tenants for their rental properties. Thus local industry in Knoxville, and in most cases the real estate developers who catered to the housing needs of
37 their workers, appear to have employed the shotgun style for its company housing (Warranty Deed Book
210, page 149; Warranty Deed Book 295, page 355; Warranty Deed Book 182, page 110).
The shotgun house was probably chosen to fit as many houses as possible along a block face.
This was done to house as many workers as possible, maximizing rental income from a limited space. No evidence was found to indicate that companies purchased housing that was already standing in African
American neighborhoods. No deeds of ownership indicate that this ever took place. In most cases, new housing was erected rather than purchasing previously existing housing (Clark 1949; McDonald and
Wheeler 1983; Waters 1899).
An important question is whether shotguns were being built in large numbers during industrial expansion in Knoxville. During the early 1880s, Knoxville experienced its greatest manufacturing boom.
Construction dates on shotguns from the survey reveal that 35 percent of all these houses date between
1890 and 1900, whereas 58 percent date between 1900-1910. Thus it appears that the majority of the shotguns post date the period of industrial expansion in Knoxville and the housing boom of 1890 as well
(McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 22). The population in Knoxville increased by over 37 percent between
1890 and 1900, which explains in part the construction boom during this period (U.S. Census 1890, 1910).
By 1900, heavy manufacturing was thriving in the Knoxville economy. The production of manufactured goods increased by 100 percent between 1900-1905. Thus it appears that the construction of new homes between 1900-1910 coincides with the increased activity of the manufacturing sector well after the initial industrial expansion of 1880 (McDonald and Wheeler 1983).
The shotgun house, then, is a phenomenon of the working class, often built by developers who were capitalizing on the needs of wealthy white industrialists. The style evidently was chosen to economize on space and to maximize rental income at the same time. The shotgun is both a phenomenon of the working class and a housing solution for white industrialists. Economy of construction and space are the reasons for this. The working class frequently live in shotguns due to their low cost and industrialists frequently build them because they are cheap to construct and many houses can fit on a relatively small plot of land.
38 Chapter Four
The Shotgun House In Knoxville:
Data Collection Methods
The study of Knoxville shotgun houses employed several techniques and sources. First, it was
found that informant data were an invaluable source of information concerning the use of space. Informant
data were also found to be useful for revealing the ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds of shotgun
residents. Second, a field survey was conducted in which historic shotgun houses in Knoxville, Tennessee,
were documented. The goal of this survey was to evaluate the level of influence of this style of
architecture. The field survey also revealed the neighborhoods where the shotgun style architecture
predominates in the city. Finally, primary and secondary sources from the historical record were
consulted. This included Sanborn Insurance Maps, old photographs, city directories, deeds of title,
company records, and studies from other cities of the Southeast. The methods for each source are described individually to explain how this information was compiled and why a particular approach was taken.
Survey of Knoxville Shotguns
To add more depth to the local history of this house type in Knoxville, a survey of shotguns in the city was conducted. A research design for the survey was developed to answer the following questions:
a. How prevalent was this style of architecture in Knoxville and what was the nature and extent
ofitsinfluence?
b. In which neighborhoods did this style of architecture predominate? (For example, 35 of them
appear around the Knoxville Iron Company in the Lonsdale area, which is a predominantly
African-American neighborhood.)
39 c. Through an examination of such construction materials as bricks and nails, how old do these
buildings appear to be? (A 10 percent sample was taken of houses from each of the four
neighborhoods examined in the survey.)
d. When were the majority of the houses built in terms of percentage? (For example, 60 percent
of the houses surveyed were built between I 890-1900.)
e. How many shotguns housed African-Americans?
f. Do ethnic, social, or economic patterns emerge, such as shotguns sharing a certain type of
inhabitant?
The city of Knoxville was surveyed by driving through the city looking for standing shotgun houses. When shotguns were located, the street name and number were noted, and each house was photographed. In many cases the street number is visible in the photograph. Thus, the list of addresses of the shotgun houses obtained from the survey is as a key for the photographs. These photographs will contribute to the historical record by providing a visual image of these shotguns as they appeared in 1996
(see Appendix E).
From each of the four neighborhoods where shotgun houses were found, a IO percent sample was taken in which construction materials were examined for the purpose of dating the structures. Bricks from the footers were examined for dating purposes. The appearance of the bricks was compared to data presented in An Historical and Archaeological Study ofBrick Making In Knoxville and Knox County,
Tennessee (Guyman 1986) as well as The Penfield is Mightier Than the Sword by Lance Greene (1992).
Based on this research, the bricks were then dated. In addition to bricks, nails were also examined when visible. Depending on whether the nails were cut or wire, another date for the structure was ascertained. It must be remembered, however, that the age of cut and wire nails overlapped in Knoxville due to competition from cut nail manufacturers, in particular the Knoxville Iron Company (Young 1991).
A final date for the shotguns in the field survey was determined by using the city directories.
Structures were traced by street address and in earlier city directories, by name of occupant until a time
40 when that record ceased. The date at which the building first appears is assumed to be the construction
date. These three dating methods were combined to establish the age of the structure.
Interviews
From personal interviews this thesis examines the following research questions from informants in
the Knoxville area:
a. What information did interviewees provide about how space was used in these shotgun
houses?
b. What did interviews reveal about the ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds of the residents?
c. How do residents deal with privacy, and how are the rooms used?
d. What information does an African cultural logic present in the layout of these homes reveal to
us about the origin of the house type or about how whites and others perceive such a use of
space?
The Population Sample and Setting for the Interviews
The population for the interviews was drawn from residents of shotguns in Knoxville. The subjects were chosen opportunistically. Participation in the survey was voluntary, and subjects were free to refuse to answer a question at any time.
Subjects were not chosen randomly but rather on the basis of their acquaintance with the author.
The author has personally met each of the respondents. This personal rapport helped to facilitate interviews as the subjects were more willing to cooperate because of their friendly relationship to the author.
Eight subjects were chosen because this seemed a manageable number, as some of the responses were lengthy. Each subject was asked the same seven questions. Uniformity in the questions was maintained to facilitate comparisons among respondents. If each person is answering the same questions, what each deems important will be more apparent in a comparison of their answers.
41 Interviews
To locate two of the informants, the landlord and owner of an entire block of shotguns was
contacted. The owner agreed to ask each of her tenants if they would allow themselves to be interviewed.
Three of the informants were contacted through the assistance of Dr. Charles Faulkner of the University of
Tennessee. Finally, the last three were contacted during the course of the field survey of shotgun houses in
Knoxville. These informants expressed an interest in what the author was studying, a rapport was
established, and then an agreement was reached as to their participation.
Questions dealt with issues of privacy. The subject of privacy was chosen because the shape of
the house fosters an intimacy and a close interaction among the inhabitants. Furthermore, room function
expanded on the privacy issue, as the function of the room would have an impact on the level of privacy.
For instance, often one passed through the bedroom to get to the kitchen. Privacy in the larger scheme of things is important because Africans had a different view of how space should be used (Vlach 197 5: 96).
The African perspective, according to Vlach ( 1977: 57) encompasses a communal use of space in which inhabitants can interact closely among themselves or their neighbors. A gregarious and intimate atmosphere is created by this communal use of space. It is warm, welcoming, and receptive to all one's neighbors and relatives. For these reasons, the use of space and the importance of privacy in the shotgun house was stressed in an attempt to determine whether an African cultural logic was present in the layout of these homes. It is significant that when European-Americans began to use these homes they built hallways and closed off the connections between the rooms (Vlach 1977: 57). Thus based upon the use of space, some knowledge of the identity of the culture responsible can be gained, and while this type of evidence may not be conclusive proof that shotguns belong to one culture or another, it is certainly suggestive. The idea in the mind of the builder to create a communal atmosphere is suggested. That a communal lifestyle is one Africans have chosen is undeniable. Thus the communal use of space and the African lifestyle may be connected.
42 As Professor Rabun (1998) of the school of architecture believes, the use of space in the shotgun
is uniquely African. It has a decidedly African cultural logic and the communal use of space. Rabun' s
(1998) belief is echoed particularly strongly in the linear design which is seen on the porch and is
expressed in the communal use of space to which African-Americans tend to respond.
Title Searches and Case Studies
Title searches and case studies were conducted in Knoxville to determine who owned shotgun
houses and when they were first built. This should reveal the ethnic background of the original owners and
may give an indication as to who was having the houses built. The following information was gleaned:
a. Who owned the properties when they were first built, and were these owners African
American or European-American?
b. Was the first owner involved in real-estate speculation? (In several cases a block of houses
was built and owned by one person.)
c. Did a local company or industrial concern build the shotgun houses?
Photographic Record
The historical record was consulted for evidence of photographs which should shed light on
construction dates, ownership (when used in conjunction with corroborating data), as well as providing a
record of the appearance of the houses when the photograph was taken.
Photographs dating back to the Civil War were examined. These photographs were in the
Thompson Photo Collection (McClung Historical Collection 1907) and the National Archives Collection, also from the McClung Historical Collection (1865). Photographs taken after the Civil War were also examined. As the Thompson Photo Collection has been indexed, photographs from the following headings were consulted: First and Second Creek neighborhoods, Mechanicsville, African-American neighborhoods, and company housing. Once shotgun houses were identified, the Sanborn Insurance Maps
were consulted for street address when appropriate. From that point, the residents were identified. The
43 address was referenced in city directories and traced through the years when the entry for that house is first
mentioned, which probably represents the construction date. Finally, it was possible to determine the race
of these residents from the city directories. Again, this may reveal whether shotgun houses are identified
with African-Americans.
The Knoxville Community Development Corporation (KCDC) records were also consulted for
photographs of shotgun houses. Unfortunately, in almost all cases the photographs were not accompanied
by street addresses or the owner's name, so they were not of much use. Photographs were also examined at
the Beck Cultural Center, which is an African-American historical collection. However, these were not
indexed, thus there was no systematic way to examine this collection.
Sanborn Insurance Maps
The Sanborn Maps were sampled in several ways. First they were used to locate neighborhoods
of shotgun houses for the case studies of the two neighborhoods. From the Sanborn Maps it is possible to trace some neighborhoods back in time using only the maps themselves, if one is interested in learning the age of a particular neighborhood or house. This is only possible, however, if the area in question had been mapped for that year. Shotgun houses were identified on the Sanborn Maps using standard dimensions from Vlach (1977).
City Directories
City directories are a source published by Knoxville each year. These directories include names, addresses, occupations, and ethnic backgrounds of individuals living within the city. Two neighborhoods were selected based solely upon their relative ages, otherwise selection was strictly random. Random selection means that each neighborhood of Knoxville had an equal chance of being chosen for the sample.
One neighborhood was a more recent one and the other was considerably older. For instance, the more recent neighborhood was built in 1909 during which time all of the houses were constructed. In the older neighborhood by contrast, the earliest house was built in 1876. However, most of the houses built in this
44 neighborhood were built in 1888 and 1889. Thus, the two neighborhoods chosen for the sample differ in age by at least 20 years. For the sample, 25 houses from each neighborhood were selected. In the more recent neighborhood, 24 of the houses were chosen because they stand in a row along two streets and thus helped to facilitate the research in the city directories. From each of the two neighborhoods a minimum of
10 years of the city directories were chosen for the sample. From each of these 10 years the addresses, names, occupations, and ethnic backgrounds were noted for both the older and more recent neighborhoods.
The neighborhoods were identified by locating shotgun houses on the Sanborn Insurance Maps.
Then using the addresses indicated on the maps, each was referenced in the city directories. City directories were also consulted to determine how many African-American carpenters lived in Knoxville in
1869 and 1890. City directories provided much valuable information regarding the ethnic backgrounds, occupations, and addresses of individuals living in late nineteenth century Knoxville. From this source it was possible to draw several important conclusions pertaining to the history of shotgun houses in
Knoxville, Tennessee.
Chain of Title Searches
Title searches were performed by fmding an exact street address on a Sanborn Insurance Map.
Then city property tax maps were consulted to locate the present day owner. (The city tax maps have precise locations which correspond to the owner in the city's property tax records.) Once the current owner was located it was not difficult to trace the owners back in time. The city's records are divided before 1920 between the City-County Building and the East Tennessee Historical Society's archives.
Thus, prior to 1920, the archives were consulted.
The title searches were performed in an effort to determine who owned properties when the houses were first built. This information should reveal several things. First, it should reveal whether
European-Americans or African-Americans were having the homes built. (The title search data in this case were used in conjunction with city directory information.) Second, since in several cases shotgun houses were initially owned in entire blocks, it may reveal whether the first owner was involved in real estate
45 speculation. Since shotgun houses are narrow, many can fit along a block face, thus maximizing the retail sale value and rental income when compared to larger, more expensive homes which might otherwise be built on the block face. Third, the title searches should reveal whether a local company or industry had the homes built. This would be a case in which shotgun houses appear to manufacturers to be the most economical means of providing housing for their workers.
Case Studies
For this part of the research, case studies were undertaken. In one case the owner was an absentee landlord renting to workers from the same factory. All of these factory workers were European
Americans. Another case was that of an African-American owning the house at the time of its construction. This latter case, it was found, was rare even in the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Mechanicsville. A third case involved an owner who actually lived in the house rather than using the property for rental income. Finally, there is a case where a white absentee landlord rented exclusive to white blue collar workers.
For each of these cases title of ownership was traced for the period of interest and the ethnic backgrounds of each owner were obtained from city directories. In addition, the occupation of each original owner was noted. Finally, city directories were consulted to see who lived in these houses for the period of interest. The city directories were sampled at five year intervals for the occupations of the residents.
Photographic Record and City Directories
This study examined the photographic record to find answers to questions concerning construction date, ownership (determined in conjunction with Sanborn Insurance Maps and title searches), appearance, and whether an association with African-Americans was evident in Knoxville. The latter was determined through the use of city directories. Two neighborhoods were chosen on the basis of age to determine the
46 ethnic backgrounds of the residents in relation to the age of the house. City directories were consulted in this study for information on the following questions:
a. Who lived in each of the two neighborhoods surveyed, and what were their occupations?
b. Can it be determined which residents were European-American and which were African
American?
c. How many African-American carpenters, who might contribute to the transcultural process of
the shotgun through their trade, were there in Knoxville?
Company Records
An examination of company records contributed to the understanding of company participation in shotgun housing, with a focus on gauging African-American employment in these companies. Since company records in the McClung Historical Collection consist almost entirely of personnel records which are held confidential, it was difficult at first to find company records that are available for public viewing.
Nevertheless, it was learned that the McClung Collection has in its possession floor plans of company housing for the Brookside Mills factory. These floor plans include elevations with exact measurements.
The blueprints even include the architect's name and plans for detailing on the homes. This information was consulted; however, it was found that other information regarding the composition of the workforce or dates for company expansion were not available. In sum, with few exceptions the historical record was limited concerning company records.
Other sources involved books on company housing in which the appropriate style house for particular ethnic groups is described. Furthermore, books detailing national standards for company housing were explored. It was thought that a national standard might explain the perpetuation and spread of particular styles of architecture (Community Action Group of Englewood 1992; Tompkins 1899).
47 Comparison to Shotgun Houses In Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga
To put the study of shotgun houses in Knoxville, Tennessee within the larger context of shotguns in the South - to see how the Knoxville shotguns fit into the greater social, cultural, and economic patterns active within this geographic region - they are compared to shotgun houses in Memphis;
Nashville; Louisville; Kentucky; and Chattanooga. This was accomplished by consulting the literature on shotgun houses in the South. Factors such as their connection to African-Americans, to a particular socio economic class, to real estate market forces, and to industry were examined. It is postulated that if shotguns diffused up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, they may be older and closer to their origins in Memphis than in other parts of the Southeast. The Memphis study was examined for age of shotguns in this city. This comparison with shotguns in other parts of the Southeast will help to identify the forces acting on this house type in general. From this vantage point the specific influences on shotgun houses in
Knoxville can be put into context.
48 Chapter Five
African-Americans In Knoxville
The site of Knoxville, situated in the center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee, was not settled until the late eighteenth century. After the state of North Carolina enacted the "land grab act" of 1783,
James White, North Carolina Revolutionary War captain, purchased land around the junction of the French
Broad and Holston rivers (Deaderick 1976). Knoxville was founded in 1791 by settlers from
Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia, some of whom brought slaves with them (Booker 1990).
In the 1791 census ordered by Territorial Governor William Blount, it was recorded that of the
3,619 residents of the Knoxville area, 163 were slaves, or 4.5 percent of the total population (Booker
1990). Prior to the American Civil War, the number of African-Americans in the Knoxville area remained smaller than the numbers found in other parts of the state and the South (Deaderick 1976). Most slaves were used to do housework and tend livestock, as the area did not have crops such as cotton requiring large numbers of slaves. Some slaves were taught skills and were hired out by their masters (Booker 1990).
By 1856 there were more than 25 free African-American families in Knoxville, as well as an increase in the slave population. In 1860 there were 2,793 African-Americans in Knox County, many of them coming by rail on the newly built East Tennessee and Virginia and the East Tennessee and Georgia lines (Booker 1990: 14). Life for free African-Americans was not easy. Many worked as gardeners, field hands, railroad workers, hotel waiters, street cleaners, teamsters, and as house servants. Few had learned skills (Booker 1990). In general, little is known of the history of African-Americans in Knoxville prior to
1863 (Deaderick 1976). During the Civil War, an additional 4,000 African-Americans were added to the county population. A disproportionate number lived in the city, where they were probably employed as house servants. Immediately following the war, many free African-Americans continued to arrive by the trainload to seek refuge in Knoxville (Rothrock 1946: 143). However, a Freedmen's Bureau advised
49 newly freed African-Americans not to concentrate in the Knoxville urban area and glut the small labor
market, but to remain in rural areas (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 19).
Urban centers in the South exerted influence on African-Americans, creating more employment
opportunities for them than existed in the rural areas. However, the urban African-American social
structure was heavily weighted toward the bottom, with nearly all individuals earning a meager living as
unskilled manual laborers (Foner 1990). Reconstruction attempted to bestow some civil rights and suffrage
to African-Americans in the South, but by and large, these civil rights laws remained unenforced (Foner
1990). Segregation, not integration, became the norm, resulting in the rise of African-American business
and social facilities which remained quite separate from the rest of society. Reconstruction may not have
created an integrated society but it attempted to establish a standard of equal citizenship and a recognition
that African-Americans had a right to share in the state's services (Foner 1990).
Shortly after the war in 1869 scores of African-Americans in Knoxville had moved into skilled
and semi-skilled trades such as barbering, shoemaking, carpentry, brick masonry, plastering, and blacksmithing (Booker 1990). By 1880, African-Americans made up 32.5 percent of the Knoxville
population. Many found jobs with the railroads, at the Knoxville Car Wheel Company, and at Burr and
Terry's Saw Mill (McDonald and Wheeler 1983). Many African-Americans in Knoxville also worked in the Knoxville Iron Company, in the marble industry, and as laborers and servants. Some city leaders in
Knoxville seemed eager to help African-Americans in realizing their new dreams of falling racial barriers.
Businessman H.S. Chamberlain spoke highly of the Knoxville African-Americans' high skill and trustworthiness, and praised the movement to home ownership many were making (McDonald and
Wheeler 1983). African-American property ownership was made easier due to an act sponsored by
Charles Cansler in the Tennessee legislature allowing African-Americans to inherit real estate. It is important to note that the African-American owning ofreal estate indicates a likelihood of African
American residential building activity.
Knoxville's African-American housing at the tum of the century and for the first quarter of the twentieth century often lacked conveniences such as bathrooms and electricity. The houses were poorly
50 constructed, and two and more families lived in three-room houses in sometimes filthy conditions (Daves
1926: 2-3). These general living conditions were a common situation for African-Americans whose economic circumstances resulted from the minimum living wages they received (Daves 1926: 2).
Separate but unequal was the case of African-Americans in the South and in Knoxville (Bailey 1978;
Daves 1926). The economic conundrum of the African-American in the post-war South is reflected in the statement by an Alabama planter in 1888 that only African-Americans would work so hard and be so content on so little pay and food, living "in a little log cabin 14'xl6', with cracks in it large enough to afford free passage to a large sized cat" (Foner 1970: 244). Urban African-Americans were also victimized by whites who treated them as economic slaves (DuBois 1972).
African-Americans chose urban life over rural life, suggesting that life might have been better in the cities. Inequalities were a major fact of life. An article in the February 4, 1883, Knoxville Daily
Tribune reported surprise at the progress made in Mechanicsville and that every cottage bore evidence of thrift and contentment (Knoxville Daily Tribune, 1883 ). Yet resident Leonard Bailey recalls that in 1912, white areas had two story homes with outbuildings and carriage houses and African-Americans lived in their own section in small shotgun houses (Bailey 1978). Even within Mechanicsville, itself economically segregated from more wealthy neighborhoods, racial inequalities created another wedge between white and black.
Africanisms In Knoxville
According to Philips ( 1990: 227), as much African culture now survives among whites as among blacks in the United States, and by extension in Knoxville as well. However, whites often deny learning from blacks due to racial prejudice (Philips 1990). This can be seen in Bailey's (1978) account of
Mechanicsville as it was in 1912. Bailey downplays the influence of African-Americans as much as he can. Nevertheless, the fact remains that European-Americans have been Africanized. Studies of this influence have been few, and the extrapolation of this theory is limited. Herskovits' article "What Has
Africa Given America?" (1935) identified five specific areas of African influence: music, speech dialects
51 (particularly in the south), etiquette, cuisine, and religious behavior (Philips 1990: 229). Slaves who raised children of their white masters provide another area of irnbedded African influence (Philips 1990:
233). A fuller appreciation by whites of African influences on their culture should lead to improved images of blacks and better racial interaction (Philips 1990).
Toward that end, a part of this thesis' goal is to answer the question: what evidence is there that transculturation may have occurred with the spread of shotguns in Knoxville? The shotgun house in
Knoxville may be the result of transculturation and, as will be demonstrated, appears to have been appropriated by a culture that had nothing to do with its origin. Knoxville may be just one example of how transculturation manifests itself. The shotgun in Knoxville could be the product of the blending of
African-American architecture with the industrial and economic needs of white businessmen. Chapter Six
Origin and History of the Shotgun House In Knoxville
One of the goals of this thesis is to examine the origins of the shotgun house in Knoxville and
determine if they have an African architectural heritage or originated as company housing. It is postulated
that the cultural processes involved some combination of the two, an example of transculturation at work in
the history of the shotgun. Thus the shotgun house may be seen as a blending of cultural repertoires.
The survey of shotgun houses in Knoxville was designed to answer several questions. First, how
prevalent is this style of architecture in Knoxville and what is the level of its influence? Second, in which
neighborhoods did these shotgun houses appear? Third, who lived in these houses; were they occupied by
African-Americans or some other ethnic group? Is there reason to associate shotgun houses with African
Americans in Knoxville, and if so, does this association shed light on the question of the origin of the
shotgun house? Finally, how old are the shotguns in Knoxville? Do they date to antebellum times? If so,
does such an early date connect Knoxville shotgun houses closely to this architectural style's introduction
in New Orleans from Haiti?
One objective in analyzing the survey data is to determine as completely as possible the nature of transculturation in the history of the shotgun house style in Knoxville. For example, if shotguns did not
appear in Knoxville until the late nineteenth century, one must establish whether a late appearance means that the introduction of the shotgun was purely an economic-related housing solution by white landlords or one that may have also had some grounding in the housing style's African cultural origins. Such possibilities must be addressed to explore the shotgun house as a possible product of transculturation, as an
evolving cultural artifact.
53 Survey Findings
Construction dates could be determined for 83 shotgun houses in the survey. Unfortunately, the
Lonsdale-Beaumont neighborhood was not annexed as part of Knoxville until 1913 (Knoxville City
Directory 1913). Thus city directories have no early information on the houses in those neighborhoods.
However, the ethnic origin of the 1913 occupants was noted so as not to exclude data from an entire neighborhood. Of the 83 dated houses 58 percent were built between 1900 and 1910. Only 24 percent of the houses were built between 1890 and 1900 (Knoxville City Directories 1890-1910) ( see Table I).
Table I. Construction Dates and Number of Early Shotgun Houses Built
Date # of Houses Built Percentage
1885-1890 6 5% 1890-1900 29 24% 1900-1910 48 58% Unknown 40 32% Total 123 100%
Source: Knoxville City Directories, 1885-I 9 I 0.
1bis relatively late construction date for the majority of the houses may be due in part to differential preservation. The older shotguns may simply not have survived and may have been tom down due to their severely dilapidated condition. In fact, there is documentation in the historical record to support this theory. The Mechanicsville historic district was nominated for the National Register of
Historic Places and in that nomination the construction dates on 27 percent of the shotguns are between
1890 and 1900 (NRHP 1980). After that nomination was filed the majority of those shotguns were tom down (Neel 1995). Thus, it may be that in other areas of Knoxville the older shotguns were tom down as well. This late construction date of 1900-1910 may not be a true reflection of the time period of construction in general for shotgun houses in Knoxville. It is quite possible that there were many more
54 shotgun houses in Knoxville around the turn of the century. The photographic record seems to support this
theory.
Photographs of shotguns in Knoxville were studied in conjunction with the Sanborn Insurance
Maps and city directories to determine the construction dates of these buildings. From these data it was
learned that the earliest recorded shotgun house was built in Knoxville between 1869 and 1871 (MacArthur
1982; Knoxville City Directories 1869-1872). This structure appears in a photograph of the neighborhood
surrounding the E1V&G Railroad which indicated that this house was standing in 1871. The house was
located at 17 4 Broad Street. A second shotgun next to it in the photo at 17 6 Broad Street could not be
traced in the city directories (see Figure C-1). These two structures are the oldest recorded shotguns in
Knoxville. Another old shotgun house is located at 63 W. Clinch. It dates between 1869 and 1875 when
the photograph of the structure was taken (see Figure C-2). It may be as old as the two houses on Broad
Street. The shotgun at 63 W. Clinch was used as a business throughout its history (Creekmore 1988;
Knoxville City Directories 1882-1889) (see Appendix B-1).
The photographs of the Broad Street and Clinch A venue shotguns are rare in that professional photographers of those times were largely concerned with commercial buildings or the homes of prominent people. It is unlikely that a shotgun house occupied by a working class household would have been photographed. The fact that these three early shotguns were photographed at all suggests that the shotgun house may have been more prevalent in the 1870s than one might think (Thompson 1996).
One final set of questions which the survey of Knoxville shotguns proposed to answer is as follows: How well does the field data confirm construction dates? What materials are the houses made of?
Does the survey reveal whether local handmade materials were being used or whether standardized materials were used, thus making mass production of these dwellings possible? In the 1995 survey of
Knoxville, an approximate IO percent sample was taken of shotgun houses from each of the four neighborhoods. These four neighborhoods are Mechanicsville, North Knoxville, Lonsdale, and the Citico
Street area. Construction materials were examined in an attempt to help date the buildings in this 10 percent sample (see Appendix B-2, Appendix B-3).
55 In Lonsdale, where no construction dates could be found in the city directories, five houses out of
31 total shotguns were examined. Of those five houses, four contained wire nails and one contained cut
nails. Cut nails, produced locally by the Knoxville Iron Company, successfully competed with wire nails
until 1889 (Clark 1949: 48-49). Wire nails were produced by 1880 (Young 1991), so the two nail types
overlap one another by close to a decade. Interestingly, the house with the cut nails, at 1203 Delaware
Street, was constructed with pressed bricks. As cut nails virtually ceased to be used by 1890 (Clark 1949:
48; Faulkner 1996), and as dry pressed bricks also ceased by 1890 (Greene 1992: 90), it seems likely that
the house was constructed just shortly after the streets were laid out by real estate developer William
Ragsdale in 1890 (Cason et al. 1992). The other house, at 1023 New York Avenue, contained pressed
bricks. The presence of wire nails in this house may be due to later wiring for electricity or restoration
work. This house is also given a date of circa 1890. However, since the framing on only two of the
shotgun houses in the survey was observed, it is not possible to determine whether the majority of the
houses were mass produced. The remaining three houses in Lonsdale appear to have been built between
1890 and 1913 (Cason et al. 1992; Knoxville City Directories 1900-1913). This time span seems likely for
the construction of the remaining 26 shotgun houses in Lonsdale (see Appendix B-2, Appendix B-3). With
documentary evidence lacking, field surveys in the Lonsdale neighborhood proved to be particularly
useful.
In Mechanicsville, by contrast, it was possible to obtain and use both documentary evidence and
field data in determining the construction date of the shotgun houses. The 10 percent sample in
Mechanicsville also consists of five houses, all of which were built with wire nails. In several of the
houses, cinder blocks from restoration work replaced the original brick. However, a house at 405 James
A venue built in 1905 (Knoxville City Directory 1905), contained stiff-mud, end-cut extruded bricks. This
type of brick was in use between 1890 and 1905-1910 (Greene 1992: 90). Thus in this case, field data
corroborate the historical record. Forty-five percent of the shotgun houses in the Mechanicsville survey
were built between 1885 and 1900. Mechanicsville yielded some of the oldest dates for Knoxville
shotguns, with such construction dates of 1886 and 1888 for two of the buildings (Knoxville City
56 Directories 1885-1900) (see Appendix B-2, Appendix B-3). These two older buildings were located at
1217 University Avenue and 229 Cansler Street, respectively.
One of the smaller neighborhoods in this survey is an area just south of Mechanicsville off Ailor
A venue near the University of Tennessee. It consists of 11 shotgun houses. Nine were built between 1905 and 1910. The remaining two were built after 1920 (Knoxville City Directories 1905-1939). Four of these houses were examined for the purpose of dating. All of them contained wire nails and cinder blocks, with the exception of the house at 429 Citico Street. This house had wire nails and end-cut extruded bricks. As will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter, these houses on Citico Street were moved there by rail in 1906. They were placed on freshly built piers which obscures their true construction date. The exact date of construction could not be determined, as the precise previous street address was not known
(Brabson 1997) (see Appendix B-2, Appendix B-3).
The final neighborhood in the survey of Knoxville shotguns is in North Knoxville. This neighborhood had more shotguns compared to those located in other areas of the city. Forty-five shotguns were found and eight were analyzed. Six of these houses had cut nails; those that did not have brick replaced by cinder block exhibited end-cut extruded brick. The dates for these six houses range between
1890 and 1901 (Knoxville City Directories 1890-1901) (see Appendix B-2, Appendix B-3). The field data corroborate the historical record. Two of the houses had a noteworthy combination of construction materials. These houses, at 1113 and 1115 Harvey Street, had dry pressed bricks in the footers, but the building was constructed with wire nails. These two houses were originally built for the purpose of rental income (Northcutt 1996). As these two houses were being restored, it was possible to examine the framing. Both houses were built with the balloon framing technique, indicating that they were mass produced. Balloon framing became the standard construction technique by the mid-nineteenth century
(McAlester and McAlester 1992). Thus, shotguns in Knoxville appear to have been mass produced in white working class neighborhoods for the purpose ofrental income (Demott 1990), thereby indicating that transculturation was well underway by the turn of the century.
57 A total of 123 shotgun houses was still standing in Knoxville as of 1995. This is a small number
of remaining structures when compared to the population just after the turn of the century when most of the
shotguns were built. By 1910 the population of Knoxville was 36,346 (United States Census 1910).
Despite the small number of shotguns remaining, however, there is an indication from several different
sources that shotgun houses were much more numerous at one time (Bailey 1978; Bright-Neal 1989; Cason
et al. 1992; Daves 1926; Welles 1919). In fact, in 1980 there were 41 shotgun houses within the
Mechanicsville historic district alone (Bright-Neal 1989). This district is only 15 blocks long and consists
of 156 structures. Thus 26 percent of all the buildings were shotguns (National Register 1980).
Furthermore, a personal history of Mechanicsville in 1912 states that the majority of houses in the African
American section of Mechanicsville were shotgun houses (Bailey 1978: 3).
Bailey's (1978) account not only emphasized the large number of shotguns in Mechanicsville, but also suggests a strong connection between shotgun houses and African-Americans in this Knoxville neighborhood. Bailey (1978: 3) says of the African-American section of Mechanicsville: "There were no whites in the area. Most of the houses were shotguns on 25 foot lots that real estate owners of all that land sold off to black families that could pay." This statement is also revealing for its indication of ownership of shotguns. Thus shotgun houses appear to have been numerous in Knoxville and appear to have an
African-American link. Apparently, European-American real estate investors owned the shotgun houses for rental income (Warranty Deed Book 362, page 328, Warranty Deed Book 91 page 155; Warranty Deed
Book 125 page 105). Bailey's (1978) statement also seems to imply that these real estate investors owned the property from the beginning and had the houses built specifically for the income potential.
Nevertheless, African-Americans were living in these houses and later bought them from their landlords when they could afford to do so. Bailey (1978: 3) says of the Caucasian section of Mechanicsville: "it was true that in addition to many fine homes in this area there were a few shotgun type houses but they were also occupied by whites." This indicates that there were far fewer shotgun houses in the European
American part of Mechanicsville.
58 The proportion of shotgun houses appears to be fairly strong in other parts of the city. In
Lonsdale, a segregated neighborhood, "there were a lot of shotgun houses," according to a community study that took information from oral histories and personal memories of the authors (Cason et al. 1992:
9). Furthermore, shotgun houses abound on the Sanborn Insurance Maps. As can be seen from these accounts, shotgun houses were historically more prevalent than the few remaining number in 1995 would have one believe.
Today, of the 123 standing shotguns, 25 percent are in Lonsdale. Moreover, the shotgun houses in Lonsdale appear in both the African-American and European-American neighborhoods (Cason et al.
1992). However, according to the primary author of the Lonsdale community study, there were more shotguns in the African-American section of Lonsdale than in the European-American section (Cason
1996).
Of all the shotguns standing in Knoxville in 1995, 27 percent are located in Mechanicsville. Thus two lower-income and primarily African-American neighborhoods contain over 50 percent of all the shotguns recorded in Knoxville. The remaining shotguns are located in North Knoxville near the
Brookside Mills factory. This neighborhood is typically blue collar and predominantly European
American. The shotgun house is historically connected to company towns and working class people in general, so this association is not surprising.
Identifying neighborhoods where shotguns were found leads to an examination of who lived in these houses. Were they primarily African-Americans or simply low-income families of various ethnic backgrounds? Data from city directories ( 1886-1939) shed interesting light on this question.
Of the 123 standing shotguns in Knoxville in 1996, only 23 percent had African-American residents in them at the time they were built. This may seem to be a very low number, especially as the house type has been traditionally associated with African-Americans (Vlach 1975, 1986, 1990). It should be kept in mind, however, that there were few African-Americans living in Knoxville at the time. In 1890, for example, only 29 percent of the population was African-American and in 1910 only 21 percent were
African-American (United States Census 1890-1910). The reason there are so many shotgun houses here
59 in Knoxville is that they were already adopted by the whites. Thus the percentage of African-Americans
living in shotguns appears to be a reflection of the overall ratio of blacks to whites in the total population of
Knoxville (see Table 2).
Table 2. Census Data
Date Knoxville Knoxville Knoxville Knox Co. Knox Co. Knox Co. Total # African- # Whites Total #African- # Whites Americans Americans
1820 1,406 434 972 11,126 1,825 Slaves 9,218 83 Free
1860 5,300 752 4,548 22,813 2,793 20,020
1870 8,008 2,283 5,725 28,990 4,840 24,150 1880 9,693 3,149 6,544 39,124 7,244 31,880 1890 22,535 6,423 16,106 59,557 10,940 48,609 1910 36,346 7,638 28,706 94,187 12,709 81,476
Sources: 1820; United States Census Dept. of Interior Census Office, Statistics of the population of 1820, the United States at 4th census, vol. 1. 1860 - 1870; United States Census Dept. of Interior Census Office, Statistics of the population of 1860, the United States at 8th census, vol. 1. 1870; United States Census Dept. of Interior Census Office, Statistics of the population 1870, the United States at 9th census, vol. I . 1880; United States Census Dept. of Interior Census Office, Statistics of the population 1880, the United States at 10th census, vol. 1. 1890; United States Census Dept. of Interior Census Office, Statistics of the population 1890, the United States at 11 th census, vol. I.
It seems plain that some of the shotgun houses standing in Knoxville in 1996 were associated with
African-Americans. In Lonsdale, for instance, only 19 percent of the residents of shotgun houses were
African-American in 1913 (Knoxville City Directory 1913). In contrast, 64 percent of Mechanicsville shotguns were inhabited by African-Americans between 1886 and 1939 (Knoxville City Directories 1886-
1939). This supports Bailey's (1978) account of Mechanicsville as it was in 1912.
Interestingly, of the early shotguns dated in the survey (1886-1893), 39 percent had residents of
African-American origin. Early on, then, more African-Americans were living in shotguns. Thus the
60 closer one gets to the origin of the shotgun in Knoxville, the greater the proportion of African-Americans living in them. Nevertheless, there is no direct evidence that African-Americans brought the house type to
Knoxville. In fact, when one looks at the evidence from the very earliest shotguns in Knoxville the houses appear to be more class specific than connected to any one ethnic group. The resident of the very earliest recorded shotgun in Knoxville, captured in an 1872 photograph, housed a European-American who worked for the E1V&G Railroad (Knoxville City Directory 1876; MacArthur 1982) (see Figure C-1). In
1890, when both houses in the photo could be documented in the city directory, both residents were white company workers of the E1V&G Railroad. Furthermore, from 1869-1890 all evidence from the city directories relating to these two houses indicates that they were connected to the E1V&G Railroad from the time of their construction to 1890. This suggests the houses were built as company housing for the railroad (see Appendix B-1). This may be how some of the earliest shotgun houses arrived in Knoxville.
They may have diffused along the railroad and were part of a standardized plan for worker housing
(Tompkins 1899: 118-119).
Former railroad engineer, George Anderson (1997) states that shotgun housing was used by many of the railroad companies to house "section workers" who were responsible for a certain section of the track. These section houses, which were shotguns, would be placed together in small towns every 30 or 40 miles and the workers would be required to maintain a certain section of the tracks. Anderson ( 1997) believes these houses were standardized and were taken from specifically designed blueprints because
"every house was exactly the same." Anderson (1997), who worked for Southern Railway since 1944, also states that on his grandfather's plantation slaves lived in structures which were one room wide and two rooms long with the door on the gable end. These houses were of mud brick and were still standing when be was a young boy. Thus early shotguns in Anderson's mind are linked to African-Americans (Anderson
1997). Anderson (1997) also states that he is not surprised that the railroad may have brought shotguns to
Knoxville. He believes it is very likely that it did.
An interesting point is that many African-Americans worked for railroad companies in Knoxville.
Rothrock (1946: 312-313) comments that African-Americans "from Knoxville and other sections of East
61 Tennessee were largely employed from 1870 to 1890 in railroad construction. Some of the railroads for
the most part constructed by Negroes were: The Cincinnati Southern, the Nashville and North-western and
the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia." Since African-Americans specifically worked for the ETV &G
Railroad it is possible they may have introduced the house type to the company. Certainly the railroad
employed carpenters for various needs so the possibility remains that an African-American carpenter may
have introduced the shotgun style as company housing for the ETV&G. It is also possible that shotgun
houses diffused from New Orleans directly along various railroad lines.
The ETV&G reached Knoxville in 1855 (Henderson 1975). Villages then grew up around the
railroads in Knoxville as capitalists joined entrepreneurs to tap mining and logging resources. These
railroad villages were most often built by the company (Deadrick 1976: 20-21, 30). Another railroad in
Knoxville which is known to have used shotgun houses as company housing is the L&N Railroad (Brabson
1997). Knoxville had full rail connections to many of the southern states by the time of the Civil War. The
evidence is certainly suggestive that the railroad introduced the shotgun to Knoxville. As Vlach (1996)
notes, "shotguns diffused from New Orleans mostly along the railroad and in a few cases along the rivers."
Whether the railroad adopted the house type directly from New Orleans or from its African-American
employees, or from both sources, remains obscured by a lack of documentary evidence.
The third early shotgun in Knoxville which may also date to the same time span was not a
residence but the site of a white printer's office (Knoxville City Directories 1869-1882, Creekmore 1988)
(see Figure C-2). That the earliest three shotgun houses are associated with European-Americans indicates
that as early as the 1870s the shotgun house was an artifact reflecting transculturation at work in Knoxville.
However, this does not mean that African-American neighborhoods did not have many shotgun houses. There were many on Temperance Street, including one that was converted into a YWCA (Booker
1993) (see Figure C-3). This shotgun was built in 1904, and African-Americans lived there from the time
of construction until it was converted into a YWCA in 1928 (Knoxville City Directories 1903-1928). That
African-Americans thought enough of a shotgun house to use it for their YWCA is a telling comment on their feelings for these houses. They evidently thought it was a suitable building for such a community
62 purpose. In general, however, it can be seen from the photographs of the earliest shotguns in Knoxville
and from corroborating evidence from city directories that the process of transculturation was just
beginning as early as the 1870s.
Another question is were African-Americans building shotguns in Knoxville? The 1869
Knoxville City Directory lists 31 African-Americans in the building professions of carpentry and brick
masonry (Knoxville City Directory 1869). Although there were few African-Americans living in
Knoxville at the time (2,283 in 1870) this is still a small number of carpenters (U.S. Census 1870).
Nevertheless, it is possible that some African-American carpenters were building shotguns in Knoxville.
Historian Robert Booker (1996) believes that many houses were built by African-Americans who were
simply skilled in carpentry without being officially recognized as carpenters. Furthermore, according to
Neel (1996), who conducted a study on Mechanicsville, there was an influx of African-Americans to
Mechanicsville after the Civil War. They were invited to live there by relatives and friends who spoke of the economic opportunity in the area. It was at this time Neel (1996) suggests that African-Americans came to Knoxville and built houses to live in. Yet over the years, the number of black carpenters in
Knoxville does not increase much at all. In 1890 there were only 53 African-Americans in the building professions. As far as skilled trades are concerned, there were far more African-American blacksmiths than any other skilled profession (Knoxville City Directories 1869, 1890) (see Appendix B-4).
Nevertheless, as Booker (1996) points out, blacks did not necessarily need to be officially recognized as carpenters to build shotgun houses. Thus, it is entirely possible that blacks may have built any number of the shotguns that appeared in African-American neighborhoods which have since been tom down.
Furthermore, Knoxville College, an African-American college in Mechanicsville, had a carpentry department where African-American students learned this trade. Students built several residential buildings on the campus grounds and many shotguns stood near Knoxville College. So it is likely that
African-Americans were building shotguns in Knoxville during the last quarter of the nineteenth century
(The Aurora 1909).
63 Industrialization and the Development of Distinct Neighborhoods In Knoxville
By the time of the Civil War, Knoxville had rail connections as far as New York City, though its
economic ties were clearly southern oriented (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 13). Knoxville was in a good
position to take advantage of the New South movement, a thrust toward controlled, top-down city planning
that fostered industrialization and attracted Northern investment. Rail connections, abundant labor, and
resources were intact, and many professional people, elite merchants, and bankers were accepting of the
New South creed (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 16). The black population was small and these
townspeople had little inclination toward politics, thus making top-down control readily possible
(McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 16).
The 1867 founding of the Knoxville Iron Company by ex-Union officer Hiram S. Chamberlain
provides an example of the growing industrialization typical of the New South movement, while also
providing insight into the formation of Knoxville neighborhoods. The labor pool, railroad, natural
resources, and lack of anti-northern sentiment made Knoxville an appealing place for Chamberlain's
enterprise (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 21). The Knoxville Iron Company eventually employed 800
workers, mostly blacks and Welsh immigrants. Both groups lived close to the factory, with the Welsh
inhabiting large Victorian houses and the blacks living in modest homes in what would become the
Mechanicsville section (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 21). Leonard Bailey (1978) offers recollections of early Knoxville that help in an analysis of the shotgun in Knoxville. From a discussion with former
Knoxville Iron Company superintendent Purn Hutchison, Bailey ( 1978: 4) relates that this company was the only mill that would even hire blacks with only 20% of the workforce being African-American, working strictly as laborers. Other industries in Knoxville followed the pattern of the Knoxville Iron
Company, locating on the northern and northwestern sides of town where land was cheaper and rail access was easy. Housing was constructed in these areas for the workers, either by the employing plant itself or by private developers (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 26). By the 1880s industrial mill villages ringed the
downtown area, retaining their individual neighborhood characteristics after the city drew these areas
64 together (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 21). Blacks and immigrants held the semi-skilled and unskilled jobs, with skilled labor imported for the most part (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 21). Housing style, just like jobs, can be said to be allocated based on race. Since African-Americans were at the bottom of the social ladder, they were forced to settle for some of the least attractive housing (Mayor 1988: 64).
Between 1880 and 1887, 97 new factories were built in Knoxville, including iron mills, marble companies, furniture factories, and cloth mills, the latter ushering in an apparel industry. Coal companies supplied power to these industries (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 22). The period 1880-1890 saw the largest population increase in Knoxville history (Rothrock 1946: 224).
As the city prospered, wealthier citizens sought to remove themselves from the lower class black and Appalachian white workers needed to fuel the industries, resulting in the establishment of such residential enclaves as Fort Sanders. Economic residential segregation of the city had begun (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 26). Streetcar lines made this segregation possible for the wealthy, while at the same time, the distinct blue-collar neighborhoods of the early days of industrialization began to grow together, creating large working-class areas, such as Mechanicsville and the North Central Avenue area. The black population especially felt these segregating forces, as the conservative political climate frustrated their aspirations of social progressiveness and the racial animosity toward them grew from Appalachian workers who had shared neighborhoods with them (McDonald and Wheeler 1983: 26-29). Though there were economic advances by blacks and a growing sense of community as indicated by fraternal and social organizations, many black leaders were frustrated by the lack of social progress, particularly since blacks amounted to a voting block as large as one-third of the population (McDonald and Wheeler 1983).
Four Case Studies of Shotgun Ownership
Four types of shotgun ownerships in combination with four types of rental histories in Knoxville are examined through deeds of title and city directories in four case studies (see Appendix B-5, Appendix
B-6). The first is a case in which a white absentee landlord rented exclusively to white blue collar and company workers. The next case involves an African-American owner renting exclusively to African-
65 Americans. In the third case, the above owner's sister also rented exclusively to African-Americans. The
fourth case is of two shotguns side by side in Mechanicsville which were owned by two white absentee
landlords, who rented only to African-Americans.
Certain patterns were identified in these case studies, which addressed several questions. First,
were the majority of the tenants in the case studies blue collar workers? Second, were there many
company workers and did all tenants at one address work for the same company? This would imply that
the house at the address was built specifically by that company to house its workers or a local real estate
developer was capitalizing on the close proximity of the industry. Third, how do the patterns for each case
study differ? Does one case study have more African-Americans living in the house than the others? What
may be the reason for this? How does white ownership from the time of construction affect the history of
the house? Likewise, how does African-American ownership affect the history of the houses? After
presenting the findings of the case studies, these questions will be answered.
The first case study is that of Henry Bloom, a European-American who owned the seven shotgun
houses on the west side of Citico Street, which is part of Pritchard' s Addition. Bloom bought the property
in 1906, the year the houses were moved to their present location (Knox County Warranty Deed Book 210,
page 149) (see Appendix B-6). He was a grocer who owned a store at 114 S. Central. He was also a real
estate investor who had the houses placed on his property for rental income. All of the first residents on
Citico Street were Caucasian and all of them worked for W. J. Oliver Manufacturing Company (Knoxville
City Directory 1906). It appears that Bloom learned that this company was planning to relocate from W.
Church Street downtown to its Dale Avenue location in 1904 (Knoxville City Directory 1903-1904). The workers could have easily walked to work from Citico Street. These houses were originally located near the L&N tracks on South Broadway near the freight office, where they were originally built as worker
section houses for the L&N Railroad. With the widening of the railroad right-of-way, the houses were moved. This information comes from an oral history passed down from owner to owner (Brabson 1997).
In 1906 the houses were transported by rail to their present location and placed on new brick piers, which
is why the houses do not appear to be as old as they are. The nails were replaced during remodeling and
66 electrical wiring (Brabson 1997). W. J. Oliver, for whom all the first residents worked, had investments in
the L&N Railroad. This may explain why these particular houses were chosen. It appears then that Bloom
used his influence to get the houses moved from the freight yard to his lots on Citico Street in order to take
advantage of the rental income (Brabson 1997).
The houses at 413, 415, and 417 University A venue have an interesting history. An African
American purchased the house at 417 University A venue just five years after its construction. The owner,
Edward Leeper, had family connections to the house from the time of its construction in 1893. Leeper
lived in the house for 10 years after purchasing it and bought an adjoining vacant lot in 1900. Four years
later, he had two shotgun houses built on the site (Knox County Warranty Deed Book 523, page 34;
Knoxville City Directories 1893-1904) (see Appendix B-6). Edward Leeper was a puddler at the
Knoxville Iron Company while he lived at 417 University A venue. In addition, Leeper and his family
invested in real estate. His brother James Leeper also owned a shotgun house (Knoxville City Directory
1892; Warranty Deed Book 523, page 349). Edward Leeper rented his property strictly to African
Americans, all of whom were blue collar workers (Knoxville City Directory 1893-1914).
That Edward Leeper chose to own and build shotgun houses may indicate a cultural preference for
that housing style, although this is not certain. By the early 1900s shotgun houses in Knoxville more than
likely were fully appropriated. While Leeper's example suggests a possibility of cultural preference, other
ownership factors, such as economy and ease of construction, are also possibilities as primary motives in
choosing the shotgun house style. The two additional shotgun houses may have been simply copies of the
first house. Leeper may have found these houses both affordable and culturally rewarding. Tucker (1995)
links twentieth century shotguns with African-American cultural preference, so it is not unlikely that
Leeper was similarly motivated in Knoxville, as he was attached to the house style he had known from family connections before he purchased and duplicated it.
James Leeper, Edward's brother, is another case ofan African-American owning a shotgun in
Knoxville (Warranty Deed Book 124, page 207) (see Appendix B-6). James, who was a porter at Singer
Manufacturing, owned the property at the time of construction of the house at 1626 Wallace Street in I 891
67 (Knoxville City Directory 1891/92; Warranty Deed Book 124, page 207). A year later, James sold the house on Wallace Street to his sister Lizzy and was boarding with his mother in the shotgun on 41 7
University Avenue owned by his brother Edward (Knoxville City Directory 1891/92). Edward Leeper and his mother Sarah had half interest in the property at 1626 Wallace Street (Warranty Deed Book 124, page
207). Lizzy Leeper rented the property exclusively to blue collar blacks (Knoxville City Directory
1891/92). While these two cases are also suggestive of a cultural preference for shotgun houses by
African-Americans, it is also possible that economy of house type and personal familiarity may have been motivating factors.
The interesting point in Edward Leeper's case is that he built the two additional shotguns himself, as he did not have the means necessary to hire professional contractors. There may be another connection to African-American housing preference in the fact that Lizzie Leeper rented her Wallace Street shotgun to an African-American carpenter in 1906. Perhaps this carpenter was acquainted with the Leepers two years earlier, and helped Edward construct the shotguns at 413 and 415 University Avenue.
The Leeper family history has some bearing on the history of shotguns in Knoxville and aspects of the shotguns' local transculturation. All of the Leeper children were born in Tennessee, as was their father Tobias Leeper, who was listed as a 51 year-old gardener in Knoxville in 1880. The two boys, James and Edward, were 14 and 15 years-old respectively in 1880 (United States Census 1880). In the 1884 city directory, the first available after Mechanicsville was annexed to Knoxville, it shows the Leeper family residing at 67 Wallace Street, a part of Mechanicsville where shotguns are known to have existed (Bailey
1978). It is the same street and block where James Leeper later bought a lot and built a shotgun. It is possible the Leepers were already living in a shotgun on Wallace Street in 1880. Tobias Leeper or members of his family may have settled in Mechanicsville quite early, as "Blacks both slave and free fled to Mechanicsville when General Burnside moved his forces to Knoxville in 1862, so these blacks would be under Burnside's protection" (Neel and Li 1977-1978: 6). As adults, the Leeper children purchased and built houses that were familiar and culturally comfortable to them. As cultural beings we tend to cling to what is familiar, and we do not surrender those cultural values and norms unless forced to do so.
68 Finally, there is a case of a white absentee landlord in Mechanicsville renting exclusively to blue
collar African-Americans at 1617 and 1619 Clinton Street. Both houses were built in 1902 (Knoxville
Warranty Deed Book 91, page 155; Warranty Deed Book 125, page 105) (see Appendix B-6). Over the 15
years that were researched, many of these black tenants worked at the Knoxville Iron Company and others
worked at other local industrial companies. Of 15 residents, nine were company workers. That these
tenants worked at different companies over the years indicates that these were not houses owned by any
one company for its workers (Knoxville City Directories 1901-1917). They appear, then, to be rental
income properties, and were most likely built as real estate investments by the landlord.
Certain patterns are revealed by these four case studies through both deeds of title and city
directories. Of the residents in these case studies, 99 percent of them were blue collar workers. Of these
blue collar workers, 39 percent were company workers. African-American owners tended to rent to as
many company workers as did European-American owners. In all four cases the workers were employed
by different companies throughout the years, thus indicating that the houses were likely not built as
company housing per se. Rather, in every case except the Leeper home at 417 University A venue, the
residents were tenants providing rental income for the property owners. Furthermore, African-American
owners rented exclusively to other African-Americans, whereas two of the white owners rented to African
Americans and only one white owner rented exclusively to whites. This may be a reflection of the fact that
black owners wanted to help their own people by providing them with decent affordable housing. In
addition, it appears to be a reflection of the economic class of the tenants. Whites in many cases may have
had the means to choose the type of housing they prefer. Thus, the owner's ethnicity appears to play a role
in shaping the history of the houses in three out of four cases, that is, the owners rented to members of their
own ethnic group, with the exception of the Clinton Street houses where white owners rented to African
Americans. Except for the Leeper case study, which suggests only a possible African-American preference
for shotguns, these case studies reveal that the house type is predominantly a house of the working class
and does not belong to any one ethnic group (Warranty Deed Book 523, page 349; Warranty Deed Book
69 124, page 207; Warranty Deed Book 125, page 105; Warranty Deed Book 91, page 155; Warranty Deed
Book 210, page 149; Knoxville City Directories 1891-1920).
Transculturation In Two Knoxville Neighborhoods
The comparison between an older neighborhood in Knoxville and a more recent one reveals
evidence that the process of transculturation regarding the shotgun house style was indeed operating in
Knoxville. The more recent neighborhood was established in 1909. It was "Brookside Village," a village
of shotgun houses built for company workers at Brookside Mills. Brookside Village was examined for the
years 1909-1919 (see Appendix B-7). Throughout that time period, 100 percent of the occupants were
white, and of these 72 percent were company workers. Furthermore, all of these residents were blue collar
workers (Knoxville City Directories 1909-1919). Since the shotgun in early North American history
appears to have evolved from a distinct African origin, the white habitation of Brookside Village shotguns
means that appropriation of this African-American architectural tradition by the dominant European
American culture occurred by the turn of the century in Knoxville. This conclusion can be reached
because architect L. C. Waters had designed the village as early as 1899 (Waters 1899).
In the older Knoxville neighborhood dating from 1882 to 1887 (when the majority of the houses
first appeared) 52 percent of the residents were African-American (Knoxville City Directories 1882-1887)
(see Appendix B-8). Considering that the overall percentage of African-Americans in the population
census for that time period was 29 percent, this is a fairly high percentage of black residents (United States
Census 1890) (see Table 2 on page 59). Whether it was the fact that the shotgun house was used by low
income families in general or that African-Americans in particular preferred that style of house is difficult to say. It may be that African-Americans simply took what was available to them and within their financial means. There is no evidence that blacks built the houses in this neighborhood. Thus the houses may have
been built by whites, which removes the houses further from their African origin. However, it can not be
said for certain that any overall pattern in Knoxville exists concerning the shotgun and its appropriation by
the dominant white culture by 1885. Because of the gaps in the historical record, there is no definite
70 answer to the question oftransculturation by 1885. Slightly more than 15 years later, however, the house type appears to have been completely appropriated. By the time of the construction of the company town of Brookside Village in 1909 there appears to be a purely economic motive for building shotguns
(Knoxville City Directory 1909). Thus a new cultural artifact has been produced as a result of the process of transculturation. Whites have adopted the house type and fitted it to their own needs. The shotgun house has been fully appropriated by 1909 in Knoxville. The commingling of African-American and
European-American influences has greatly altered the cultural significance of the shotgun and has completed the process of transculturation.
71 Chapter Seven
Use of Space
Self, Space, and Shelter
A review of the literature dealing with how people are affected by their living space is appropriate
to understand how transculturation is evident in the development of the shotgun house. Activities are
influenced by the physical shape of the structure and the inhabitants' attitudes of self esteem are affected
by the structure's status in the culture's norms. An African proxemic perspective is evident in the flow and
use of the space in the shotgun regardless of who the inhabitants are.
The Yoruba to-gun in Africa reflects a decidedly communal use of space, as does the shotgun in
this country. This communal use of space and the small regard for privacy may suggest a particularly
African cultural logic present in the layout of the shotgun. Tucker ( 1995) points out that the African
American shotgun grew out of the form of the African Yoruba dwelling unit, which reflected in its physical
properties the African importance on the community rather than the self. The emphasis was on the
celebration of family life and the development of relationships. In the Project Row House site in New
Orleans, much of life was carried on outside the shotgun and in the collective outdoor space between the
two rows of houses divided by the street, much as Yoruba life took place in the compound structure
(Tucker 1995).
How the shotgun should be structured, says Tucker ( 1995), is a natural extraction of the living
environment of the Yoruba peoples. African society placed traditional value on the ancestors and the
continuity of the extended family. The lives of family and clan members were so interwoven that the boundaries between self, family, and community were obscured. Rows of shotgun houses in the U.S.,
transformed by Caribbean and European influences, reflect this African communal compound emphasis
that celebrates the family of clan and community (Tucker 1995).
72 Anthropologist Edward T. Hall's (1960) theory ofproxemics, which deals with the different ways
people perceive and use space, helps one gain an understanding of how the peculiar structurally-induced
influences ofa shotgun house could affect individuals. Hall (1960) holds that an individual's personal
space extends from him or her to varying degrees given the social situation. For example, closeness at a
baseball game may be acceptable whereas the same spatial proximity at the office would not be acceptable.
We sometimes use materials, books, bags, etc., to extend the dimensions of our personal space bubble.
Hall states that people are rarely aware of how much our unconscious perceptions of space influence our
behavior (Hall 1960).
Noting that the shotgun in the New World may have been as much based on the Kongo/Angola
region of Africa as the Fon/Yoruba, Thompson (1989) wonders whether the grand verandas typical of
Southern colonial grandeur were not influenced by the Kongo/Angolan verandas. He further cites Labelle
Prussin who reports that when blacks move into urban areas where the housing was built by European
Americans, one of the first things they do is add a porch. This changes the dynamics of the neighborhood, bringing conversations from porch to porch and into the street (Thompson 1989).
In relating house form as an important artifact of spatial use, Williams ( 1991) notes Vlach' s assertion that the social pattern that accompanies the American shotgun house is more African than the actual form of the house. Three limitations on interpreting the social and symbolic use of physical form in housing should be noted: broad outlines of form do not fully articulate the complexities of use; house plan and spatial use are somewhat independent; and different forms may accommodate a single use of space or a single form may accommodate more than one system of spatial organization (Williams 1991).
Examples of such variation of use are evident in studying the big house in North Carolina. Within
North Carolina's big houses, privacy was sometimes designated with the positioning of a person's bed in a room, giving them their own comer. Individualizing one's space, whether in the house or within the community, was acceptable, though such individualizing had to be gained rather than being given. The privacy achieved in the home, where it was usual for several adults to sleep in the same room, was limited
73 but was something respected by the members of the house. Furthermore, many people weren't concerned
about a lack of privacy because they didn't know anything else (Williams 1991).
As has been demonstrated, similar rules of distance setting were used in both African and Haitian
house-type architectures. A philosophy of space, a culturally determined sense of dimension that fixes
walls and spatial relations in the house, is associated with the way people seek order in their world. Citing
Amos Rapoport's belief that the forms of vernacular building are more the desires of unified group than the
result of individual desires, Vlach suggests that the ideal that gives shape to Yoruba dwellings is likely the
same creative force expressed in Yoruba art. In Yoruban architecture, a hierarchy expressed spatially
positions of chiefs around the king and families around the chiefs. Even in the bush, the single house is an
extension of the concentric compound of the village. Room dimensions are similar and the often
windowless enclosure of a bush house emphasizes the interiority of the compound. This potentially
claustrophobic enclosure generates intimacy, expressing a common ideal of intense involvement with
family and society (Vlach 1975).
Shotgun-style houses in Haiti preserved Yoruban intimacy found in the bush house. The idea of personal closeness was maintained through a structure using the same dimensions. With the open front door at the path, the inhabitants are also directly linked with the public domain. The front porch adds to the dwelling a place that also becomes part of the world of the street. The result of the porches helped make Haitians an outgoing companionable people, according to observer Moholy-Nagy. They also fit the
Yoruban concepts of familiar, intimate space and a comfortable social environment. Yorubans in Haiti were not able to fashion their architectural compounds, because the plantation system required only the small, individual huts (Vlach 1975).
In colonial Haiti and in modem Yoruba culture, a decline in the extended family condition necessitated an architectural response. When Yoruba were forced to adapt their architecture from group to individual in Haiti, they incorporated the porch in the front. Whereas in modem Yoruba, the traditional bush house added a porch onto the side. Both are still the same house style, and the similar adaptations indicates that the shotgun is an African artifact at base. Later New World adaptations retained the intimate
74 and social nature of the house type. This reinterpretation of space to retain an African house form also reestablished African social values, which are more strong and evident than the spatial carryover. Even though European construction methods were used in building New World shotgun houses, the African artifact was still produced in the African design. So, too, was that African design and relevance retained when later balloon-framing techniques further altered the construction of the house type. This consistency is suggestive of how other manifestations of African-American culture are tied to African legacy. Songs, tales, and houses are not the matters of culture but culture's perceived expression. The changes they may undergo do not change their heritage. This observation about the African legacy of the shotgun house should prove helpful in evaluating the African influence in other areas of African-American culture (Vlach
1975).
Interviews with Residents of Knoxville Shotguns
It has been suggested that the communal use of space in the shotgun house can be likened to an
African pattern with no emphasis in privacy. To determine the use of space in the shotgun house, eight interviews of Knoxville, Tennessee, shotgun residents were conducted. Five out of eight informants are blue collar workers. Only one is an African-American. The other seven were all European-Americans.
Firstly, informants were asked four questions concerning the function of each of the rooms and where they were positioned within the house. The most typical arrangement of rooms was the living room placed first, the bedroom in the center, and the kitchen and bathroom in the back of the house. This arrangement was used by five out of eight informants. The remaining three informants either had four room shotguns in which greater possibilities existed or the bedroom was the first room in the house because it was closed off with a partition wall, door, and hallway leading into the second room which was used as the living room.
When asked why they chose a particular function for the rooms within the linear plan of the shotgun, informants' answers varied. Four out of eight informants said they arranged their rooms this way because it was already set up in that manner when they moved in. The kitchen already had all of the
75 appliances in it and so forth. Two of the informants indicated that they put the living room first for reasons
of privacy. One indicated that he did not want people going through his bedroom to get to the kitchen or
living room. He did not want it to be the first room people entered. This response was anticipated to be
the most likely response from all of the informants; however, the original design of the house was found to
be more of a factor than privacy. These working class residents of shotguns were forced to conform their
lifestyle and their use of space to the dictates of the type of housing available to them.
Finally, the question was raised as to whether the informants knew if the room function had
changed through time. This was asked to gain an historical perspective on the recent uses of the houses in
order to determine whether privacy or the dictates of the floor plan was the primary motivating factor in the
choice of function. Five out of eight informants revealed that the room function had not changed through
time. This evidently was due in large part to the dictates of the design of the house. Thus earlier residents
also had to conform to the type of housing they could afford.
As far as privacy is concerned, four of the eight informants indicated that the house suits a person
living alone better than it suits a family. If a couple occupies the house, the only way to have time alone is
to have one person at one end of the house and the other person at the other end of the house. One
informant and her husband did just that. All of the informants who live with other people said they are
forced to take creative measures to insure privacy. Some indicated they hung curtains across doorways to muffle sounds. Most people mentioned simply closing and locking a door. One respondent revealed that
she took phone calls in the bathroom because that is where sound is muffled best, as there is no transom
over that door. One informant in the Knoxville survey had only one room that could be closed off by a door, so he made that his bedroom in spite of the fact that it was the front room of the house. Another person who grew up in a neighborhood of shotguns indicated that the older couple who lived in the shotgun simply gave up on the idea of privacy as the house had no internal doors. This couple did nothing to the doorways to help create privacy, and they used no screens or curtains. Another informant indicated that if he were climbing the corporate ladder and had a business associate visit him at home, he would prefer another type of house rather than a shotgun which lacked the privacy desirable for his important
76 visitor. Finally, one informant indicated that the house had enough rooms for each person in the household
to have his or her own room, and they would withdraw to their room if they wanted privacy.
Informants were also asked how comfortable they are with the shape of the house and how it
affects the interaction of the family. Six out of eight found the use of space in the house to be comfortable.
One informant who felt ill-at-ease with the shape of the house said: "I'd gut it and remodel it. I'd like the
bedroom at the back of the house. Then I'd like the kitchen in the middle and the living room in the front."
Two other informants remarked that they would only be comfortable with the house if they were single.
"Ifl was to have a family, that would be different," one declared, indicating that as long as he lived alone
the shape of the house did not make him uncomfortable. By contrast, another informant said that she was
quite pleased with the use of space in the house. "Now when I go into other people's houses it just isn't
that interesting. I have 13 foot ceilings, which I love. I go into other houses and I feel claustrophobic."
That only one informant was African-American is due to the fact that the pool ofrespondents was
small and participants were chosen on the basis of their availability to the interviewer. The respondents
were selected because they were on a street where shotgun houses are located. Shotgun houses today appear to be shelter solutions for a specific class of the population, lower-income people, as was the case in the earlier history of the shotgun in Knoxville. Ethnic associations regarding the shotgun were found to be the reverse in the study of the generally accepted early history association of the shotgun with African
Americans. In the Knoxville survey, six out of eight respondents associated the shotgun with working class whites. (The other two informants were not asked this question, and they could not be contacted for a follow-up interview. One informant did say that she associated shotguns in rural areas with blacks but that in urban areas, she associated the shotgun with whites).
It is significant, perhaps, that the one African-American was more content with the shape of the house. European-Americans did not express this attitude, in fact they were not pleased with the space constrictions. Nevertheless, since only one respondent was African-American, more data are needed before conclusions can be made as to whether African-Americans are generally more satisfied with the shape of the shotgun house than are whites. On the whole, the evidence points to creative adaptations on
77 the part of the residents to ensure privacy and a forced confonnity to the dictates of the floor plan of the
shotgun.
In sum, these people almost all took adaptive measures to ensure privacy. The specific measures
taken depend upon the circumstances and the number of people living in the house. While the shotgun
presents a communal-styled space, both whites and blacks alike adapted their lifestyle to fit the floorplan of the shotgun. In these interviews the great majority of the respondents were blue collar whites. If this sample is representative of shotgun occupation in the rest of present day Knoxville, then it can be said that the shotgun house has completed the transculturation process. (A larger sample would be needed in order to come to a definitive conclusion). The evidence certainly suggests that the shotgun in Knoxville is one more indication of an African artifact having been appropriated by the dominant white culture.
78 Chapter Eight
The Shotgun House Type in Four Other Southern Cities
This chapter examines the history and architectural pattern of shotgun houses in four cities similar to Knoxville - Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Louisville, Kentucky- to determine comparisons and contrasts with Knoxville's shotgun houses. As these cities are geographically close to Knoxville and share a similar Southern historical background, a stlldy of their architecture may reveal insights into the regional characteristics of the shotgun, characteristics that may reinforce findings concerning Knoxville.
The Chattanooga Study
Karen Daniels has studied the shotgun in Chattanooga. She explained in a personal conversation
(1996) that the shotgun in Chattanooga is associated with poor blacks and poor whites. It is not associated with company housing (Chattanooga City Directories 1865-1915; Sanborn Insurance Maps 1885-1901;
Warranty Deed Books K-M). Furthermore, she believes that the shotgun was introduced to Chattanooga by blacks (Daniels 1996). There were many blacks in Chattanooga, making up almost one-quarter of the population in 1870. By 1890, one-third of the population was black. With so many blacks in Chattanooga, it is not surprising to fmd many of them living in shotgun houses. It is possible that blacks in Chattanooga chose the shotgun due to a cultural preference, as well as for its economic cost. Blacks lived in some of the earliest shotguns recorded in the city, and in a number of cases, deeds of record reveal that African
Americans owned several shotguns at the time they were constructed, thus indicating that they may have constructed them (Daniels 1996; Warranty Deed Books K-M).
Further, census records show that the people who lived in shotgun houses did not work for the same company (Daniels 1996). Chattanooga census and property records show that companies neither owned nor built the shotgun houses. Companies in Chattanooga used standardized housing. Though mining companies built or relied on private developers to build a considerable amount of housing and other
79 community structures for their workers, they did not employ shotgun houses. For example, Tennessee
Copper Company purchased mail-order housing in the form of a kit, which appears to be from a nationally
used design (Daniels 1992). However, this information corroborates other data regarding company use of
housing type. In this case, the shotgun was not used, but in others the shotgun was co-opted by a company
to serve its need for low-cost housing.
The Nashville Study
Jennifer Bartlett, who has a Ph.D dissertation in progress concerning a Nashville neighborhood
with many shotguns, has provided insight into the house type in Nashville (Bartlett 1996). As early as the
1870s, ethnic groups other than African-Americans began building shotguns in Nashville. In 1842,
Germans first settled North Nashville in a wave of immigration. They settled in the McGavock
subdivision, which was parceled into long, narrow city lots. A cotton mill began operating in this area in
1871. Many of the Germans became mill hands. Naturally, housing was needed for the workers, thus in
the 1870s blocks of shotgun houses were built for these German immigrants and the rural Americans who
also came to work at the mill in large numbers. Not all of these immigrants were German and not all were
mill hands. Some were from Poland and Austria, and some became butchers and tailors. Yet most of them
lived in shotgun houses (Bartlett 1996).
Many of the early German immigrants strove to retain the language and customs of their native
land, resulting in exclusive and somewhat secret social and religious organizations (Connelly 1982). Their
language, homes, and religious and social organizations were used to isolate themselves from American
influences and retain their German customs (Connelly 1982). The detailing on many of their shotguns had
a German cultural logic that indicates another effort to retain their culture (Bartlett 1996). Germantown was the apt name often applied to the section of Nashville around Jefferson Street and streets immediately to the north where the Germans settled. After the Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War in Europe caused
even more Germans to immigrate to Nashville. At this time in the Ninth Ward of the city, 50 percent of the residents were Germans (455 of875 residents; the Ninth Ward also included the fewest number of blacks
80 of any ward in the city, with 136 blacks in residence (Connelly 1982). These Germans frequently sponsored other German immigrants, finding them jobs in the mill and housing in shotgun style houses in the neighborhood because they could not afford any better (Bartlett 1996).
The Memphis Study
Shotgun houses in Memphis were built primarily between 1880 and 1930, and appear to be a suitable building type in response to the increased urbanization and are not at all connected to any one ethnic group (Johnson 1993). These shotguns exhibit Queen Anne (1880-1900), Colonial Revival (1900-
1915), and Craftsman (1915-1930) influences, including hip porch roofs, shed-roofs, and side exterior doors in middle rooms (Johnson 1993). Several historic districts, including Overton Park Avenue, Delmar
Lerna Place, Richmond Street, and others, are examples of urban shotgun districts, with three or more shotguns grouped in a single lot or on contiguous lots facing a common street. Styling is minimal, and the houses are very similar in appearance and lot situation, with balloon frame on brick piers (Johnson 1993).
The population of Memphis increased dramatically from 1890 to 1930, with migrants attracted to the area by an increase in manufacturing and mill work (Johnson 1993). Prior to 1880, the shotgun houses appear to have been developed for the needs of one industry's workers, such as the Love Cottages in
Greenlaw (Johnson 1993). However, after that, shotguns were built as speculative real estate ventures, often taking the form of identical buildings constructed on the same parcel ofland (Johnson 1993). Some of the Overton Park A venue shotguns, some of which were double shotguns, built in the early twentieth century are more modest than others. Some were inhabited by white carpenters, barbers, plasterers, factory workers, salesmen, and other trades. In the Delmar-Lema Place area, two blocks south of Overton Park, four of the first residents ( 1903) were black, but the racial mix became predominantly white in the next decade (Johnson 1993). Then after the great black migration in 1900, the Delmar-Lema Place area was inhabited by blacks ( Johnson 1993 ). Several rental housing ventures of shotguns were located in an industrial area ofnorth Memphis, housing whites (Johnson 1993). These examples show that the shotgun in Memphis was a predominantly urban structure for low-income rental property (Johnson 1993). These
81 structures are generally endangered buildings now, as materials were cheap and maintenance has been
neglected (Johnson 1993).
One neighborhood of shotguns in Memphis was at the end of the trolley line (Johnson 1996).
Johnson ( 1996) found a pattern where a tenement building was consistently found next door in every
neighborhood where there were shotguns, thus suggesting a connection between tenement housing and the
shotgun. The shotgun is the Southern version of the northern tenement house, according to Johnson
(1996). "It is like the tenement house from the country brought into the city to fit a narrow lot" (Johnson
1996). These houses were built by real estate investors who bought land next to a factory or company,
knowing that they would be valuable to the workers for their close proximity to the workplace (Johnson
1996). The early ones, which were occupied by whites, were later demolished. The form, according to
Johnson (1996), was perfect for the hot climates because of its cross ventilation. Thus the shotgun house in
Memphis does not appear to be linked to African-Americans to any great extent (Johnson 1996).
The Louisville Study
About 10 percent of Louisville, Kentucky's houses are shotguns, concentrated primarily in older
neighborhoods. Like other cities mentioned in this study, Louisville experienced considerable growth after the Civil War due to an increase in manufacturing. Between 1870 and 1900, the population doubled and
the number of factories and workers also increased. Many of the people who filled these jobs and carried
on other trades once they arrived were immigrants from Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, and
Italy. Street rail lines allowed these immigrants to reside in new areas oflow-cost housing that ringed the
downtown. Shotguns, used as row houses in eastern cities, were used to house these workers. However,
shotguns actually offered more privacy than row houses and also reduced the threat of mass fires (Pratt et
al. 1980).
Louisville's history changed with the 1811 arrival of the first steamboat at the port of
Shippingport two miles from downtown. Shippingport's earliest settlers were French, who dealt with
French traders down river. Contact with the French architectural styles of New Orleans had a big impact
82 on Shippingport. It is possible that the Haitian population of New Orleans could have found its way up river to Shippingport, thus bringing with them their shotgun style of housing. However, the only existing evidence of such a movement of architectural style is the existence of shotguns in nearby Portland, which may easily have been transmitted via Shippingport. A detailed study of shotguns in Louisville by A.
William Dakan of the University of Louisville reveals a high concentration of shotguns in Portland,
Germantown, Schnitzelberg, Russell, California, and lower Highlands. Portland was the first of these areas settled, so it is possible that shotguns in Shippingport moved first into Portland. Evidence as to who built
Louisville's shotguns is minimal, with some blocks of identical houses suggesting that a company built them for its workers or that a real estate developer constructed them. One row of identical shotguns was discovered to have been built by a developer between 1912-1915. About 60 percent of the shotguns in
Louisville are found in clusters (Pratt et al. 1980).
The Paristown section of Louisville is another example where shotguns were built in significant numbers. In the mid-1800s Paristown was a section of Germantown developed for people of French decent, and due to the large number of people to be accommodated, small narrow long lots were parceled out, feasible only for shotgun style houses. Because of these shotguns' low price, in the early days of
Paristown many of them were inhabited by workers of the local factories, mills, hospitals, and small businesses (Winters 1995). Germantown and Paristown have Louisville's largest concentration of shotguns (Winters 1995; Woo 1995). Most all of the residents in a survey of 12 shotguns were working class whites. Two out of the 12 owners were white carpenters. One of these carpenters is known to have built several houses, probably shotguns, in a neighborhood ofother shotguns (Winters 1995; Woo 1995).
Nancy O'Mally, who is working on a report on the shotgun house in Louisville, found that in another part of Louisville called Kincaid Town after an anti-slavery lawyer, blacks settled into shotguns after the Civil War. Black carpenters and building contractors constructed these shotgun houses between
1865-1870. A black family would buy a lot, have their shotgun house built, and then subdivide the lot and sell it to another black family who would erect another shotgun. The shotgun choice appears to have been based on lot subdivision and efficiency rather than preference of style. In some of these shotguns, West
83 African artifacts, such as talismans and a clay figurine, were found. Many of the houses also bad cellars similar to those found in slave cabins (O'Mally 1996).
84 Chapter Nine
Conclusion and Discussion
This thesis applied an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of the shotgun house. The author used ethnography and archaeological field methods, as well as historical research. This interdisciplinary approach to the shotgun house style provides evidence of its African origin and its recorded transculturation into American life. By extending the examination of this architectural artifact to include its particular history in Knoxville, Tennessee, this thesis adds to the body of knowledge relating to the shotgun as an enduring artifact of cultural significance and as an excellent example of the often under appreciated currents of African-American influence in the United States. This basic African form of housing has blended so completely into our American culture, as its historical record in Knoxville indicates, that its origins and influence remain masked, even to the African-Americans from whose native culture it was probably appropriated. In that housing may be considered the most vital of artifacts, the record of the shotgun house style stands as an important indicator of African influence on the American culture. Despite Vlach's origin theory, the shotgun was thoroughly transculturated during urban industrialization following the Civil War. The shotgun was appropriated by industrialists, real estate investors, and workers themselves as working class housing. The record in Knoxville provides evidence that from the 1870s onward, the shotgun was a utilitarian solution for white industrialists' need of workers' housing. In Knoxville, a blending of cultural repertoires occurred, thus rendering the shotgun a hybrid born of white industrialists needs and African-American architectural traditions.
Focusing on Knoxville, the late construction date for the majority of the shotgun houses (1900-
1910) suggests that by the time these houses became popular, they were already fully appropriated by the dominant white culture. Additionally, only 23 percent of the shotguns in the survey had African
Americans living in them at the time they were built, a small percentage. Furthermore, when shotguns first arrived in Knoxville, they appear to have been brought in by rail, and appear to have been connected to
85 white company workers as early as the 1870s. But this early connection to whites does not preclude an
African-American connection. Many shotguns in the African-American sections of Knoxville had been tom down (Cason 1996). Thus, African-Americans may have been more closely linked to shotguns in
Knoxville than the data suggest.
Shotguns in Knoxville are most definitely found in African-American neighborhoods, although it is not certain whether this is the result of economic necessity or cultural preference. The strongest case for cultural preference among African-Americans favoring the shotgun style is the case of the Leeper family.
The Leepers most likely lived in a shotgun house in 1880 in Mechanicsville. Later when the two brothers became adults, they both purchased shotgun houses. Further, Edward Leeper built two shotguns adjacent to the first one he owned. As Edward Leeper could have chosen any style of building to construct on his vacant lot, it is significant that he chose to build two shotgun houses. 1bis strongly suggests a preference for the shotgun style, although the Leepers may have had economic motives as well. More Knoxville
African-Americans lived in shotguns early on than they did in later years, suggesting a possible cultural connection. Furthermore, there appears to be a connection between shotgun houses and African
Americans in the Mechanicsville neighborhood. In Mechanicsville, 64 percent of the shotguns were inhabited by African-Americans. While this is a high percentage, it does not indicate ownership.
Therefore, it is most likely that African-Americans were living in shotgun houses in Mechanicsville due to economic necessity.
While there appears to be an African-American connection to shotgun houses in Knoxville, one should not underestimate an economic-related housing solution by white landlords and local industrialists.
Brookside Village is a prime example of Knoxville industries using shotguns to house their workers. The houses on Citico Street which were once L&N company housing further demonstrate the shotgun house connection in Knoxville to industry.
Furthermore, the earliest shotgun houses in Knoxville appear to have been company housing for the ETV &G Railroad line. These houses date to 1871. Thus, there appear to be two distinct patterns
86 regarding shotgun houses in Knoxville. One pattern is the connection to industry and the other pattern is a more obscure economic/cultural connection to African-Americans.
Interestingly, the date of 1870 for the earliest recorded appearance of shotgun houses in Knoxville is when shotguns were also being introduced into other Southern cities. The study of the four Southern cities suggests that a connection, though not an exclusive one, exists between the shotgun and African
Americans. In Chattanooga shotguns were associated with blacks in the 1870s and Daniels (1992) believes shotguns were brought to Chattanooga by blacks. This early connection added to the fact that several blacks owned shotguns at the time of construction, may be indicative of how the shotgun arrived in
Chattanooga. It may be that after the Civil War African-Americans coming off the plantations wanted to build houses that culturally suited them.
In Louisville where shotguns are found near the Ohio River, there is a suggestion of diffusion upriver from New Orleans. Blacks from this Southern port may have come to Louisville seeking jobs and may have brought the house type with them. While O'Mally (1996) holds that the shotgun was chosen by blacks due to its ability to fit on narrow urban lots, a cultural preference among these blacks should not be dismissed. Furthermore, in Louisville there is a strong African-American connection with the development of Kincaid town and the discovery there of the African talisman in one of the shotgun houses. Kincaid
Town, an African-American neighborhood founded by an anti-slavery lawyer, is near the Ohio River. The earliest shotguns appear in Portland (O'Mally 1996), on the Ohio River from where the shotgun diffused.
Thus it may be that these African-Americans, still clinging to their African traditions, as the talismans suggests, could have deliberately chosen the shotgun style out of a cultural preference. It is only later in
Louisville's history that shotguns are associated with companies and real estate investments. By contrast, in Nashville and Memphis the shotgun appears to be associated with real estate developers and industry from the beginning. In Knoxville, too, there appears to be a connection to company housing and real estate investment. However, in African-American neighborhoods shotguns appear early on. In particular, with the early migrations of blacks seeking refuge in Mechanicsville, shotguns may have been introduced into this part of Knoxville by African-Americans. The Leepers' early arrival in Mechanicsville is one example.
87 Thus, an African-American connection can not be entirely dismissed. The studies of shotgun houses in
other parts of the South seem to indicate the date for the diffusion of shotguns to be circa 1870. This is not
surprising, as the rail connections in the South were fairly well established by then. Thus it seems likely, as
Vlach (1996) indicates, shotguns may have diffused along the rail lines and waterways from New Orleans.
The further one gets from the origin of the shotgun house in the United States, the more
transculturation is acting upon this artifact. The artifact's association with one particular ethnic group
decreases, as the dominant culture adapts the house type to suit its own economic purposes. While there
does appear to be an African-American link to shotguns in Knoxville, the house type was appropriated by whites and used as an economical form of housing early on. This demonstrates how Africanisms make their impact on the dominant white culture and how the shotgun has made a lasting contribution to architecture in America.
88 REFERENCES
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97 APPENDICES
98 List of Appendices
APPENDIX PAGE
A. lnterviews ...... 99
B. Tables ...... 119
C. Figures ...... 159
D. Additional Data ...... 163
E. Color Photographs ...... 200
99 APPENDIX A
Interviews
99 Questions Posed for Interviews
For this study the following questions will be posed:
1. How does the shape of the shotgun house affect the interaction of the family?
2. Do you need to take creative measures to ensure privacy? What measures do you take?
3. a. What purpose does each of the rooms serve? b. Where are they each positioned within the house?
4. Why did you choose a particular function for each of the rooms?
5. Has the room function chanted through time?
6. How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
7. Are you considered a blue collar or white collar worker?
8. What is your ethnic group?
9. Do you associate shotgun houses with African Americans? Interviews
Resident A
Interviewer: How does the shape of the shotgun house affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: It doesn't affect it. I'm single. I live here by myself. I would live here anyway ifl was
married. I would build another shotgun house. I'd make it more environmentally
friendly. I'd put the bedroom in the back and the kitchen in the middle.
Interviewer: Why would you maintain a shotgun style?
Informant: Because it feels large; because it seems large. You can see all the way down. All doors
are aligned. And when you look in, your eyes are carried for about 45 feet.
Interviewer: What creative measures do you take for privacy?
Informant: When I had my best friend's brother's wife over, we had no problem. It's pretty easy to
maintain privacy. Doors can be shut. People can be in one part of the house while
another person is in the other part of the house.
Interviewer: What purpose does each of the rooms serve?
Informant: Living room, front ... living room/bedroom, second ... second bedroom is in middle ...
kitchen with table ... very back, utility room and bathroom.
Interviewer: Why did you choose a particular function for each of the rooms?
Informant: Living room is front because it's the first room you walk into and because that's where
the cable is.
Interviewer: Has the room function changed through time?
Informant: Room functions have changed. I used to sleep in the bedroom--the second room. Easier
and more functional. Previous owner had the bedroom in the utility room.
Interviewer: How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
Informant: It lends itself very well to having people over. I'd give it an eight.
101 Interviewer: Are you aware this house type may have come from Africa?
Informant: No, I was not aware that this house type may have come from Africa.
Interviewer: Are you considered a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: Blue collar.
Resident B
Interviewer: How does the shape affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: I live alone. I'm a single person and, for me, it's pretty convenient.
Interviewer: Do you take creative measures to ensure privacy?
Informant: Well, presently, my bedroom is at the front of the house, but I was thinking that ifl did
buy the house, I would just reverse it. Put the bedroom where the kitchen is, the kitchen
in the middle, and make the living room up front. Knock the wall out. Open the room
up and make a half wall.
Interviewer: Does it affect your privacy to have guests walking through your bedroom area?
Informant: No; my bedroom is a separate entity. It has its own door.
Interviewer: Oh, I see. So there's like a little foyer?
Informant: Yeah. There's like a little hall. And it has its own separate door. It shuts off.
Interviewer: Oh. So the hall would take them straight to the living room then?
Informant: Correct. Living room, kitchen, bathroom.
Interviewer: What purpose does each of the rooms serve? Where are they positioned within the
house?
Informant: There's the front door, the bedroom and hallway, the living room and the kitchen and
bathroom. The kitchen and bathroom are side by side. The kitchen is on the back end.
Interviewer: Why did you choose that particular function for each of the rooms?
102 Informant: Well, the way the house is set up right now, the front room gives you the most privacy.
You can close and lock the door. Whereas the other rooms, that's where the most traffic
is.
Interviewer: So there's a way of shutting yourself off completely in the bedroom?
Informant: Yeah. If you want privacy, you can have privacy.
Interviewer: Have the room functions changed through time?
Informant: Functions of the rooms? Not necessarily, no. I gave a lot of thought as to how I was
going to set it up when I first moved in. It sort of materialized a month or so where
everything was going to fit--what rooms it was supposed to go into and what I needed to
do to make it function.
Interviewer: So you 're not aware of anyone in the past who had it set up differently?
Informant: Oh, yeah. The last guy had the bedroom here in the middle and the front room was
where he had the TV and what not. I guess he was a trucker or something like that.
Interviewer: How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
Informant: It's functionable. Like I said, ifl had my druthers and I owned it, because of the age of
the house itself, I'd gut it and remodel it because of the lack of insulation and the wiring
is old. Then I'd modernize it, make it more functionable for me. I'd like the bedroom at
the back of the house. Then I'd like the kitchen in the middle and the living room up
front. Then I'd want to knock down the wall the separates the middle room from the
front room down to a half wall and put shelving units in between. This would give a
feeling of more space. Then I'd put in larger windows because I love light.
Interviewer: Do you associate shotgun houses with African Americans?
Informant: No. I'd be more inclined to associate them with American Indians.
Interviewer: Are you considered a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: Blue collar.
103 Resident C
Interviewer: How does the shape of the shotgun affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: It depends on how many people are living there. Most people would have to walk
through the bedroom to get to the kitchen so there'd be a real lack of privacy. It's so
small. Only three rooms. Mostly lack of privacy. And it wouldn't be big enough for a
large family so there wouldn't be a whole lot of people living there.
Interviewer: When you were growing up in those neighborhoods, how many people would live in
them?
Informant: I only knew one family and there were only two people living there. Husband and wife,
older couple. I think it was mostly like that. Husband and wife.
Or maybe husband and wife and a child. And the child would sleep in the living
room. Because it wasn't a very big house and not many people could stay there.
Interviewer: What privacy measures do you take? Does one put a curtain up on doorways?
Informant: Actually, there was none because there wasn't even doors that I saw, in the ones that I
saw. There were no doors in the ones that I saw.
Interviewer: They had just an open doorway?
Informant: Yeah. There were no doors between the rooms. The bathroom had a door, but that was a
later addition. On the houses in that neighborhood, bathrooms were later additions.
Interviewer: What function does each of the rooms serve? Where are they positioned within the
house?
Informant: The living room would have been first, and then the bedroom, and then the kitchen.
Interviewer: Why put the kitchen in the back instead of in the middle?
Informant: Basically because they would have a back door exit. You see, all the doors lined up from
the front living room, which they call the "front room," to the back. I guess it was for
104 ventilation so the kitchen would have a back door. Plus, maybe a positioning for a
fireplace in the center room.
There was a wood burning kitchen stove. So maybe that was the reason. Plus,
people had the wood or coal delivered to the back. I mean the wood was stacked at the
back door so it would have been easier to get wood for cooking.
Interviewer: Has the function of the rooms changed through time?
Informant: I don't think it ever changed. People who lived there didn't change it as far as I know,
unless there were more than two people living in the house. Then the living room would
be a multi-purpose room. But functionally they wouldn't have changed.
Interviewer: How comfortable were they with the shape of their houses?
Informant: Okay. It's what they had. Nobody looked down on them because they lived there.
Interviewer: Were they poor?
Informant: Extremely poor.
Interviewer: Was it run down?
Informant: Extremely run down. A few years later while we were living there, they condemned the
house.
Interviewer: Did they spend much time on the porch?
Informant: No, not this couple. Maybe some of the other people.
Interviewer: These houses were very communal in nature, so I was wondering if there were a lot of
community or social activities?
Informant: Right. Yeah. The neighborhood was really communal. Everybody knew everybody else
and they would go to each other's houses. That sort of thing. But as far as the original
design of the house, I believe they had the porches on the sides of the houses. The
houses were all built that way because of ventilation.
Interviewer: Do you associate shotguns with African Americans?
105 Informant: No.
Interviewer: Are you considered a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: White collar.
Resident D - Nashville
Interviewer: Do you need to take creative measures to ensure privacy? What measures do you take?
Informant: We leave all the doors open to have flow and sometimes, like when you have a private
call, you can go to the other end of the house. You can also shut the doors when you
want to talk privately. That doesn't necessarily shut out the sound because of the
transom above the doorways. Because the house was built in the 1870s. So I've gone
into the bathroom to talk privately.
Wrapping Christmas presents is also a real problem. There's just no way you
can get away with everything. Because the house is so small, we've taken off doors to
several of the rooms because there is not much space. Because a door open and shuts all
the time uses up wall space. So there's a guest bedroom or what functions as a guest
bedroom and it has three doors. You can shut two of the doors. The other one opens up
into the living room so you just hope that if you have guests you just all go to bed at the
same time.
The other thing I have done and I think is very creative is our bathroom is
within direct line of sight with the front room or front doorway. The front foyer
originally opened up into an open side porch. From the foyer, its three rooms in shotgun
formation and that's the main bulk of the house. Each of those rooms opens onto the
open side porch. It is like a Charleston house in the sense that there's an open side
gallery.
106 And then there's the shotgun part of the house, you know, the main body of the
house, that has doors all lined up in a row. The doors are not centered. They're in one
comer.
The house is 15 feet wide, but about 65 feet long.
Interviewer: Oh. So how many rooms are there?
Informant: Did I say 65? I'm sorry, I meant 35 feet long. There are, uh, there's the foyer, which is
pretty small, and then the whole lot is 65 feet. The house is about 35 feet.
Then there's the parlor, which is about 15 feet by 15 feet. Then there's a room
behind that which functioned as the original bedroom and it's in that 15 by 15 foot range.
Then there's a room right behind that that was the old kitchen. And that's the end of the
historic part of the house. Then we have one new room built onto the end of that which
is the new kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room.
I take that back; it is about 65 feet long because I've got four rooms that are
about 15 feet in dimension.
Interviewer: You anticipated my next question--what purpose does each of the rooms serve and where
are they positioned within the house.
Informant: I just wanted to tell you one other thing we do. Since the bathroom is within a direct line
of sight with the front rooms, we have hung like a stained glass window from the ceiling.
We used to have bookcases there but it kind of cut up the space. See, if someone comes
to the front door, they can see you straight back in the bathroom, so we have hung a
window frame, like a deconstructionist affair, to block the line of sight.
Do you want to know what they are used for now or what they were used for
historically?
Interviewer: What they are used for now.
Informant: The foyer we use for coat storage and we have a buffet where we store dining room type
stuff. We have a dining room buffet. Then the parlor pretty much functions as a parlor.
107 There's a piano so, you know, it's also a music room. We keep it clean, you know, so you can bring guests in there. We don't have a TV in there. It's just a real formal living room.
Then right behind that, there's a room we've just changed the function for. It was a dining room, but we have taken out the dining room table because we never use it and we put in a sleigh bed. We have a dresser in there. My husband's closet is in there.
We have no closets in this house. We have a ton of armoires. But in that room they made a closet, so five feet of the closet opens into the room behind it. That's not enough closet space for my husband and me so he uses that room for his closet. So he has a dresser in there.
On top of the dresser we have all my stereo equipment and we have a leather chair in there. The sleigh bed we have set up like a sofa. And so that functions as a guest room when we have guests because you can shut the door between our bedroom, which is the next room. We usually leave it open so it works like a master suite, but ifwe have guests, you just shut the door between the two rooms.
The next room is our bedroom, and we have that little 5 foot closet, and that's mine, and then we have a couple of armoires and a dresser which we both share. Then the room behind, that is the kitchen, which is 15 feet by 11 feet. And next to the kitchen is the bathroom, which is tiny. It's about 6 feet by 9 feet. We put mirrors on the walls to make it look bigger.
I think the neatest part about this house is what we call the gallery. It's that exterior side porch, but it's enclosed now. It functions as the sun room. It's really long, like about 35 feet long. I guess that's where I got the 35 feet.
We have it broken up into several sitting areas. One area has a couch. It also has an antique armoire in there which functions as my linen closet. Then we have window hanging space. Then we have another antique chair and an antique desk. That's
108 kind of like our personal office space. But a lot of our records and personal stuff is
strewn around the house. You know, you just put things where you can. So then we
have a laundry room. Like there's the kitchen and bathroom next to it. Then the laundry
room is behind the bathroom.
The back addition has a gable and it looks just like the front gable. You can't
tell that there's an addition onto the house.
There's a ton of these little German shotgun houses all around Nashville.
Interviewer: So you feel that they have a German influence?
Informant: Oh, I know they do. I know that the detailing is. Germans moved to this part of
Nashville really early, in like 1842. And, you know Jennifer Bartlet. She's a graduate
student a Vanderbuilt. She's been researching German integration into this part of
Nashville. But this was always called Germantown. It was called "Butchertown," too,
because the Germans did a lot of sausage making. People lived and worked in the same
place.
But a lot of the detail and stuff. I have a lot of detail and brackets on my house
and this is all authentic.
Interviewer: Has the room function changed through time?
Informant: Oh, most definitely. The front parlor is still the same. But the room behind it was a
bedroom, and I guess it's kind of a bedroom now. The room behind that that is our
bedroom was their kitchen. And then there was a shed addition off the back where our
kitchen is now. And the side porch was open. They used the side porch for shelling
beans or for washing clothes, and for a lot of strange little domestic functions. And then
the people had an outhouse in back.
Interviewer: So the house dates to 1870?
Informant: Well, in the early 1870s. Other houses of similar style in the neighborhood also date to
the early 1870s.
109 Interviewer: How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
Informant: Well, I really love it. I've lived here for 10 years. Now when I go into other people's
houses, it just isn't that interesting. I have 13 ceilings which I love. I go into other
houses and I feel claustrophobic.
The one thing I don't like as far as having a dining room. You'd have to go a
long way carrying the food. We have an eat-in kitchen because the kitchen is so big. It's
not real convenient with parties because the gallery is only 6 feet wide, but since you can
open up the whole house, traffic can circulate pretty well.
Also, if you're in the kitchen, you don't have a clue what's going on up at the
front of the house, and there's a lot of crime here. So I never leave my doors open and I
would never open a window in the front of the house and be in the back. Never.
Interviewer: Do you consider yourself to be a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: White collar. Yuppies.
Interviewer: How does the shape of the shotgun house affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: Well, it kind of makes it harder to get away from people. Because the house is so small.
So ifmy husband is watching TV, the only place I can go where I can't see or hear the
TV is in the kitchen. So I have had to rent office space to work on my dissertation.
Interviewer: Do you associate shotguns with African Americans?
Informant: No, not in urban areas. Only in rural ones.
Resident E
(Resident E owns two shotguns, and says that they have machine made bricks and nails as well as modern glass.)
Interviewer: How does the shape of the shotgun house affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: They'd have to be very close. Intimate. It depends on how many family members are
living there. Because they'd have to go through each other's bedrooms. And they'd
110 have to pass through the middle of the bedroom to get to the bathroom. In some cases
the living room was used as a second bedroom. So there is little privacy.
Interviewer: What creative measures can one take to ensure privacy?
Informant: Well they had doors between each room. So they could shut the doors, of course. The
houses were close together, too, so there was not much privacy even between neighbors.
Really, the only thing you could do if you wanted privacy was to close your windows
and shut your doors. Some people could hang curtains that go in doorways. You could
even put those across doorways. Even though there's a door there, you put it on one side
and close the curtain for more sound reduction.
In my shotguns there was a fireplace in every room except the kitchen. Mine's
only three rooms and a bath.
Interviewer: What purpose does each of the rooms serve?
Informant: In mine the front room was the living room, the middle room was the bedroom, and the
kitchen was just beyond the bedroom. To the side of the kitchen there's a door leading to
the bathroom. However, that at one time was a porch.
Interviewer: Oh, I see. So at one time they had an outhouse.
Informant: Well, I don't know. It's real strange. There was a porch and you'd go out onto the porch
and through another door to a water closet. You know it was just a toilet. But they
didn't have a bath. They'd take baths in the kitchen because they didn't have any hot
water. You know unless you heated it on the stove. But I don't know that that was even
a later addition. From all that I can tell it's original. The watercloset. At least on my
two houses, while it definitely was a porch on the other half of the room. You can see
where the screens and things are still left. So they just boxed that in to make a larger
bathroom.
Interviewer: There's no place for laundry facilities?
111 Informant: No. They did have them in there last time they were being used but they were just in the
kitchen. And they had a place for a washing machine and in the other house a dryer. But
they blocked the back door. So you couldn't get in and out of the back door. So we're
not going to have that. As a matter of fact, codes won't allow that anymore.
Interviewer: Are you having the properties as rental properties?
Informant: Once I finish with them, they will be rental.
Interviewer: Why did you choose a particular function for each of the rooms?
Informant: Because the public would come in, and if you visited or entertained, the front room
would be the living room. You wouldn't want everybody tramping through your
bedroom in order to get to the living room. They were more private back then than we
are today.
Interviewer: What makes you think that?
Informant: Because that's why all the bedrooms in almost all the old houses, regardless of size, are
upstairs. They would want the sleeping areas totally separate from the downstairs public
areas. And I like my houses to be that way, too. However, occasionally, when the
family got too big, they would take a downstairs back parlor and turn it into a bedroom.
They were very private. They were very moral as far as their dress codes and everything.
So they wanted to keep their bedrooms on a totally separate level where people wouldn't
just wander in.
Interviewer: Has the room function changed through time?
Informant: No. Not in these that I can tell, unless the family was bigger, and then, of course, as
people became poorer--these were good, solid working-class people. Then they might
have had the living room function as a separate bedroom at night.
Interviewer: Do you associate shotguns with Blacks?
112 Informant: No. It just depended on the area. These two were White families. It's a White area, and
it's always been a White area. It was just a cheap form of housing. If you were a Black.
If you were in a White area, they were White.
Interviewer: So you don't associate them with a particular ethnic group?
Informant: No. I don't think so. Because they would have company towns such as Rockwood. And
these company towns would build a lot of shotguns in order to house their workers
because they were just cheap and easy to put up.
Once you go inside, however, it's fairly fancy compared to today. The base
boards and trim around the doors. They had full height base boards with trim on top of
them. And then you had trim around the windows. So today it would be very fancy and
expensive; back then, though, wood was cheap. The kitchens in my two shotguns are all
wood. The ceilings are wood. The walls are wood. That tongue and groove headboard,
wood--solid. And I was thinking now why would they do that in a cheap house? And
only have the two front rooms plaster. I think that wood was just so plentiful and cheap
back then that wood was just as cheap as plaster. You know having to pay the plasterer
and everything.
Interviewer: How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
Informant: Well, ifl was a single guy, it wouldn't bother me at all. Or if it was just me and wife.
But once you start having kids, it's just too small. And I would not like it. But ifl was a
single guy without a lot of belongings, it wouldn't bother me at all.
Interviewer: So it just depends on the size of the family?
Informant: It depends on how close you are to your business associates. If you were entertaining, I
would not want them tramping through my bedroom to get to my kitchen. So if I was
moving up the corporate ladder, I would want to get something different so my bedroom
would be private.
113 Interviewer: They don't employ those oriental screens to create the illusion of a hallway past the
bedroom area?
Informant: I know what you are talking about--three screens all the way across the room. Because
the bedroom is just as big as the living room.
Interviewer: Since you 're restoring this house, what type of framing did the house have?
Informant: Balloon framing.
Interviewer: Do you consider yourself to be a white collar or blue collar worker?
Informant: White collar.
Interviewer: Thank you for the interview. You have been most cooperative.
Resident F
Interviewer: How does the shape of your shotgun house affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: Well, it's just straight through. You don't have any privacy in the middle bedroom.
Interviewer: Do you need to take creative measures to ensure privacy and what measures do you take?
Informant: I just lock the door.
Interviewer: You haven't tried putting up a curtain? Some people use them for both privacy and
sound insulation.
Informant: No, I haven't put up a curtain.
Interviewer: What purpose does each of the rooms serve and where are they positioned in the house?
Informant: The front room is the living room.
Interviewer: And then the middle room is the bedroom?
Informant: Then the middle room is the bedroom and the kitchen is in the back.
Interviewer: And the bathroom is off the kitchen?
Informant: Yeah.
Interviewer: Why did you choose that particular function for each of the rooms?
114 Informant: It was like that when we moved here.
Interviewer: Well, it might not make sense to have the living room in the middle because then you'd
have visitors walking into your bedroom.
Informant: Yeah.
Interviewer: Has the function of the rooms changed over time?
Informant: No. It has stayed the same. It was like this when we moved in and they had it this way
originally.
Interviewer: How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
Informant: It doesn't bother me. I'm used to it.
Interviewer: Would you consider yourself a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: Blue collar.
Resident G
Interviewer: Do you need to take creative measures to ensure privacy and what measures do you take?
Informant: Well, I basically don't myself. The good thing about it is, wn ... you mean privacy as
far as not worrying about what other people see in other rooms?
Interviewer: Yes.
Informant: Basically just doors. Interior doors will keep it to a minimwn and stuff like that. And
basically there's not much space in here as far as to have a lot of things anyway. I mean,
I'm straight through from front room to the bedroom to the kitchen, and, uh, I really
don't need that much privacy as far as that goes.
Interviewer: You live alone, then?
Informant: Well, I have a roommate. We've got a door separating our rooms and stuff like that, so
that's as much privacy as we usually need.
Interviewer: What purpose does each of the rooms serve and where are they positioned within the
house?
115 Informant: Okay. The living room is the front room. The second room through is my bedroom.
Then the back two rooms are like separated in half. The left side is the kitchen and the
right side is my second bedroom, the roommate's room. And there's a utility room and
bathroom directly next to the living room and my bedroom. It just ... They're separated
by a main wall. It's like they're added onto the side of the house.
Interviewer: So it's like where you have your washer and dryer?
Informant: Yes, ma'am.
Interviewer: Why did you choose that particular function for each of the rooms?
Informant: This wasn't really my choice as much as it was the city's. I'm disabled, so I had a lot of
work done to the house through the city. They basically made up the plan as far as how
to fix the house and stuff like that.
You know, they have a plan where they put money into fixing the house and I
pay it back over, like, a 15 year period. The house was in really bad condition. It
probably would have been condemned. My dad gave it to me to, like, get me out of the
house, I guess. So they put al the money into it and I'm working my way to paying it
back. It's through community development.
Interviewer: Has the function of the rooms changed through time?
Informant: Each room? No. Being in a shotgun house, there's really not too much you can change
as far as that goes. With the small space you have, you're basically stuck with having a
visiting or living room for the first part. So you 're basically stuck as far as how the
house is going to be. Most of the interior is living and sleeping quarters and then the
outer sides are for, like, living room and other stuff besides sleeping quarters.
Interviewer: How comfortable are you with the shape of the house?
Informant: It's okay to me. I really don't mind the shape of the house that much. I'd like to have a
bigger house just for, well, there's not that much privacy, but I really don't need that
much privacy right now. If! was to have a family, that would be different. I mean, like,
116 a wife and kids. I'd probably need a lot more space than this little shotgun house. But
with the circumstances I'm in right now it's okay.
Interviewer: How does the shape of the shotgun house affect the interaction of your family?
Informant: Okay. Well, to tell you the truth, there's really not much interaction between me and my
roommate. He works a lot and he's hardly ever here. So basically it's just me here. So
there's not that much interaction as far as that goes.
Interviewer: Are you considered a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: Uh, even though I'm on disability? I figure it would be probably blue collar.
Interviewer: Do you connect shotgun houses with African Americans?
Informant: No, lower income.
Resident H
Interviewer: Do you need to take creative measures to ensure privacy? What measures do you take?
Informant: Well, you know, it's kinda like everybody had a room of their own. We hung curtains
between each of the rooms.
Interviewer: What purpose did each of the rooms serve and where are they positioned within the
house?
Informant: The first room was the bedroom I was in. It had a sleeping sofa. It was the living room
in the daytime. The second room was the dining room.
Interviewer: And then after that there was a bedroom?
Informant: No. There was a kitchen and then the bedroom. There were four rooms altogether plus
the bathroom.
Interviewer: Why did you choose a particular function for each of the rooms?
Informant: That's basically how the house was set up. Not much choice.
Interviewer: Has the function of the rooms changed over time?
117 Informant: When we were there, the people before us used the same layout. But it may have
changed by now.
Interviewer: How comfortable were you with the shape of the house?
Informant: Well, I was pretty young at the time and didn't know the difference. It was basically like
a routine house. I was comfortable with it.
Interviewer: How does the shape of the shotgun house affect the interaction of the family?
Informant: Everybody had their own room. My mother had her own room, and that's about it.
Interviewer: Do you consider yourself to be a blue collar or white collar worker?
Informant: Blue collar.
118 APPENDIXB
Tables
119 Table B-1. Chronologies for Old Photographs in Knoxville
AA = African-American W= White
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 174 AND 176 BROAD, Photograph dates to 1872. 1869 West Water Street Nance, C.B. Machinist, ETV&G RR w 1869 174 Broad Not Listed 1869 176 Broad Not Listed 1876/77 174 Broad Nance, Blanton Carpenter, ETV&G RR w 1876/77 176 Broad Not Listed 1882 East Broad, South Nance, Calloway B. Carpenter, ETV&G RR w of Bellevue 1884 23 Jacksboro Nance, C. Blanton Car Inspector, ETV&G w RR 1885 174 Broad Nance, C. B. Carpenter, ETV&G RR w 1885 176 Broad Nance, Charles B. Car Inspector, ETV&G w RR 1886 174 Broad Not Listed 1886 176 Broad Nance, C. B. ETV&GRR w 1888 174 Broad Nance, Calloway B. Car Builder, ETV&G RR w 1889 176 Broad Nance, Calloway B. Car Builder, ETV&G RR w 1890 174 Broad Temple, C. H. Conductor, ETV&G RR w 1890 176 Broad Nance, C. B. Carpenter, ETV&G RR w 329 TEMPERENCE ST., Stood in 1917 Sanborn Map but was not standing in 1903. 1928 Knoxville City Directory lists 329 Temperence as a YWCA. 1901 329 Temperence Not Listed 1902 329 Temperence Not Listed 1903 329 Temperence Not Listed 1904 329 Temperence Crank, S. L. AA 1905 329 Temperence Smith, Wm. / Crank, S. L. AA 1906 329 Temperence Crite, Steve/ Cureton, A. F. AA 1907 329 Temperence Brison, Annie AA 1908 329 Temperence Howell, Benjamin AA 1909 329 Temperence Alexander, Thomas AA 1910 329 Temperence Alexander, R. L. AA
120 Table B-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 309 W. FRONT A VE., Built Between 1903 and 1904. 1903 309 W. Front Ave. Construction Started 1904 309 W. Front Ave. Cruze, Andrew w 1905 309 W. Front Ave. Woods, T. P., (W) w Stansberry, John (W) 1906 309 W. Front Ave. Stansberry, J. H. w 1907 309 W. Front Ave. Woods, T. P. w 1908 309 W. Front Ave. Stapp, A. B., Mrs. w 1909 309 W. Front Ave. Stapp, A. B., Mrs. w 1910 309 W. Front Ave. Vacant 1911 309 W. Front Ave. Brown, J. W. w 1912 309 W. Front Ave. Brown, J. W. w 15 AND 16 SEVIER ST., Built between 1905-1906. 1901 15 Sevier St. No Such Street 1901 16 Sevier St. No Such Street 1902 15 Sevier St. Street Exist, No #s 1902 16 Sevier St. Street Exist, No #s 1903 15 Sevier St. Street Exist, No #s 1903 16 Sevier St. Street Exist, No #s 1904 15 Sevier St. Street Exist, No #s 1904 16 Sevier St. Street Exist, No #s 1905 15 Sevier St. Not Listed 1905 16 Sevier St. Haynes, R. D. Proctor Furniture Co. w 1906 15 Sevier St. Not Listed 1906 16 Sevier St. Congyer, B. C. Knox Mattress Factory w 1907 15 Sevier St. #s Changed, Impossible to Trace 1907 16 Sevier St. #s Changed, Impossible to Trace 1908 15 Sevier St. #s Changed, Impossible to Trace 1908 16 Sevier St. #s Changed, Impossible to Trace
121 Table B-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group
I 63 W. CLINCH, 1903 Sanborn Map reveals that the building was demolished. 1869 63 W. Clinch Not Listed 1876/77 63 W. Clinch Douglass, Chas. Constable w 1882 63 W. Clinch Douglass, Chas. Printer w 1884 63 W. Clinch Douglass, Chas. Constable w 1888 63 W. Clinch Justice of the Peace 1889 63 W. Clinch Dickson, Mel H. Lawyer w 1902 63 W. Clinch Not Listed 1903 63 W. Clinch Not Listed
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1869-1928. Sanborn Map.
122 Table B-2. Exact Dates for Street Survey in Knoxville
AA = African-American W = White
Exact Date Address Ethnic Group 1886 1217 University Ave. AA 1888 229 Canster St. AA 1890 124 W. Anderson St. w 1890 405 E. Anderson St. w 1890 412 Douglass Ave. AA 1891 1320 W. Fifth Ave. w 1893 130 W. Anderson St. w 1893 142 W. Anderson St. w 1893 133 E. Baxter w 1893 135 E. Baxter w 1893 1637 Boyd St. w 1893 214 Cansler St. w 1893 218 Cansler St. w 1893 1321 Dora St. AA 1893 1103 Folsom St. w 1893 1113 Folsom St. AA 1893 1624 Wallace St. AA 1893 1626 Wallace St. AA 1894 1432 Cornelia w 1894 1363 Shepherd Place w 1895 1646 Boyd St. w 1895 1010 McGhee Ave. w 1895 1012 McGhee Ave. w 1897 1009 McGhee Ave. AA 1898 302 Douglass Ave. w 1898 1113 Harvey St. w 1898 1115 Harvey St. w 1898 231 Kem' s Place w 1900 1126 Alexander St. w 1900 1008 McGhee Ave. w 1901 140 W. Anderson St. w 1901 1319 Dora St. w
123 Table B-2. (continued)
Exact Date Address Ethnic Group 1901 108 Douglass Ave. w 1902 407 Douglass Ave. w 1902 238 Oldham Ave. w 1902 402 Oldham Ave. w 1902 416 Oldham Ave. w 1903 116 W. Anderson St. w 1903 409 E. Anderson St. w 1903 411 E. Anderson St. w 1903 310 Douglass Ave. AA 1903 312 Douglass Ave. AA 1903 406 Oldham Ave. w 1903 418 Oldham Ave. w 1903 1365 Shepherd Place w 1904 413 E. Anderson St. w 1904 404 James Ave. AA 1904 406 James Ave. AA 1904 1215 University Ave. AA 1905 415 E. Anderson St. w 1905 417 E. Anderson St. w 1906 134 W. Anderson St. w 1906 425 Citico St. w 1906 427 Citico St. w 1906 429 Citico St. w 1906 404 Oldham Ave. w 1907 417 E. Emerald w 1907 419 E. Emerald w 1908 419 E. Anderson St. w 1908 417 Citico St. w 1908 419 Citico St. w 1908 421 Citico St. w 1908 423 Citico St. w 1908 141 Douglass AA 1908 143 Douglass AA
124 Table B-2. (continued)
Exact Date Address Ethnic Group 1909 414 Citico St. w 1909 416 Douglass Ave. AA 1909 1615 Harvey St. w 1909 1617 Harvey St. w 1909 1619 Harvey St. w 1909 I 621 Harvey St. w 1909 1623 Harvey St. w 1909 1625 Harvey St. w 1910 420 Citico St. w 1911 232 Cansler St. AA 1922 227 Cansler St. AA 1923 2006 Ailor Ave. w 1939 2010 Ailor Ave. w
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1886-1939.
125 Table B-3. Street Survey of Shotguns in Knoxville in 1996
AA = African-American W= White
Address Date Ethnic Construction Materials Group CITICO ST. NEIGHBORHOOD 2006 Ailor Ave. 1923 w Not Listed 2010 Ailor Ave. 1939 w Not Listed 414 Citico St. 1909 w Not Listed 417 Citico St. 1908 w Wire nails 419 Citico St. 1908 w Not Listed 420 Citico St. 1910 w Not Listed 421 Citico St. 1908 w Cinder blocks/wire nails 423 Citico St. 1908 w Cinder blocks/wire nails 425 Citico St. 1906 w Not Listed 427 Citico St. 1906 w Not Listed 429 Citico St. 1905/06 w End cut extended brick/wire nails LONSDALE NEIGHBORHOOD 1002 Delaware St. * w Not Listed 1004 Delaware St. * w Not Listed 1006 Delaware St. * w Not Listed 1203 Delaware St. * w Pressed bricks/wire and cut nails 3124 Johnson St. * w Not Listed 3202 Johnson St. * w Not Listed 3236 Johnson St. * w Not Listed 3238 Johnson St. * w Not Listed 1225 Louisiana Ave. * w Siding to ground level (no bricks visible)/wire nails 1226 Louisiana Ave. * w Siding to ground level (no bricks visible)/wire nails 1805 Marion * w Not Listed 1807 Marion * w Not Listed 1812 Marion * w Not Listed 21 Maryland Ave. * w Not Listed 1021 New York Ave. * w Extended bricks/wire nails 1023 New York Ave. * w Pressed bricks/wire nails 1700 Ohio Ave. * AA Not Listed
126 Table B-3. (continued)
Address Date Ethnic Construction Materials Group 2016 Schoefield St. * w Not Listed 2020 Schoefield St. * w Not Listed 2021 Schoefield St. * w Not Listed 1142 Tennessee Ave. * w Not Listed 1505 Tennessee Ave. * w Not Listed 1904 Tennessee Ave. * w Not Listed 1216 Texas Ave. * AA Not Listed 1503 Texas Ave. * AA Not Listed 1505 Texas Ave. * AA Not Listed 3312 Thomas St. * AA Not Listed 3 3 16 Thomas St. * AA Not Listed 2223 Vermont Ave. * w Not Listed 2225 Vermont Ave. * w Not Listed 722 Virginia Ave. * w Not Listed 724 Virginia Ave. * w Not Listed MECHANICSVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD 1637 Boyd St. 1893 w Not Listed 1646 Boyd St. 1895 w Not Listed 2 IO Cansler St. 1902 AA Not Listed 214 Cansler St. 1893 w Not Listed 21 8 Cansler St. 1893 w Not Listed 227 Cansler St. 1922 AA Not Listed 229 Cansler St. 1888 AA Not Listed 232 Cansler St. 1911 AA Not Listed 1432 Cornelia 1894 w Not Listed 1319 Dora St. 1901 w Not Listed 1321 Dora St. 1893 AA Not Listed 108 Douglass Ave. 1901 AA Not Listed 109 Douglass Ave. 1905 AA Not Listed 141 Douglass Ave. 1908 AA Not Listed 143 Douglass Ave. 1908 AA Not Listed
127 Table B-3. (continued)
Address Date Ethnic Construction Materials Group 302 Douglass Ave. 1898 w Not Listed 310 Douglass Ave. 1903 AA Not Listed 312 Douglass Ave. 1903 AA Not Listed 407 Douglass Ave. 1902 w Cinder blocks/wire nails 412 Douglass Ave. 1890 AA Not Listed 416 Douglass Ave. 1909 AA Not Listed 1320 W. Fifth 1891 w Not Listed 404 James Ave. 1904 AA Cinder blocks/wire nails 405 James Ave. 1905 AA End cut extended bricks/wire nails 406 James Ave. 1904 AA Not Listed 1008 McGhee Ave. 1900 w Not Listed 1009 McGhee Ave. 1899 AA Not Listed 1010 McGhee Ave. 1895 w .Not Listed 1012 McGhee Ave. 1895 w Not Listed 1007 University Ave. 1949 w Not Listed 1215 University Ave. 1904 AA Not Listed 1217 University Ave. 1886 AA Not Listed 1624 Wallace St. 1893 AA Bricks, can't tell/wire nails 1626 Wallace St. 1895 AA Bricks, can't tell/wire nails 1939 Western Ave. * w Wire nails 2016 Western Ave. * w Not Listed NORIB KNOXVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD 1116 Alexander * w Not Listed 1122 Alexander 1898 w Not Listed 1126 Alexander 1900 w Not Listed 116 W. Anderson 1903 w Not Listed 124 W. Anderson 1890 w Cinder blocks/cut nails 128 W. Anderson 1898 w Not Listed 130 W. Anderson 1893 w Not Listed 132 W. Anderson 1893 w Cinder blocks/cut nails 134 W. Anderson 1906 w Not Listed
128 Table B-3. (continued)
Address Date Ethnic Construction Materials Group 135 W. Anderson 1893 w Not Listed 13 7 W. Anderson 1893 w Not Listed 140 W. Anderson 1901 w End cut extended brick/cut nails 142 W. Anderson 1894 w Not Listed 403 E. Anderson 1901 w Not Listed 405 E. Anderson 1890 w Cinder blocks/cut nails 409 E. Anderson 1903 w Cinder blocks/wire nails (possibly cut) 411 E. Anderson 1903 w Not Listed 413 E. Anderson 1905 w Not Listed 415 E. Anderson 1905 w Not Listed 417 E. Anderson 1905 w Not Listed 419 E. Anderson 1908 w Not Listed 133 E. Baxter 1893 w Not Listed 135 E. Baxter 1893 w Not Listed 417 E. Emerald 1907 w Not Listed 419 E. Emerald 1907 w Not Listed 1103 Folsom St. 1893 w Not Listed 1113 Folsom St. 1893 AA Not Listed 1113 Harvey St. 1898 w Not Listed 1115 Harvey St. 1898 w Not Listed 1615 Harvey 1909 w Not Listed 1617 Harvey 1909 w Not Listed 1619 Harvey 1909 w Not Listed 1621 Harvey 1909 w Not Listed 1623 Harvey 1909 w Not Listed 1625 Harvey 1909 w Not Listed 231 Kerns Place 1898 w Not Listed 238 Oldham Ave. 1902 w Not Listed 402 Oldham Ave. 1902 w Not Listed 404 Oldham Ave. 1906 w Not Listed 406 Oldham Ave. 1903 w Not Listed
129 Table B-3. (continued)
Address Date Ethnic Construction Materials Group 416 Oldham Ave. 1902 w Not Listed 418 Oldham Ave. 1903 w Not Listed 1363 Shepherd Place 1894 w Not Listed 1365 Shepherd Place 1903 w Not Listed
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1893-1939.
• 1885-1913 dates could not be found, not part of Knoxville until 1913 .
130 Table B-4. Number of African-American Carpenters in Knoxville in 1869 and 1890
Date Name Address 1869 Unknown Clinch 1869 Unknown Patton 1869 Unknown Patton near Vine 1869 Unknown Union and Vine 1869 Unknown High Street 1869 Unknown High Street 1869 Unknown Clinch 1869 Unknown Bell 1869 Unknown High Street 1869 Unknown Patton 1869 Kidd, Andrew Patton 1869 King, Charles High 1869 Lester, William Clinch, Temperence Hill 1869 Magby, Henry Bell 1869 Miller, Jerry Spring near Bertrard 1869 Moore, Nelson Temperence High & Vine 1869 McMillan, M. Georgia and Kentucky 1869 Nelson, William Unknown 1869 Nelson, William Main near Cumberland 1869 Sims, William Eastport 1869 Smith, Alex High by Church and Clinch 1869 Smith, Alex Patton 1869 Smith, Alex Gay near Main and Hill 1869 Taylor, James Cwnberland 1869 Turner, John Bell 1869 Turner, Walker Patton 1869 Washington, Alex Main and Prince 1869 White, Samuel Bell 1869 Woods, Nat Eastport 1869 Woodfm, Jeff No Residence Listed 1890 Cash, J. F. Clinton 1890 Blackwell, Steve 91 Willow 1890 Bland, Richard 9 E. Cwnberland
131 Table B-4. (continued)
Date Name Address 1890 Boynes, James 213 Mabry 1890 Bradly, Andrew 707 Rose Ave. 1890 Branch, Frank 9 Poplar 1890 Broyles Lewis 156 Asylum 1890 Chandler, Charles 3 E. Kigle 1890 Cheatham Rufus 10 Willow 1890 Cooke, William 117 Patton 1890 Cross, Robert 11 Paddleford 1890 Cummings, William Chestnut Ridge E. Spruce 1890 Davis, John 205 E. Clinch 1890 Davis, Putnam 14 Mill 1890 Evans, Fred 30 Mill 1890 Ford, Charles 39 Clinton 1890 Gearing, Henry 203 E. Clinch 1890 Hamlett, George 149 Pine 1890 Hampton, David 156 W. Clinch 1890 Harris, Edwin Bds. University 1890 Jackson, Andrew 229 McGhee 1890 Johnson, Thomas E. Bell near Mabry 1890 King, Chas. 78 Payne 1890 Lilliston, Wm. 179 E. Clinch 1890 Mann Johnson & Co. 1890 McClelland, Sharp 59New 1890 McMillan, Robert 128 Craig 1890 Mark,Adam 51 Nelson 1890 Miller, Edward Not Listed 1890 Morrell, Smauel 7 River 1890 Murphy, Flanders 101 Nelson 1890 Nelson, Evans 164 W. Clinch 1890 Nowlin, Barr 2 Sulliavan 1890 Nowlin, Murray 60 Nelson 1890 Nowlin, Word 60 ½Nelson 1890 Ogburn, Wm. 189 E. Clinch
132 Table B-4. (continued)
Date Name Address 1890 Reynolds, Samuel 403 Asylum 1890 Seagle, George 12 S. Mill 1890 Smith, Thomas 55 Asylum 1890 Smith, Wm. 207 Crozier 1890 Staggs, John 53 Russell 1890 Stewart, Joseph 125 High 1890 Taylor, James 183 W. Cumberland 1890 Taylor, Samuel 26 Marble 1890 Tedford, Calvin University Ave. near Clinton Rd. 1890 Tedford, John 101 Clinton 1890 Tedford & Sons 1890 Tedford, Steward 101 Clinton 1890 Walker, George 50 Mill 1890 W allerson, Joseph 35 Kennedy 1890 Wells, Wilson 111 E. Clinch 1890 Whitfield, Daniel 39 Drew Alley 1890 Williams, John 130 Patton 1890 Woodward, Amos 125 High 1890 Young, Mack 17 W. Cumberland
Notes: 1869 - Total African-Americans in the building professions including carpentry and brick masonry was 31. 1890 - Total African-Americans in the building professions including carpentry and brick masonry was 53. As far as skilled trades are concerned, African-American blacksmiths far outnumbered those in the building profession.
Sources: Knoxville City Directory, 1869
Knoxville City Directory, 1890
133 Table B-5. Case Studies and Histories of Houses
AA = African-American W= White
Date Address Name Ethnic Occupation Group CITICO STREET- 507,509,511,513 BUILT 1908; 515,517, 519 BUILT 1906* 1906 515 Citico Hale, C. E. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1906 517 Citico Witt, A.H. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1906 519 Citico Ward, H. I. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1907 515 Citico Campbell, H. H. w Carpenter 1907 517 Citico Lee, J.M. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1907 519 Citico Ward, H. I. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1908 507 Citico Nichols, John w Not Found 1908 509 Citico Nichols, A. I. w Blacksmith, Sanford Day Iron Works 1908 511 Citico Chandler, J. J. w Bricklayer 1908 513 Citico Vacant 1908 515 Citico Vacant 1908 517 Citico Vacant 1908 519 Citico Copeland, R. C. w Sanford Day Iron Works 1909 507 Citico Shinpangh, S. M. w Sanford Day Iron Works 1909 509 Citico McFall, T. A. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1909 511 Citico Karr, J. H. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1909 513 Citico Henry, A. w ? Furniture Co. 1909 515 Citico Haywood, T. F. w Sanford Day Iron Works 1909 517 Citico Henry, S. C. w K. T.&C. Co. 1909 519 Citico Henry, S. W. w K. T.&C. Co. 1910 507 Citico York, W. E. w K. T. & C. Co. 1910 509 Citico Thomas, C. C. w K. T. &C. Co. 1910 511 Citico Compton, C. w Carp. 1910 513 Citico Bolden, J. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1910 515 Citico Thomas, E. P. w K. T.&C. Co. 1910 517 Citico Gervin, J. S. w Bricklayer 1910 519 Citico Wright, J. H. w Sanford Day Iron Works 1911 507 Citico Compton, C. S. w K. T. & C. Co. 1911 509 Citico Thomas, C. C. w ? ofT. Farm.
134 Table B-5. (continued)
Date Address Name Ethnic Occupation Group 1911 511 Citico Headrick, F. H. w Tenn. Prod. Marble. Co. 1911 513 Citico Swanner, J. W. w K. R. & I. Co. 1911 515 Citico Gowen, W. T. w K. S. & ERy. 1911 517 Citico Vacant 1911 519 Citico Hill, D. B. w O'WoodMfg. Co. 1912 507 Citico Vacant 1912 509 Citico Vacant 1912 511 Citico Thomas, E. R. w Not Found 1912 513 Citico Vacant 1912 515 Citico Barnhill, C. P. w Tenn. Prod. Marble Co. 1912 517 Citico Henry, S. W. w Not Found 1912 519 Citico Hill, Daniel w O'Wood Mfg. Co. 1913 507 Citico White, C. w Paper Hanger 1913 509 Citico Maples, 0. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1913 511 Citico Young,O.C. w Sanford Day Iron Works 1913 513 Citico Arrowood, J.C. w Carp. 1913 515 Citico Vacant 1913 517 Citico Dawson, Harry w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1913 519 Citico Vacant 1914 507 Citico Cassady, H. H. w Farmer 1914 509 Citico Maples, 0. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1914 511 Citico Jones, D. W. w Not Found 1914 513 Citico Powers, S. M. w Not Found 1914 515 Citico Collier, M. A. w American Philosophical Pub. Co. 1914 517 Citico Vacant 1914 519 Citico Price, J. T. w J. D. Ellenburg 1915 507 Citico Bohanan, R. A. w K. Cotton Mill 1915 509 Citico Vacant 1915 511 Citico Mount, Carl w J. Allen Smith & Co. 1915 513 Citico Bowers, S. M. w Not Found 1915 515 Citico Luttrell, D. F. w K. Monumental Works
135 Table B-5. (continued)
Date Address Name Ethnic Occupation Group 1915 517 Citico Spriggs, S. M. w Appalachian Mills 1915 519 Citico Jones, Peter w D. M. Rose & Co. 1916 507 Citico Gaines, H. S. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1916 509 Citico Gann, J. G. w L. F. Moore Carriage Co. 1916 511 Citico Brown,R.C. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1916 513 Citico Gamer, William w Appalachian. Knitting Mills 1916 515 Citico Thomas, J. W. w Knox. Iron Co. 1916 517 Citico Chrisman, J. W. w Applehn. Marble Co. 1916 519 Citico Johnson, R. w K. Cotton Mills 1917 507 Citico Gaines, H. H. w W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. 1917 509 Citico Gann, J. G. w Quality Carriage Co. 1917 511 Citico Whitson, B. w Not Found 1917 513 Citico Wheeler, W. A. w W.W. WoodruffHardware Co. 1917 515 Citico Smith, T. w Knox. Spin Co. 1917 517 Citico Cruze, Susie w WidowofWm. 1917 519 Citico Johnson, Clark w Applehn. Knitting Mills 1919 507 Citico Gaines, H. w Southern Pipe Foundry Co. 1919 509 Citico Fritts, T. M. w Sterchi Furniture Co. 1919 511 Citico Hammock, Lucy w Widow of Thos. 1919 513 Citico Smith, Jas. w Murray Const. Co. 1919 515 Citico Huffaker, C. w Knox. Tinn Shop 1919 517 Citico Case, Thos. w Not Found 1919 519 Citico Cruze, Susie w Not Found 1920 507 Citico Gaines, S. H. w Pipe Fdy. Co. 1920 509 Citico Woods, Harrison w Cherokee Spin. Co. 1920 511 Citico Bice, Alex w Knox. Mble. Co. 1920 513 Citico Marine, W. A. w Not Found 1920 515 Citico Huffaker, C. w Tin W. Mfg. 1920 517 Citico McCarter, Wm. w Not Found 1920 519 Citico Brown, Bailey w Cherokee Spin Co.
136 Table B-5. (continued)
Date Address Name Ethnic Occupation Group 1617, 1619 CLINTON ST., BUILT 1902 1902 1617 Clinton St. Browder, J. AA Puddler, Knox Iron Co. 1902 1619 Clinton St. Lyons, Rev. William AA Clinton Chapel 1903 1617 Clinton St. Rose, William AA Lab 1903 1619 Clinton St. Perry, D. W. AA Bricklayer 1904 1617 Clinton St. Hodson, T. AA Evans Marble Co. 1904 1619 Clinton St. Perry, D. W. AA Bricklayer 1905 1617 Clinton St. Hodson, T. AA Evans Marble Co. 1905 1619 Clinton St. Perry, D. W. AA Bricklayer 1906 1617 Clinton St. Naulin, E. AA Not Listed 1906 1619 Clinton St. Henry, S .F. AA Knox Iron Co. 1907 1617 Clinton St. Watkins, D. (Female) AA Laundress 1907 1619 Clinton St. Henry, S. F. AA Knox Iron Co. 1908 1617 Clinton St. Not Listed 1908 1619 Clinton St. Powell, Sarah AA Not Listed 1909 1617 Clinton St. Ector, Marcus AA Lab 1909 1619 Clinton St. Sterling, A. (Female) AA Laundress 1910 1617 Clinton St. No 1910 1910 1619 Clinton St. No 1910 1911 161 7 Clinton St. Lane, William AA Plumbing Co. 1911 1619 Clinton St. Tedford, Acey AA Driver 1912 161 7 Clinton St. Lane, William AA Hawks Plumbing 1912 1619 Clinton St. Williams, D. (Female) AA Not Listed 1913 1617 Clinton St. Henderson, J. R. AA Lab 1913 1619 Clinton St. George, A. AA Reverend 1914 161 7 Clinton St. Harris, L. (Female) AA Not Listed 1914 1619 Clinton St. Cruze, William AA Puddler, Knox Iron Co. 1915 1617 Clinton St. Smith, James AA Plasterer 1915 1619 Clinton St. Vacant 1916 1617 Clinton St. Lilly, Mack AA South Ry 1916 1619 Clinton St. Tedford, R. AA Driver, Jenkins Groceries
137 Table B-5. (continued)
Date Address Name Ethnic Occupation Group 413, 415 UNNERSITY A VE., BUILT 1904 1904 413 University Ave. William Wilson AA Fireman 1904 415 University Ave. Henderson, Beulah AA Knox Gas Co. Lab 1905 413 University Ave. Wilson, William AA Fireman 1905 415 University Ave. Henderson, William AA Sou Ry 1906 413 University Ave. Wilson, William AA Fireman 1906 415 University Ave. Monroe, Chas AA Laborer 1907 413 University Ave. Griggs, Edward AA Porter 1907 415 University Ave. Monroe, Chas AA Dyer 1908 413 University Ave. Smith, Rebecca AA Not Listed 1908 415 University Ave. Monroe, Chas AA Dyer 1909 413 University Ave. Unknown 1909 415 University Ave. Unknown 1910 413 University Ave. Cunningham, John AA Plasterer 1910 415 University Ave. Knox, Andrew AA Plumber 1911 413 University Ave. Henderson, Bessie AA Laundress 1911 415 University Ave. Moore, Annie AA Laundress 1912 413 University Ave. Young, Alvin AA Laborer 1912 415 University Ave. Brabson, John AA Driver 1913 413 University Ave. Unknown 1913 415 University Ave. Brabson, John AA Driver 1914 413 University Ave. Ellis, J. L. AA Knox Gas Co. 1914 415 University Ave. Vacant 1915 413 University Ave. Ellis, Jessie AA Knox Gas Co. Lab 1915 415 University Ave. Not Listed 1916 413 University Ave. Ellis, Jessie AA Knox Gas Co. 1916 415 University Ave. Not Listed 1917 413 University Ave. Dawell, Clarence AA Not Listed 1917 415 University Ave. Odom, James AA Not Listed 1919 413 University Ave. Vacant 1919 415 University Ave. Hodison, Lucy AA Domestic
138 Table B-5. (continued)
Date Address Name Ethnic Occupation Group 417 UNIVERSITY AVE., BUILT 1893** 1893 417 University Ave. Sarah Leeper AA Unemployed 1894 417 University Ave. Sarah Leeper AA M.L. 1895 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Puddler 1896 417 University Ave. No 1896 1897 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1898 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1900 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1901 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1902 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1903 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1904 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1905 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1906 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1907 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1908 417 University Ave. Edward Leeper AA Knox Iron Co. 1626 WALLACE ST., BUILT 1891/92 1891/92 1626 Wallace St. Pennington, Ed AA Lab 1893 1626 Wallace St. Gadson, J. R. AA Knox Iron Co. 1894 1626 Wallace St. Gadson, J. R. AA Knox Iron Co. 1895 1626 Wallace St. Johnson, Frank AA Lab 1897 1626 Wallace St. Lenoir, Amanda AA Laundress 1898 1626 Wallace St. King, Samuel AA Cook, Dr. R.M. Dayton 1900 1626 Wallace St. King, Samuel AA Cook 1901 1626 Wallace St. King, Samuel AA Cook 1902 1626 Wallace St. Redmond, C. A. AA Puddler, Knox Iron Co. 1903 1626 Wallace St. Redmond, C. A. AA Puddler, Knox Iron Co. 1904 1626 Wallace St. Sawyers, Henson AA Lab, SoaRy 1905 1626 Wallace St. Jones, W. J. AA Evans Marble Co. 1906 1626 Wallace St. White, H. M. AA Carpenter
Note: 1918 - No Knoxville City Directory.
139 Table B-5. (continued)
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1905-1920.
Knoxville Warranty Deed Books 126 and 153.
* 1905 Knoxville City Directory doesn't have nwnbers 507, 509, 511, 513, 517, 519 Citico. 1906-1907 Knoxville City Directories don't have numbers 507,509,511,513 Citico. ** Warranty Deed 126, p. 200, 1893 Mar. 23, Jas. H. Moses to W. H. Blanton and Martha C. owned 417 University Ave. Warranty Deed 153, p. 406 from James H. Moses, L-103 University Ave., M-Fairview Addition owned 417 University Ave. in 1898.
140 Table B-6. Chain of Title
AA = African-American W = White NL = Not Listed WD = Wa"anty Deed
Date Name Ethnic Name of Guarantee and Occupation Source Group 507,509,511,513,515,517,519 CITICO ST., BUILT 1906 1906 George L. Galyon to Henry Bloom (W) WD210 (grocer) p. 149 1920 Malcohn Bloom w to J.B. Richards (W) Knox Co. Trust Deed Book 703, pp. 425, 425,426, 427,429, 431,436, 437. 1617 CLINTON ST., BUILT 1888 1888 C.A. Lucas w to Josephine McCallum (NL) to WD91 1931 p. 155 Not Josephine McCallum Not to James Henderson (W) WD 210? Listed Listed p.274 1922 James Henderson w to Walter Hardin (AA) WD 362,p. (grocer 1603 College St., lived at 328 1603½ College) 1619 CLINTON ST., BUILT 1893 Not John L. Moses w to John Williams (W) WDJ3 Listed (real estate investor) p.33 1894 John Williams and Mary w to William Lyle (W) WD 125 ( worked at John Rotach of p. 105 Lambright and Williams) 1941 William Lyle w to L.F. Nance (AA) WD631 ( teacher Green School, lived at 1310 p.45 Dora St.) 413 UNIVERSITY A VE., BUILT 1900 1900 From Leese Moses and to Edward J. Leeper WD 167 wife, Emma P. Moses p. 192 415 UNIVERSITY A VE., BUILT 1893 1898 W.T. Newton w to Edward Leeper (AA) WD 155 (watchmaker) (Puddler at Knox Iron Co.) p.317 1903 Edward Leeper AA to Susie Prater (AA) WD 187 (worked at Knox Iron Co.) p. 17
141 Table B-6. ( continued)
Date Name Ethnic Name of Guarantee and Occupation Source Group 1932 Susie Prater (AA) AA to Lula and James Meek WD523 B.E. Johnson (AA) and AA p.349 John J. Conner (W) w 1932 Lula and James M. Meek AA to C.F. Whiteside (W) (Lee , Price, WD523 McDermott and Meek) p.349 1624 WALLACE ST., BUILT 1890 1927 Mamie and Asbury AA to F. E. Laughead (W) Carmichael (lived at same (lawyer) address) 1626 WALLACE ST., BUILT 1891 1892 James Leeper AA to Lizzie Leeper (AA) WD 124 (porter at Singer p.207 Manufacturing) 1913 Lizzie Leeper AA to James & Edward Leeper (AA) WD528 p.349 1920 Edward Leeper to Sarah Leeper Will Book II, p. --- 1931 Sarah Leeper to Lula Prater Meek WD523 p.249 1932 Lula Prater Meek, (AA) AA to C.F. Whiteside (W) WD523 Susan Prater (AA), AA p.349 J.J. Conner (W) w 1944 C.F. Whiteside w to Willie Mae Thomas (W) WD523 (worked at Todd & Armistead, lived p.249 in Concord)
142 Table B-7. Brookside Village
AA = African-American W = White
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1909 17 Marion Kesterson, Sam Not Listed w 1909 18 Marion Loveday, John Not Listed w 1909 20 Marion Warick, H. N. Not Listed w 1909 21 Marion Ballard, John Brookside Mills w 1909 22 Marion Vacant Not Listed 1909 23 Marion Haymes, Daniel Not Listed w 1909 24 Marion Bailey, Thomas Brookside Mills w 1909 25 Marion Smith, J. A. Not Listed w 1909 26 Marion Click, M. M. Brookside Mills w 1909 27 Marion Swatzell, J. Evans Marble Co. w 1909 28 Marion Lane, J. W. Not Listed w 1909 1 Van Brewer, Thom. Brookside Mills w 1909 2 Van Adams, J. L. Lab, Philla Veneer w 1909 3 Van Harbin, A. L. Not Listed w 1909 4 Van Not Listed 1909 5 Van Dunn,G. W. Brookside Mills w 1909 6Van Hancock, G. Not Listed w 1909 7Van Day, J. R. Furman w 1909 8 Van Harbin, J. A. Brookside Mills w 1909 9Van Not Listed 1909 l0Van Vacant 1909 11 Van Wilson, F. B. Not Listed w 1909 12 Van Thary, S. L. Not Listed w 1909 1323 Van Purkey, Arthur Brookside Mills w 1910 17 Marion Harper, RC. Brookside Mills w 1910 18 Marion Wise, P.A. Not Listed w 1910 19 Marion Vacant 1910 20 Marion Vacant 1910 21 Marion Warwick, N. H. Not Listed w 1910 22 Marion Hynn, Wallace Not Listed w 1910 23 Marion Loveday, John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w
143 Table B-7. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1910 24 Marion Winckle, L. C. Not Listed w 1910 25 Marion Haynes, D. H. Not Listed w 1910 26 Marion Smith, J. A. Not Listed w 1910 27 Marion Meheffey, E. M., Mrs. Not Listed w 1910 28 Marion Ballard, J. W. Brookside Mills w 1910 1 Van Brewer, Thom. Brookside Mills w 1910 2Van Edmondson, Ed. Brookside Mills w 1910 3 Van Hicks, Bartley Brookside Mills w 1910 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1910 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Not Listed w 1910 6Van Day, J. R. Not Listed w 1910 7Van Duffie, G. T. Brookside Mills w 1910 8 Van Carter, J. J. Not Listed w 1910 9Van Cates, Carroll Brookside Mills w 1910 lOVan Kimbrough, F. Brookside Mills w 1910 11 Van Not Listed 1910 12 Van Tharp Not Listed w 1910 1323 Van Purkey,Arthur Brookside Mills w 1911 17 Marion Harper, R. C. Brookside Mills w 1911 18 Marion Loy, Noah Not Listed w 1911 19 Marion Adams, Isaac Not Listed w 1911 20 Marion Douglas, Ruth Wid. Henry w 1911 21 Marion Warwick, N. H. Not Listed w 1911 22 Marion Nelson, Riley Not Listed w 1911 23 Marion Loveday, John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w 1911 24 Marion Jones, L. D. Not Listed w 1911 25 Marion Haynes, D. H. Not Listed w 1911 26 Marion McGill, Williams Brookside Mills w 1911 27 Marion Turner, J. E. Not Listed w 1911 28 Marion Ballard, J. W. Brookside Mills w 1911 1 Van Mayo, George Not Listed w 1911 2 Van Monday, Robert Not Listed w
144 Table B-7. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1911 3 Van Hicks, Bartley Not Listed w 1911 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1911 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Brookside Mills w 1911 6Van Pratt, Albert Brookside Mills w 1911 7Van Harbin, J. A. Brookside Mills w 1911 8Van Carter, J. S. Not Listed w 1911 9Van Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w 1911 l0Van Com, George Brookside Mills w 1911 11 Van Wilson, F. B. Brookside Mills w 1911 12 Van Tharp, S. L. Not Listed w 1911 1323 Van Weaver, Robert Not Listed w 1912 17 Marion Carter, G. J. Brookside Mills w 1912 18 Marion Vacant 1912 19 Marion Adams, I. L. Not Listed w 1912 20 Marion Douglas, Ruth Wid. Henry w 1912 21 Marion Warwick, N. H. Not Listed w 1912 22 Marion Hillard, Thomas Not Listed w 1912 23 Marion Loveday,John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w 1912 24 Marion England, Wm. Not Listed w 1912 25 Marion Underwood, T. A. Not Listed w 1912 26 Marion Wallace, Robert Brookside Mills w 1912 27 Marion Pratt, A. M. Not Listed w 1912 28 Marion Ballard, J. W. Brookside Mills w 1912 1 Van Oliver, Frank Brookside Mills w 1912 2 Van Vacant 1912 3 Van Hicks, Bart Not Listed w 1912 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1912 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Not Listed w 1912 6Van Vacant 1912 7Van McCarter, 0. J. Brookside Mills w 1912 8Van Vacant 1912 9Van Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w
145 Table B-7. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1912 10 Van Sherrod, John Brookside Mills w 1912 11 Van Vacant 1912 12 Van Vacant 1912 1323 Van Weaver, Robert Brookside Mills w 1913 17 Marion Carter, G. J. Brookside Mills w 1913 18 Marion Meyers, I. W. Not Listed w 1913 19 Marion Adams, I. L. Not Listed w 1913 20 Marion Wyatt, Sam Brookside Mills w 1913 21 Marion Wyrick, N. H. Not Listed w 1913 22 Marion Thorp, Alice Not Listed w 1913 23 Marion Loveday, John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w 1913 24 Marion Homer, H. I. Not Listed w 1913 25 Marion Underwood, T. A. Not Listed w 1913 26 Marion Wallace, Robert Brookside Mills w 1913 27 Marion Vacant 1913 28 Marion Ballard, J. W. Brookside Mills w 1913 1 Van Oliver, Frank Brookside Mills w 1913 2 Van Malicoat, P. L. Not Listed w 1913 3 Van Hicks, Bart Not Listed w 1913 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1913 5Van Hancock, G. W. Not Listed w 1913 6Van Capps, B. J. Not Listed w 1913 7Van Douglas, Ruth Wid. Henry w 1913 8Van Lane, F. L. Not Listed w 1913 9Van Vacant 1913 10 Van Sherrod, J. C. Brookside Mills w 1913 11 Van Wilson, G. W. Not Listed w 1913 12 Van Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w 1913 1323 Van Nelson, Belle Brookside Mills w 1914 17 Marion Carter, G. J. Brookside Mills w 1914 18 Marion Meyers, I. W. Not Listed w 1914 19 Marion Matthews, Lynch Brookside Mills w
146 Table B-7. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1914 20 Marion Wyrick, N. H. Carpenter w 1914 21 Marion Wyatt, Sam Brookside Mills w 1914 22 Marion Loveday, John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w 1914 23 Marion Mayes, N. T. Not Listed w 1914 24 Marion Underwood, T. A. Not Listed w 1914 25 Marion Douglas, Ruth Mrs. Brookside Mills w 1914 26 Marion Gosnell, Katherine Mrs. Brookside Mills w 1914 27 Marion Ballard, J. W. Brookside Mills w 1914 28 Marion Boyd, John Not Listed w 1914 1 Van Oliver, Frank Brookside Mills w 1914 2 Van Ledford, M. G. Not Listed w 1914 3 Van Hicks, Bart Not Listed w 1914 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1914 5Van Hancock, G. W. Brookside Mills w 1914 6Van Finger, F. J. Not Listed w 1914 7Van Jeffries, B. F. Iron Works w 1914 8 Van Kesterson, S. K. Unemployed w 1914 9Van Stofell, 0. T. Not Listed w 1914 lOVan Sherrod, J.C. Brookside Mills w 1914 11 Van Lane, J. W. Not Listed w 1914 12 Van Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w 1914 1323 Van Vacant 1915 17 Marion Smith, W. T.. Brookside Mills w 1915 18 Marion Meyers, I. W. Not Listed w 1915 19 Marion Adams, I. L. Not Listed w 1915 20 Marion Wyatt, Sam Brookside Mills w 1915 21 Marion Wyrick, N. H. Not Listed w 1915 22 Marion Thorp, Alice Not Listed w 1915 23 Marion Loveday, John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w 1915 24 Marion Homer, H. I. Not Listed w 1915 25 Marion Underwood, T. A. Not Listed w 1915 26 Marion Wallace, Robert Brookside Mills w
147 Table B-7. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1915 27 Marion Vacant 1915 28 Marion Ballard, J. W. Brookside Mills w 1915 1 Van Oliver, Frank Brookside Mills w 1915 2Van Ledford, M. G. Not Listed w 1915 3 Van Hicks, Ba_rt Not Listed w 1915 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1915 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Brookside Mills w 1915 6Van Finger, F. J. Not Listed w 1915 7Van Vacant 1915 8 Van Kesterson, S. K. Unemployed w 1915 9Van Vacant 1915 10 Van Kirby, W. A. Brookside Mills w 1915 11 Van Vacant 1915 12 Van Brewer, T. A. Brookside Mills w 1915 1323 Van Cooper, Joseph Not Listed w 1916 17 Marion Smith, W. T. Brookside Mills w 1916 18 Marion Capps, B. J. Not Listed w 1916 19 Marion Matthews, Lynch Not Listed w 1916 20 Marion Meyers, Irvin Not Listed w 1916 21 Marion Laugherty, W. B. Not Listed w 1916 22 Marion Matthews, P. E. Not Listed w 1916 23 Marion Loveday, John Sou. Extinguisher Co. w 1916 24 Marion Romines, H. A. Not Listed w 1916 25 Marion Crain, William Not Listed w 1916 26 Marion Clayton, Henry Brookside Mills w 1916 27 Marion Ramsey, P.H. Not Listed w 1916 28 Marion Johnson, Beard Brookside Mills w 1916 1 Van Oliver, Frank Brookside Mills w 1916 2 Van Cole, Cordes Not Listed w 1916 3 Van Hicks, Bart Not Listed w 1916 4 Van Dunn, George Brookside Mills w 1916 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Brookside Mills w
148 Table B-7. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1916 6Van Fender, Frank Not Listed w 1916 7Van Vacant 1916 8 Van Kesterson, S. K. Not Listed w 1916 9 Van Grisham, Thomas Not Listed w 1916 IO Van Lay, Noah Not Listed w 1916 11 Van Sweet, J.B. Not Listed w 1916 12 Van Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w 1916 1323 Van Bacon, W.W. Laborer w 1917 17 Marion Smith, W. T. Brookside Mills w 1917 18 Marion Capps, B. J. Not Listed w 1917 19 Marion Matthews, Lynch Not Listed w 1917 20 Marion Meyers, Irvin Not Listed w 1917 21 Marion Cheatham, T. N. Not Listed w 1917 22 Marion Matthews, P. E. Brookside Mills w 1917 23 Marion Lowe, Sam Brookside Mills w 1917 24 Marion Romines, H. A. Not Listed w 1917 25 Marion Vacant 1917 26 Marion Clayton, Henry Brookside Mills w 1917 27 Marion Ramsey, P.H. Not Listed w 1917 28 Marion Johnson, T. L. Brookside Mills w 1917 1 Van Oliver, Frank Brookside Mills w 1917 2Van Vacant 1917 3 Van Hicks, Bart Not Listed w 1917 4 Van Vacant 1917 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Brookside Mills w 1917 6Van Finger, J. F. Not Listed w 1917 7Van Fortner, J. W. Brookside Mills 1917 8Van Kesterson, S. K. Not Listed w 1917 9Van Grisham, Thomas Brookside Mills w 1917 10 Van Lay, Noah Laborer w 1917 11 Van Vacant 1917 12 Van Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w
149 Table B-7. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1917 1323 Van Vacant 1919 17 Marion Smith, W. T. Brookside Mills w 1919 18 Marion Capps, B. J. Not Listed w 1919 19 Marion Matthews, Lynch Not Listed w 1919 20 Marion Meyers, Irvin Not Listed w 1919 21 Marion Cheatham, T. N. Not Listed w 1919 22 Marion Miller, William Not Listed w 1919 23 Marion Mayers, A. W. Brookside Mills w 1919 24 Marion Romines, H. A. Not Listed w 1919 25 Marion Brewer, T. A. Not Listed w 1919 26 Marion Johnson, T. L. Brookside Mills w 1919 27 Marion Ramsey, P. H. Not Listed w 1919 28 Marion Not Listed 1919 1 Van Thompson, Hattie Operator, Dumb Tele. w 1919 2 Van Western, Mary Not Listed w 1919 3 Van Hicks, Bart Not Listed w 1919 4 Van Hobbo, Ella Not Listed w 1919 5 Van Hancock, G. W. Brookside Mills w 1919 6Van Fraker, George Not Listed w 1919 7Van Owens, Joseph Brookside Mills 1919 8 Van Laugherty, W. B. Not Listed w 1919 9Van Romine, Stewart Not Listed w 1919 lOVan Lay, Noah Farmer w 1919 11 Van Smith, L. H. Not Listed w 1919 12 Van Not Listed 1919 1323 Van Raby, William Brookside Mills w
Note: 1918 - No Knoxville City Directory.
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1909-1919.
150 Table B-8. Downtown, North Knoxville AA = African-American W= White
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1869 27 Pine Street Not Listed 1876 27 Pine Street Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1882 10 Brigham Not Listed 1882 19 Common Alley Not Listed 1882 31 Common Alley Not Listed 1882 79 Common Alley Not Listed 1882 81 Common Alley Not Listed 1882 85 Common Alley Not Listed 1882 87 Common Alley Not Listed 1882 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Huckster AA 1882 9 Hudson Not Listed 1882 13 Hudson Not Listed 1882 18 Hudson Not Listed 1882 65 Hudson Not Listed 1882 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1882 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1882 47 King St. Not Listed 1882 48 King St. Not Listed 1882 31 Marble Alley Not Listed 1882 42 Morgan Not Listed 1882 44 Morgan Not Listed 1882 71 Morgan Not Listed 1882 19 Union Smith, Thomas Janitor AA 1882 34 Williams Not Listed 1884 10 Brigham Not Listed 1884 19 Common Alley Not Listed 1884 31 Common Alley Not Listed 1884 79 Common Alley Rysdon, A. S. Carpenter w 1884 81 Common Alley Not Listed 1884 83 Common Alley Gammon, Wm. Cook AA 1884 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA
151 Table B-8. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1884 87 Common Alley Not Listed 1884 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1884 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucindo Widow w 1884 9 Hudson Not Listed 1884 13 Hudson Not Listed 1884 18 Hudson Not Listed 1884 65 Hudson Not Listed 1884 63 Humes Nelms, J.B. Fireman w 1884 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1884 47 King St. Not Listed 1884 48 King St. Not Listed 1884 31 Marble Alley Not Listed 1884 42 Morgan Not Listed 1884 44 Morgan Not Listed 1884 71 Morgan Not Listed 1884 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1884 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1884 34 Williams Not Listed 1885 10 Brigham Not Listed 1885 19 Common Alley Not Listed 1885 31 Common Alley Jackson, Belle Laundress AA 1885 79 Common Alley Fields, Terry Barber AA 1885 81 Common Alley Not Listed 1885 83 Common Alley Gammon, Wm. Cook AA 1885 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1885 87 Common Alley Not Listed 1885 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1885 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucindo Widow w 1885 9 Hudson Not Listed 1885 13 Hudson Not Listed 1885 18 Hudson Not Listed
152 Table B-8. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1885 65 Hudson Not Listed 1885 63 Humes Nelms, J.B. Fireman w 1885 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1885 47 King St. Not Listed 1885 48 King St. Not Listed 1885 31 Marble Alley Not Listed 1885 42 Morgan Vinson, S. W. Car Inspector w 1885 44 Morgan Not Listed 1885 71 Morgan Not Listed 1885 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1885 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1885 34 Williams Not Listed 1886 10 Brigham Not Listed 1886 19 Common Alley Not Listed 1886 31 Common Alley Jackson, Belle Laundress AA 1886 79 Common Alley Fields, Jerry Barber AA 1886 81 Common Alley Not Listed 1886 83 Common Alley Gammon, Wm. Cook AA 1886 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1886 87 Common Alley Not Listed 1886 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1886 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucindo Widow w 1886 9 Hudson Not Listed 1886 13 Hudson Not Listed 1886 18 Hudson Not Listed 1886 65 Hudson Not Listed 1886 63 Humes Nelms, J.B. Fireman w 1886 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1886 47 King St. Not Listed 1886 48 King St. Not Listed 1886 31 Marble Alley Not Listed
153 Table B-8. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1886 42 Morgan Vinson, S. W. Car Inspector w 1886 44 Morgan Bonham, L. T. Engineer w 1886 71 Morgan Not Listed 1886 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1886 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1886 34 Williams Not Listed 1887 10 Brigham Not Listed 1887 19 Common Alley Not Listed 1887 31 Common Alley Jackson, Belle Laundress AA 1887 79 Common Alley Fields, Jerry Barber AA 1887 81 Common Alley Not Listed 1887 83 Common Alley Gammon, Wm. Cook AA 1887 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1887 87 Common Alley Not Listed 1887 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1887 13 Hudson Lowry, Frank Coachman AA 1887 18 Hudson Not Listed 1887 65 Hudson Not Listed 1887 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucindo Widow w 1887 9 Hudson Not Listed 1887 63 Humes Nelms, J.B. Fireman w 1887 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1887 47 King St. Not Listed 1887 48 King St. Not Listed 1887 31 Marble Alley Not Listed 1887 42 Morgan Vinson, S. W. Car Inspector w 1887 44 Morgan Bonham, L. T. Engineer w 1887 71 Morgan Not Listed 1887 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1887 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1887 34 Williams Not Listed
154 Table B-8. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1888 10 Brigham Hackney, Taylor Teamster w 1888 19 Common Alley Not Listed 1888 31 Common Alley Jackson, Belle Laundress AA 1888 79 Common Alley Fields, Jerry Barber AA 1888 81 Common Alley Robinson,Emma Laundress AA 1888 83 Common Alley Gammon, Wm. Cook AA 1888 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1888 87 Common Alley Woods, Geo. Printer AA 1888 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1888 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucinda Widow w 1888 9 Hudson Lowry, Frank Coachman AA 1888 13 Hudson Rysdon, A. S. Carpenter w 1888 18 Hudson Hall, Thomas Employed ETV&G RR AA 1888 65 Hudson Not Listed 1888 63 Humes Nelms, J.B. Fireman w 1888 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1888 47 King St. Stahl, H. L. Cigar Manufacturer w 1888 48 King St. Not Listed 1888 31 Marble Alley Not Listed 1888 42 Morgan Vinson, S. W. Car Inspector w 1888 44 Morgan Bonham, L. T. Engineer w 1888 71 Morgan Sheperd, J. H. Machinist w 1888 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1888 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1888 34 Williams Not Listed 1889 10 Brigham Hackney, Taylor Teamster w 1889 19 Common Alley Owen, James Painter AA 1889 31 Common Alley Jackson, Belle Laundress AA 1889 79 Common Alley Fields, Jerry Barber AA 1889 81 Common Alley Robinson, Emma Laundress AA 1889 83 Common Alley Gammon, Wm. Cook AA
155 Table B-8. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group
1889 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1889 87 Common Alley Woods, Geo. Printer AA 1889 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1889 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucindo Widow w 1889 9 Hudson Lowry, Frank Coachman AA 1889 13 Hudson Rysdon, A. S. Carpenter w 1889 18 Hudson Hall, Thomas Employed ETV&G RR AA 1889 65 Hudson Fagan, J. N. Foreman, Knox Foundry w 1889 63 Humes Nelms, J.B. Fireman w 1889 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1889 47 King St. Stahl, H. L. Cigar Manufacturer w 1889 48 King St. Rankin, R. J. Bookkeeper w 1889 31 Marble Alley Not Listed 1889 42 Morgan Martin, J. W. Mail Agent w 1889 44 Morgan Bonham, L. T. Engineer w 1889 71 Morgan Sheperd, J. H. Machinist w 1889 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1889 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1889 34 Williams Trauarn, Paul w 1890 10 Brigham Hackney, Taylor Teamster w 1890 19 Common Alley McQueen, Henry Porter AA 1890 31 Common Alley Jackson, Belle Laundress AA 1890 79 Common Alley Fields, Jerry Barber AA 1890 81 Common Alley Harris, Elkana Driver AA 1890 83 Common Alley Cross, Lincoln AA 1890 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1890 87 Common Alley Davis, Joseph Printer AA 1890 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1890 7 Hudson Wheeler, Lucindo Widow w 1890 9 Hudson Lowry, Frank Coachman AA 1890 13 Hudson Drain, J. W. Employed ETV&G RR w
156 Table B-8. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1890 18 Hudson Dobson, Jerry Lab. AA 1890 65 Hudson Rose, J. R. Herb Doctor w 1890 63 Humes Nehns, J.B. Fireman w 1890 16 King St. Hodge, Alexander Drayman AA 1890 47 King St. Stahl, H. L. Cigar Manufacturer w 1890 48 King St. Rankin, R. J. Bookkeeper w 1890 31 Marble Alley Wade, Harriett w 1890 42 Morgan Martin, J. W. Mail Agent w 1890 44 Morgan Bonham, L. T. Engineer w 1890 71 Morgan Ashe, G. P. Plumber w 1890 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1890 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1890 34 Williams Baughkman, Mrs. L.A. Dressmaker w 1891/92 10 Brigham Hackney, Taylor Teamster w 1891/92 19 Common Alley Matthews, Charles Brakeman, ETV &G RR AA 1891/92 31 Common Alley Bowman, Julia Laundress w 1891/92 79 Common Alley Allen, Mary AA 1891/92 81 Common Alley Harris, Elkanar Driver AA 1891/92 83 Common Alley Baker, Alex AA 1891/92 85 Common Alley Walker, Adolphus Laborer AA 1891/92 87 Common Alley Davis, Joseph AA 1891/92 207 Crozier Jones, Henderson Laborer Restaurant AA 1891/92 7 Hudson Burchel, J. H. Laborer w 1891/92 9 Hudson Howell, G. W. w 1891/92 13 Hudson Jones, W.W. Carpenter w 1891/92 18 Hudson Forbush, L. AA 1891/92 65 Hudson Burchfield, J. L. Fireman, Knox. St. RR w 1891/92 63 Humes Nehns, J.B. Fireman w 1891/92 16 King St. Hodge, Emma AA 1891/92 47 King St. Sandberg, W. A. Packer w 1891/92 48 King St. Felkner, A. M. Clerk, U.S. Pension Office w
157 Table B-8. (continued)
-~-·- Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1891/92 31 Marble Alley Gammon, Lizzie Laundress AA 1891/92 42 Morgan McClellan, Neal w 1891/92 44 Morgan Bonham, L. T. Engineer w 1891/92 71 Morgan Bloom, Henry Car Inspector w 1891/92 27 Pine St. Aurin, J. T. Furniture, Grocer w 1891/92 19 Union Smith, Thomas Carpetlayer AA 1891/92 34 Williams Baughlanan, Mrs. L.A. Widow,Abe w
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1869-1892.
158 APPENDIXC
Figures
159 Figure C-1. Photograph of two of the oldest shotgun houses in Knoxville at 174 and 176 Broad Street. From Knoxville Crossroads ofthe New South by William J. MacArthur. 1982 by Continental Heritage Press, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Reprinted by permission ofMcClung Historical Collection, Knoxville, Tennessee.
160 Figure C-2. Photograph of a shotgun in downtown Knoxville which was used as a white printer's office. From Knox County, Tennessee: A History in Pictures by Betsey Creekmore. 1988 by Donning Company Publishers, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Reprinted by permission of McClung Historical Collection, Knoxville, Tennessee.
161 Figure C-3. Photograph of a shotgun converted into a YWCA in an African-American neighborhood of other shotguns in Knoxville. From Two Hundred Years of Black Culture in Knoxville, Tennessee, by Robert J. Booker. 1993 by Donning Company Publishers, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Reprinted by permission of Dr. Robert J. Booker.
162 APPENDIXD
Additional Data
163 Table D-1. McAnnally Flats
AA = African-American W= White
~ Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1884 1507 Boyd Not Listed 1884 1515 Boyd Not Listed 1884 1517 Boyd Not Listed 1884 1108 Middle Alley Not Listed 1884 1110 Middle Alley Not Listed 1884 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1884 613 Short Not Listed 1884 615 Short Not Listed 1884 617 Short Not Listed 1889 1507 Boyd Not Listed 1889 1515 Boyd Not Listed 1889 1517 Boyd Not Listed 1889 613 Crooked Not Listed 1889 615 Crooked Not Listed 1889 617 Crooked Not Listed 1889 1108 Middle Alley Not Listed 1889 1110 Middle Alley Not Listed 1889 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1890 1507 Boyd Not Listed 1890 1515 Boyd Not Listed 1890 1517 Boyd Not Listed 1890 2 Crooked Keener, K. C. w 1890 4 Crooked Mynatt, H. G. w 1890 6 Crooked Not Listed 1890 1108 Middle Alley Not Listed 1890 1110 Middle Alley Not Listed 1890 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1891/92 1507 Boyd Dougherty, M. w 1891/92 1515 Boyd Not Listed 1891/92 1517 Boyd Not Listed 1891/92 2 Crooked Gross, L. M. w
164 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1891/92 4 Crooked Mynatt, H. G. w 1891/92 6 Crooked Stone, Lee w 1891/92 1108 Middle Alley Healmbolt w 1891/92 1110 Middle Alley Mynatt,J.O. w 1891/92 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1893 1507 Boyd Grady, Joe w 1893 1515 Boyd Laurence, C. W. w 1893 1517 Boyd Nelson, C. T. w 1893 613 Crooked Thomas, W. R. w 1893 615 Crooked Mynatt, H. G. w 1893 617 Crooked Birchfield, J.M. w 1893 1108 Middle Alley Webber, M. H. w 1893 1110 Middle Alley Elza, R. M. w 1893 1112 Middle Alley Wilson, C. T. w 1895 1507 Boyd Raines, George w 1895 1515 Boyd Laurence, C. W. w 1895 1517 Boyd Lea, G. B. R. w 1895 613 Crooked Mynatt, H. G. w 1895 615 Crooked Rodgers, James w 1895 617 Crooked Findell, G. T. w 1895 1108 Middle Alley Bebber, J. L. w 1895 1110 Middle Alley Shepard, W. T. w 1895 1112 Middle Alley Bird, Robert 1897 1507 Boyd MeHaffey, C. W. w 1897 1515 Boyd Laurence, C. W. w 1897 1517 Boyd Machamer, J. F. w 1897 613 Crooked Mynatt, H. G. w 1897 615 Crooked Graham, R. L. w 1897 617 Crooked Birchfield, J. M. w 1897 1108 Middle Alley Bebber, J. L. w 1897 1110 Middle Alley Foust, J. F. w 1897 1112 Middle Alley Gross, L. M.
165 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1898 1507 Boyd Dalton, Wm. w 1898 1515 Boyd Butcher, Jerome w 1898 1517 Boyd Shoots, John w 1898 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed 1898 1010 Buck Alley Not Listed 1898 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1898 613 Douglas (Crooked) Mynatt, H. G. w 1898 615 Douglas Harper, C. I. w 1898 617 Douglas Moore, L.B. w 1898 715 Elliot Not Listed 1898 717 Elliot Not Listed 1898 719 Elliot Not Listed 1898 1112 W. Fifth Not Listed 1898 1114 W. Fifth Not Listed 1898 1116 W. Fifth Not Listed 1898 200 Logan Not Listed 1898 202 Logan Not Listed 1898 204 Logan Not Listed 1898 1009 McGhee Not Listed 1898 1108 Middle Alley Hightower, J. A. w 1898 1110 Middle Alley Williams, Eli w 1898 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1898 1120 Middle Alley Not Listed 1900 1507 Boyd Coleman, W. T. w 1900 1515 Boyd Lawrence, C. W. w 1900 1517 Boyd York, G. W. w 1900 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed 1900 1010 Buck Alley Not Listed 1900 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1900 613 Douglas (Crooked) Not Listed w 1900 615 Douglas Not Listed w 1900 617 Douglas Not Listed w
166 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1900 715 Elliot Not Listed 1900 717 Elliot Not Listed 1900 719 Elliot Not Listed 1900 1112 W. Fifth Not Listed 1900 1114 W. Fifth Not Listed 1900 1116 W. Fifth Not Listed 1900 200 Logan Not Listed 1900 202 Logan Not Listed 1900 204 Logan Not Listed 1900 1009 McGhee Not Listed 1900 1108 Middle Alley Austin, C. H. w 1900 1110 Middle Alley Stooksbury, Wm. w 1900 1112 Middle Alley Sheman, J. W. w 1900 1120 Middle Alley Not Listed 1901 1507 Boyd Coleman, W. T. Patrolman w 1901 1515 Boyd Snyder, Docks Flagman w 1901 1517 Boyd Wilcox, H. T. w 1901 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed 1901 1010 Buck Alley Not Listed 1901 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1901 613 Douglas (Crooked) Not Listed 1901 615 Douglas Not Listed 1901 617 Douglas Harper, C. I. Furniture Co. w 1901 715 Elliot Not Listed 1901 717 Elliot Not Listed 1901 719 Elliot Not Listed 1901 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. w 1901 1114 W. Fifth Week, Wm. w 1901 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber Ch. w 1901 200 Logan Not Listed 1901 202 Logan Not Listed 1901 204 Logan Henson, Henry
167 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1901 1009 McGhee Not Listed 1901 1108 Middle Alley Not Listed 1901 1110 Middle Alley Not Listed 1901 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1901 1120 Middle Alley Carver, E. S. w 1902 1507 Boyd Haynes, Lousia 1902 1515 Boyd Snyder, D. S. 1902 1517 Boyd Monday,M. 1902 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed 1902 1010 Buck Alley Not Listed 1902 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1902 613 Douglas (Crooked) Maples, W.W. 1902 615 Douglas Mabe, Grant 1902 617 Douglas Wilkerson, J. W. 1902 715 Elliot Not Listed 1902 717 Elliot Not Listed 1902 719 Elliot Not Listed 1902 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. 1902 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. 1902 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber 1902 200 Logan Not Listed 1902 202 Logan Not Listed 1902 204 Logan Not Listed 1902 1009 McGhee Vacant 1902 1108 Middle Alley Lane, Wm. 1902 1110 Middle Alley Merritt, G. 1902 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1902 1120 Middle Alley Vaughn, J.P. 1903 1507 Boyd Roth, James w 1903 1515 Boyd Snyder, D. S. w 1903 1517 Boyd Henderson, W. B. w 1903 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed
168 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1903 1010 Buck Alley Not Listed 1903 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1903 613 Douglas (Crooked) Robertson, M. L. w 1903 615 Douglas Hatten, John w 1903 617 Douglas Hatten, W. L. w 1903 715 Elliot Not Listed 1903 717 Elliot Not Listed 1903 719 Elliot Not Listed 1903 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. w 1903 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1903 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber Ch. w 1903 200 Logan Not Listed 1903 202 Logan Not Listed 1903 204 Logan Not Listed 1903 1009 McGhee Hamilton, H. AA 1903 1108 Middle Alley Dykes, Elizabeth w 1903 1110 Middle Alley Shinpaugh, S. A. w 1903 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1903 1120 Middle Alley Vaughn, J. P. w 1904 1507 Boyd Roth, James w 1904 1515 Boyd Snyder, D.S. w 1904 1517 Boyd Michols, W. R. w 1904 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed 1904 1010 Buck Alley Not Listed 1904 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1904 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1904 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1904 613 Douglas (Crooked) Robertson, M. L. AA 1904 615 Douglas Hatton, John AA 1904 617 Douglas Hatton, Nathanial AA 1904 715 Elliot Not Listed 1904 717 Elliot Not Listed
169 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1904 719 Elliot Not Listed 1904 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. w 1904 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1904 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber Ch. w 1904 200 Logan Vacant 1904 202 Logan Vacant 1904 204 Logan Vacant 1904 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1904 1108 Middle Alley Murray, John w 1904 1110 Middle Alley Haun, J. H. w 1904 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1904 1120 Middle Alley Vaughn, J.P. w 1905 1507 Boyd Parker, J. R. w 1905 1515 Boyd Cobb, T. J. Monuments w 1905 1517 Boyd Crook, J.E. w 1905 1008 Buck Alley Moore, Verner AA 1905 1010 Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie AA 1905 1012 Buck Alley Vacant 1905 1014 Buck Alley Johnson, James w 1905 1016 Buck Alley Harvey, J. F. AA 1905 613 Douglas (Crooked) Hatton, John AA 1905 615 Douglas Knight, John AA 1905 617 Douglas Hatton, W. L. AA 1905 715 Elliot Not Listed 1905 717 Elliot Not Listed 1905 719 Elliot Not Listed 1905 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. w 1905 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1905 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber Ch. Carpenter, S. Railroad w 1905 200 Logan Vacant 1905 202 Logan Vacant 1905 204 Logan Blackwell, B. A. w
170 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1905 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1905 1108 Middle Alley Hatfield, J. L. w 1905 1110 Middle Alley Lane, W. D. w 1905 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1905 1120 Middle Alley Vaughn, Kate w 1906 1507 Boyd Parker, J. R. w 1906 1515 Boyd Cobb, J. T. w 1906 1517 Boyd Nelson, W. E. w 1906 I 008 Buck Alley Williams, John AA 1906 IO IO Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie AA 1906 1012 Buck Alley Griggs, M. H. AA 1906 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1906 10 I 6 Buck Alley Not Listed 1906 613 Douglas (Crooked) Vacant 1906 615 Douglas Hatton, John AA 1906 617 Douglas Hatton, Nathanial AA 1906 715 Elliot Not Listed 1906 717 Elliot Not Listed 1906 719 Elliot Not Listed 1906 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. w 1906 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1906 1116 W. Fifth Childress, B. R. w 1906 200 Logan Nelson, Lacy w 1906 202 Logan Bowling, H. L. w 1906 204 Logan Wyrick, R. G. w 1906 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1906 1108 Middle Alley Murray, John w 1906 1110 Middle Alley Haun, J. H. w 1906 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1906 1120 Middle Alley Vaughn, J. P. w 1907 1507 Boyd Parker, J. R. w 1907 1515 Boyd Cobb, T. J. w
171 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1907 1517 Boyd Bittle, P. M. w 1907 1008 Buck Alley Verner, W. J. AA 1907 IO IO Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie AA 1907 IO I 2 Buck Alley Mitchell, Sarah AA 1907 IO 14 Buck Alley Boyd, R. C. AA 1907 1016 Buck Alley Townsley, J. P. AA 1907 613 Douglas (Crooked) Hatton, John AA 1907 615 Douglas Knight, J. W. w 1907 617 Douglas Hatton, W. L. AA 1907 715 Elliot Owens, H. L. w 1907 717 Elliot Tallent, C. M. w 1907 719 Elliot Luttrell, D. F. w 1907 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, W. J. w 1907 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1907 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber Ch. w 1907 200 Logan Russell, John w 1907 202 Logan Vacant 1907 204 Logan Vacant 1907 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1907 1108 Middle Alley Minnick, A. C. w 1907 1110 Middle Alley Shenlever, C. C. w 1907 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed w 1907 1120 Middle Alley Vaughn, Kate w 1908 1507 Boyd Proctor, C. C. Carpenter w 1908 1515 Boyd Glenn, Suzan w 1908 1517 Boyd Bull, N. E. w 1908 1008 Buck Alley Vernon, Wm. Worker, Frank Carpenter AA 1908 10 IO Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie AA 1908 1012 Buck Alley Vacant 1908 1014 Buck Alley Vacant 1908 1016 Buck Alley Kelley, C. I. w 1908 613 Douglas (Crooked) Shenlever, C. C. Laborer AA
172 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1908 615 Douglas Arwood, James AA 1908 617 Douglas Cardwell, J. W. AA 1908 715 Elliot Vacant 1908 717 Elliot Waggoner, T. S. Laborer w 1908 719 Elliot Vacant 1908 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, Helen w 1908 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1908 1116 W. Fifth Proffit, S. L. w 1908 200 Logan Blanton, J. C. Worker, D.R. Prince w 1908 202 Logan Harper, Sand. w 1908 204 Logan Neel, Alice w 1908 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1908 1108 Middle Alley Huray, Paul Agt. Meats w 1908 1110 Middle Alley Vacant 1908 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1908 1120 Middle Alley Vacant 1909 1507 Boyd Tullery, R. S. w 1909 1515 Boyd Trotter, E. H. w 1909 1517 Boyd Roach, J. I. w 1909 1008 Buck Alley Verner, William AA 1909 1010 Buck Alley Lattimore, Maggie AA 1909 1012 Buck Alley Lee,M. A. w 1909 1014 Buck Alley Newberry, P. S. w 1909 1016 Buck Alley Speck, Ada w 1909 613 Douglas (Crooked) Hatton, J. W. AA 1909 615 Douglas Brutus, Romeo AA 1909 617 Douglas Vacant 1909 715 Elliot Vacant 1909 717 Elliot Weaver, W. B. w 1909 719 Elliot Vacant 1909 1112 W. Fifth Ferrell, H. D. w 1909 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w
173 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1909 1116 W. Fifth Weisgarber Ch. w 1909 200 Logan Shinpaugh, J. H. w 1909 202 Logan Clark, Thomas w 1909 204 Logan Neel, Alice w 1909 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1909 1108 Middle Alley Vacant 1909 1110 Middle Alley Vacant 1909 1112 Middle Alley Vacant 1909 1120 Middle Alley Vacant 1910 1507 Boyd Harris, S. A. w 1910 1515 Boyd Glenn, Susan w 1910 1517 Boyd Bull, N. E. w 1910 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1910 1010 Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie AA 1910 1012 Buck Alley Ratliff, Thomas w 1910 1014 Buck Alley Weaver, W. T. Yard Foreman w 1910 1016 Buck Alley Kelley, C. A. Thackney Coal Co. w 1910 613 Douglas (Crooked) Vacant 1910 615 Douglas Arwood, J. A. Not employed w 1910 617 Douglas Vacant 1910 715 Elliot Mincy, Eli w 1910 717 Elliot Ford, J. W. Plow Polisher w 1910 719 Elliot Henry, W. T. W. J. Oliver Mfg. Co. w 1910 1112 W. Fifth McMillan, A. E. w 1910 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1910 1116 W. Fifth Proffit, S. L. Grocer w 1910 200 Logan Bolling, Sallie w 1910 202 Logan Harper, S. Not employed w 1910 204 Logan McClellan, P.H. w 1910 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1910 1108 Middle Alley Stoffel, Z. J. w 1910 1110 Middle Alley Maxwell, Lettie w
174 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1910 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1910 1120 Middle Alley Vacant 1911 1507 Boyd King, G. B. w 1911 1515 Boyd Glenn,Susan Widow w 1911 1517 Boyd Wilcox, H. T. w 1911 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1911 1010 Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie Maid AA 1911 1012 Buck Alley Harris, Foster AA 1911 1014 Buck Alley Jett, Michael Yard Foreman AA 1911 1016 Buck Alley Kelley, C. A. Railroad & Light Co. w 1911 613 Douglas (Crooked) Stoffel, S. S. Mrs. AA 1911 615 Douglas Cobb, 0. C. AA 1911 617 Douglas Stuffel, G. A. AA 1911 715 Elliot Long, Claude w 1911 717 Elliot Gann, Arthur w 1911 719 Elliot Miller, Horace Worker, Knox Iron Co. w 1911 1112 W. Fifth McMillan, A. E. w 1911 1114 W. Fifth Witt, Wm. w 1911 1116 W. Fifth Proffit, S. L. w 1911 200 Logan Bolen, Albert w 1911 202 Logan Robinson, Magie w 1911 204 Logan Newcomb, J. 0. Fisherman w 1911 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1911 1108 Middle Alley Vacant 1911 1110 Middle Alley Wilson, E. W. w 1911 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1911 1120 Middle Alley Johnson, James w 1912 1507 Boyd White, J. R. w 1912 1515 Boyd Glenn, M. S. Mrs. w 1912 1517 Boyd Booth, Ada w 1912 1008 Buck Alley Not Listed 1912 IO IO Buck Alley Not Listed
175 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic II Group 1912 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1912 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1912 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1912 613 Douglas (Crooked) O'Mary AA 1912 615 Douglas Vacant 1912 617 Douglas King, Blank AA 1912 715 Elliot Long, Claude w 1912 717 Elliot Mincy, W. F. w 1912 719 Elliot Pierce, Herman w 1912 1112 W. Fifth George, F. M. w 1912 1114 W. Fifth Burkhart, F. Y. w 1912 1116 W. Fifth LaRue,R.M. w 1912 200 Logan Field, E. A. w 1912 202 Logan Vacant w 1912 204 Logan Alexander, Roy w 1912 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1912 1 108 Middle Alley Vacant 1912 1110 Middle Alley Vacant 1912 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1912 1120 Middle Alley Johnson, James w 1913 1507 Boyd White, J. R. w 1913 1515 Boyd Glenn, M. S. Mrs. w 1913 1517 Boyd Booth, Ada w 1913 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1913 1010 Buck Alley Park, Paul AA 1913 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1913 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1913 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1913 613 Douglas (Crooked) Taylor, Henry AA 1913 615 Douglas King, J. A. AA 1913 617 Douglas Rollins, Saml. AA 1913 715 Elliot Long, Claude w
176 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1913 717 Elliot Rackard, J. T. w 1913 719 Elliot Henry, T. H. w 1913 1112 W. Fifth McChristian, A. S. w 1913 1114 W. Fifth Sharp, A. B. w 1913 1116 W. Fifth Murr, A. E. w 1913 200 Logan Reynolds, Edward w 1913 202 Logan Willis, James w 1913 204 Logan Foster, J. H. w 1913 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1913 1108 Middle Alley Metcalf, Laura w 1913 1110 Middle Alley Epps, Eli w 1913 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1913 1120 Middle Alley Webb, J. A. w 1914 1507 Boyd Boyd, B. S. w 1914 1515 Boyd Landruth, W. R. w 1914 1517 Boyd Stout, B. R. Bookkeeper w 1914 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1914 1010 Buck Alley Park, Paul AA 1914 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1914 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1914 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1914 613 Douglas (Crooked) Gamble, L. L. AA 1914 615 Douglas King, J. A. AA 1914 617 Douglas Davis, Henry AA 1914 715 Elliot Long, Claude w 1914 717 Elliot Gary, Edward w 1914 719 Elliot Henry, T. H. w 1914 1112 W. Fifth George, F. M. w 1914 1114 W. Fifth Lane, H. H. w 1914 1116 W. Fifth Childress, J. G. w 1914 200 Logan Pellello, B. F. w 1914 202 Logan Butler, Jason w
177 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1914 204 Logan Midciff, Wm. w 1914 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. w 1914 1108 Middle Alley Cornell, T. E. w 1914 1110 Middle Alley Donehew, D. A. w 1914 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1914 1120 Middle Alley Johnson, Ben w 1915 1507 Boyd Parker, G. G. w 1915 1515 Boyd Anthony, S. I. Grocer w 1915 1517 Boyd Graus,Adam w 1915 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1915 10 IO Buck Alley Park, Paul Not employed AA 1915 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1915 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1915 IO I 6 Buck Alley Not Listed 1915 613 Douglas (Crooked) Hampton, W. L. AA 1915 615 Douglas Martin, Geo. AA 1915 617 Douglas Sawyers, Josie AA 1915 715 Elliot Epley, James Laborer w 1915 717 Elliot Pierce, J. H. w 1915 719 Elliot Tilson, A. C. w 1915 1112 W. Fifth George, F. M. Fireman, S. Railroad w 1915 1114 W. Fifth Marshall, E. E. w 1915 1116 W. Fifth Minnich, C. M. w 1915 200 Logan Cooper, General Laborer w 1915 202 Logan Stallarp, Chas. w 1915 204 Logan Smith, Frank w 1915 1009 McGhee Morris, 0. A. Printer w 1915 1108 Middle Alley Vacant 1915 1110 Middle Alley Johnson, B. N. w 1915 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1915 1120 Middle Alley Vacant 1916 1507 Boyd Parker, G. G. w
178 Table D-1. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1916 1515 Boyd Not Listed w 1916 1517 Boyd Donahire, B. A. w 1916 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1916 1010 Buck Alley Lattimore, Magie AA 1916 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1916 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1916 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1916 613 Douglas (Crooked) Dixon, Jas. AA 1916 615 Douglas Vacant 1916 617 Douglas Geter, Julia AA 1916 715 Elliot Franklin, Magie w 1916 717 Elliot Vacant 1916 719 Elliot Long, C.H. Moulder, Sanford Day w Iron Works 1916 1112 W. Fifth Yates, W. T. w 1916 1114 W. Fifth Gary,H. 0. w 1916 1116 W. Fifth George, F. M. w 1916 200 Logan Miller, L. S. w 1916 202 Logan Cline, Harley w 1916 204 Logan Gideon, Lucy Widow w 1916 1009 McGhee Warren, K. M. w 1916 1108 Middle Alley Ring, w. L. w 1916 1110 Middle Alley Hill, Henry w 1916 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1916 1120 Middle Alley Smith, Frank Foreman, Brookside w Mills 1917 1507 Boyd Parker, G. G. w 1917 1515 Boyd Athony, S. J. w 1917 1517 Boyd Wallace,John w 1917 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison Laborer, Knox Gas Co. AA 1917 1010 Buck Alley Russell, Charles Laborer, Knox Railway AA & Light Co. 1917 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed
179 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1917 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1917 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1917 613 Douglas (Crooked) Spangler, C. F. w 1917 615 Douglas Not Listed 1917 617 Douglas Webb, L. F. Anderson Products Co. w 1917 715 Elliot Franklin, Magie Widow w 1917 717 Elliot Stinnett, A. H. w 1917 719 Elliot Eply, James w 1917 1112 W. Fifth Yates, W. T. Fireman w 1917 1114 W. Fifth Gary, H. 0. w 1917 1116 W. Fifth George, F. M. Locksmith w 1917 200 Logan Deckson, Laura w 1917 202 Logan Howard, Ida w 1917 204 Logan Vacant w 1917 1009 McGhee Tillet, G. A. Painter w 1917 1108 Middle Alley Alveson, C. H. w 1917 1110 Middle Alley Donehew, David w 1917 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1917 1120 Middle Alley Scott, J. L. w 1919 1507 Boyd Housewright, I. 0. w 1919 1515 Boyd Anthony, Sanford w 1919 1517 Boyd Wallace, John w 1919 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1919 1010 Buck Alley Parks, Paul AA 1919 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1919 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1919 1016 Buck Alley Not Listed 1919 613 Douglas ( Crooked) McMillan, Benj. w 1919 615 Douglas Kirby, Sam w 1919 617 Douglas Web, L. F. w 1919 715 Elliot Franklin, Magi w 1919 717 Elliot Wells, Frank w
180 Table D-1. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1919 719 Elliot Epley, James w 1919 1112 W. Fifth Yates, W. T. w 1919 1114 W. Fifth Edmonds, T. C. w 1919 1116 W. Fifth Lane, J. L. w 1919 200 Logan Odem, Martha w 1919 202 Logan White, Jas. w 1919 204 Logan Wilson, John w 1919 1009 McGhee Foster, Ed w 1919 1108 Middle Alley McNew, Alv. w 1919 1110 Middle Alley Wishon, Enoch w 1919 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1919 1120 Middle Alley Woods, John w 1920 1507 Boyd Housewright, I. D. w 1920 1515 Boyd Anthony, S. I. w 1920 1517 Boyd Wallace,John w 1920 1008 Buck Alley Johnson, Harrison AA 1920 1010 Buck Alley Park, Paul AA 1920 1012 Buck Alley Not Listed 1920 1014 Buck Alley Not Listed 1920 IO 16 Buck Alley Not Listed 1920 613 Douglas (Crooked) White, W. H. w 1920 615 Douglas Yarbrough, R. L. w 1920 617 Douglas Dodgrins, Jas. w 1920 715 Elliot Franlclin, Magie w 1920 717 Elliot Wills, Frank w 1920 719 Elliot Epley, James w 1920 1112 W. Fifth Yates, W. T. w 1920 1114 W. Fifth Edmonds, T. C. w 1920 1116 W. Fifth Lane, I. L. w 1920 200 Logan Smith, Edward w 1920 202 Logan Vacant w 1920 204 Logan Roach, Dicey w
181 Table D-1. ( continued)
- Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1920 1009 McGbee Foster, Edgar w 1920 1108 Middle Alley Harrell, J. W. w 1920 1110 Middle Alley Sands, W. H. w 1920 1112 Middle Alley Not Listed 1920 1120 Middle Alley Smith, Wm. w
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1869-1920.
182 Table D-2. Moses Fairview Addition/James Street Neighborhood
AA = African-American W = White
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1890 47 Carson Not Listed 1891/92 47 Carson Miller, B. B. Not Listed w 1891/92 1624 Wallace Not Listed 1891/92 1626 Wallace Not Listed 1893 47 Carson Miller, B. B. Not Listed w 1893 1624 Wallace Hannum, W. H. Not Listed AA 1893 1626 Wallace Gadson, T. R. Not Listed AA 1894 43 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1894 1624 Wallace Cox, Peter So. Brass & Iron Co. AA 1894 1626 Wallace Gadson, T. R. Unemployed AA 1895 1328 Carson Not Listed 1895 1330 Carson Not Listed 1895 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1895 1624 Wallace Vacant 1895 1626 Wallace Johnson, Frank Laborer AA 1897 1328 Carson Not Listed 1897 1330 Carson Not Listed 1897 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1897 1624 Wallace Leeper, J. H. AA 1897 1626 Wallace Lenoir, Amanda Laundress AA 1898 1328 Carson Not Listed 1898 1330 Carson Not Listed 1898 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1898 161 7 College Not Listed 1898 1619 College Not Listed 1898 1619 Dora Not Listed 1898 1624 Wallace Leeper, J. H. AA 1898 1626 Wallace King, Sam AA 1900 1328 Carson Ross, J. F. w 1900 1330 Carson Lawson, J. H. w 1900 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w
183 Table D-2. (continued)
- Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1900 1650 Clinton Not Listed 1900 1652 Clinton Not Listed 1900 1654 Clinton Not Listed 1900 1617 College Not Listed 1900 1619 College Not Listed 1900 1619 Dora Not Listed 1900 304 James New Street 1900 305 James New Street 1900 305½ James New Street 1900 306 James New Street 1900 307 James New Street 1900 307½James New Street 1900 135 Russell Houses Not Built 1900 137 Russell Houses Not Built 1900 141 Russell Houses Not Built 1900 145 Russell Houses Not Built 1900 149 Russell Houses Not Built 1900 411 University Not Listed 1900 413 University Not Listed 1900 415 University Not Listed 1900 1624 Wallace Leeper, J. H. AA 1900 1626 Wallace King, Sam AA 1901 1328 Carson Rupe, W.W. Imperial Coal Co. w 1901 1330 Carson Kagle, I. A. w 1901 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1901 1650 Clinton Not Listed 1901 1652 Clinton Not Listed 1901 I 654 Clinton Not Listed 1901 1617 College Not Listed 1901 1619 College Not Listed 1901 1619 Dora Cunningham Painter AA 1901 304 James Vacant
184 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1901 305 James Vacant 1901 305½ James Vacant 1901 306 James Vacant 1901 307 James Vacant 1901 307½ James Vacant 1901 135 Russell Houses Not Built 1901 137 Russell Houses Not Built 1901 141 Russell Houses Not Built 1901 145 Russell Houses Not Built 1901 149 Russell Houses Not Built 1901 411 University Not Listed 1901 413 University Not Listed 1901 415 University Not Listed 1901 1624 Wallace Leeper, J. H. AA 1901 1626 Wallace King, Sam Cook AA 1902 1328 Carson Kagley, S. H. Laborer w 1902 1330 Carson Kagley, A. w 1902 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1902 1650 Clinton Vacant 1902 1652 Clinton Vacant 1902 1654 Clinton Vacant 1902 1617 College Browder, J. AA 1902 1619 College Lyons, W. Rev. Reverend AA 1902 1619 Dora Hazelrig, W. Evans Marble Co. AA 1902 304 James Vacant 1902 305 James Vacant 1902 305½ James Vacant 1902 306 James Vacant 1902 307 James Vacant 1902 307½ James Vacant 1902 135 Russell Not Listed 1902 137 Russell Not Listed
185 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1902 141 Russell Not Listed 1902 145 Russell Not Listed 1902 149 Russell Not Listed 1902 411 University Vacant 1902 413 University Vacant 1902 415 University Vacant 1902 1624 Wallace Leiper, J. H. Teacher, Austin School AA 1902 1626 Wallace Redmon, C. A. AA 1903 1328 Carson Brown, C. F. H. Post & Co. w 1903 1330 Carson Madison, A. w 1903 1332 Carson Miller, B. B. Carpenter w 1903 1650 Clinton Vacant 1903 1652 Clinton Vacant 1903 1654 Clinton Vacant 1903 1617 College Rose, Wm. AA 1903 1619 College Perry, D. W. AA 1903 1619 Dora Vacant 1903 304 James Vacant 1903 305 James Vacant 1903 305½ James Vacant 1903 306 James Vacant 1903 307 James Vacant 1903 307½ James Vacant 1903 135 Russell Mason,F. M. AA 1903 137 Russell Patton, Mason AA 1903 141 Russell Siler, Geo AA 1903 145 Russell Sharpe, C. E. w 1903 149 Russell Adkins, C. C. w 1903 411 University Vacant 1903 413 University Vacant 1903 415 University Vacant 1903 1624 Wallace Leiper, J. H. Teacher, Austin School AA
186 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group
1903 1626 Wallace Redmon, C. A. Puddler, Knox Iron Co. AA 1904 1328 Carson Barger, S. AA 1904 1330 Carson Parker, I. AA 1904 1332 Carson Adcock, H. Gardener w 1904 1650 Clinton Vacant 1904 1652 Clinton Vacant 1904 I 654 Clinton Vacant 1904 1617 College Hodson, James AA 1904 16 I 9 College Perry, D. W. Bricklayer AA 1904 1619 Dora Franklin, H. L. AA 1904 304 James Lyons, S. C. AA 1904 305 James Vacant 1904 305½ James Vacant 1904 306 James Trage, Chas. AA 1904 307 James Vacant 1904 307½ James Vacant 1904 135 Russell Young, William w 1904 137 Russell Patton, Mason AA 1904 141 Russell Siler, Geo AA 1904 145 Russell Clardy, Dock AA 1904 149 Russell Thomas, Wesley w 1904 411 University Farley, Wm. Fireman, Sou Ry AA 1904 413 University Wilson, Wm. AA 1904 415 University Handerson, Beulah AA 1904 I 624 Wallace Leiper, J. H. Teacher, Austin School AA 1904 1626 Wallace Sawyers, H. AA 1905 1328 Carson Winzel, Kate Cook AA 1905 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1905 1332 Carson Mays, L. T. AA 1905 1650 Clinton Howard,R. AA 1905 1652 Clinton McClureH. Porter, Sou Ry AA 1905 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA
187 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1905 I 61 7 College Hodson, James AA 1905 1619 College Perry, D. W. Bricklayer AA 1905 1619 Dora Nance, J. H. K. T. Company AA 1905 304 James Rench, H. AA 1905 305 James Burnett, F. AA 1905 305½ James Vacant 1905 306 James Rowlands, A. AA 1905 307 James Holmes,A. AA 1905 307½James Vacant 1905 135 Russell Gaines, Ella AA 1905 137 Russell Wilson, James AA 1905 141 Russell Vance, Andrew AA 1905 145 Russell Carmichael, Wm. AA 1905 149 Russell Cunningham, John AA 1905 411 University Hopkins, J. AA 1905 413 University Wilson, Wm. AA 1905 415 University Henderson, W. AA 1905 1624 Wallace Leiper, J. H. Teacher, Austin School AA 1905 1626 Wallace Jones, W. J. AA 1906 1328 Carson Winston, G. AA 1906 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1906 1332 Carson Elder, J.C. AA 1906 I 650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1906 I 652 Clinton McClureH. AA 1906 I 654 Clinton Lenoir, R. Laborer AA 1906 1617 College Mowlin, F. AA 1906 1619 College Henry, S. F. AA 1906 1619 Dora Nance, J. H. AA 1906 304 James Fleetwood, E. AA 1906 305 James Burnett, F. Knox Gas Co. AA 1906 305½ James Vacant 1906 306 James Johnson W. AA
188 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1906 307 James Harrison, E. AA 1906 307½ James Vacant 1906 135 Russell Miller, Thomas AA 1906 137 Russell Lucas, Lee AA 1906 141 Russell Scruggs, Henry AA 1906 145 Russell Lynbarger, Frank AA 1906 149 Russell Tilson, Walter AA 1906 411 University Franklin, H. AA 1906 413 University Wilson, Wm. AA 1906 415 University Monroe, C. AA 1906 1624 Wallace Leiper, J. H. AA 1906 1626 Wallace Wbite,H.M. AA 1907 1328 Carson No Listing 1907 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1907 1332 Carson Elder, J.C. AA 1907 1650 Clinton Howell, R. AA 1907 1652 Clinton McClure H. AA 1907 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. Laborer AA 1907 1617 College Vacant 1907 1619 College Vacant 1907 1619 Dora Nance, J. H. Laborer AA 1907 304 James Marshall, J. AA 1907 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1907 305½ James No Listing 1907 306 James Ellis, Levi AA 1907 307 James Harrison, E. AA 1907 307½ James Vacant 1907 135 Russell Miller, Thomas AA 1907 137 Russell Simpson, Sarah AA 1907 141 Russell Cochran, Wm. AA 1907 145 Russell Jolly, Oscar AA 1907 149 Russell Alexander, C. C. AA
189 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1907 411 University Haslelrig, J. W. Janitor AA 1907 413 University Griggs, Ed. AA 1907 415 University Momoe, C. AA 1907 1624 Wallace Leiper, J. H. AA 1907 1626 Wallace White, H. M. AA 1908 1328 Carson Winston, G. AA 1908 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1908 1332 Carson Elder, J.C. Cook AA 1908 1650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1908 1652 Clinton Henderson, B. AA 1908 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. Laborer AA 1908 1617 College Vacant 1908 1619 College Vacant 1908 1619 Dora Wagner, D. C. AA 1908 304 James William, M. AA 1908 305 James Razzell, J. Knox. Iron Co. AA 1908 305½ James No Listing 1908 306 James Chambers AA 1908 307 James Harrison, E. AA 1908 307½ James Vacant 1908 135 Russell Miller, Thomas AA 1908 137 Russell Vacant 1908 141 Russell Hamrnons,Josephine AA 1908 145 Russell Vacant 1908 149 Russell Vacant 1908 411 University Wallace, R. AA 1908 413 University Smith, R. AA 1908 415 University Momoe,C. AA 1908 1624 Wallace Burnett, F. Peter Kem Co. AA 1908 1626 Wallace White,H. M. AA 1909 1328 Carson Vacant 1909 1330 Carson Alexander, B. Laborer AA
190 Table D-2. ( continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1909 1332 Carson Elder, J.C. AA 1909 1650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1909 1652 Clinton Vacant 1909 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA 1909 1617 College Ector, M. AA 1909 1619 College Sterling, A. Launderer AA 1909 1619 Dora Patterson, J. AA 1909 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1909 305 James Razzell, J. Knox. Iron Co. AA 1909 305½ James Vacant 1909 306 James Chambers AA 1909 307 James Harrison, E. AA 1909 307½James White, C. AA 1909 135 Russell Miller, Thomas AA 1909 137 Russell Vacant 1909 141 Russell Winston, Tessie AA 1909 145 Russell Vacant 1909 149 Russell Nelson, Wm. AA 1909 411 University Henderson, J.B. AA 1909 413 University Faw,J. AA 1909 415 University Gray, 0. AA 1909 1624 Wallace Morris, J. AA 1909 1626 Wallace White, H. AA 1910 1328 Carson Vacant 1910 1330 Carson Alexander, B. AA 1910 1332 Carson Elder, J.C. AA 1910 1650 Clinton Howard,R. AA 1910 1652 Clinton Vacant 1910 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA 1910 1617 College Ector, M. AA 1910 1619 College Sterling, A. AA 1910 1619 Dora Patterson, J. AA
191 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1910 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1910 305 James Razzell, J. Knox. Iron Co. AA 1910 305½ James Vacanat 1910 306 James Chambers, W. AA 1910 307 James Harrison, E. AA 1910 307½ James White, C. AA 1910 135 Russell Miller, Thomas AA 1910 137 Russell Naff, Gentry AA 1910 141 Russell Winston, Tessie AA 1910 145 Russell Vacant 1910 149 Russell Calloway, John AA 1910 411 University Henderson, J. AA 1910 413 University Faw, J. AA 1910 415 University Gray, 0. AA 1910 1624 Wallace Morris, J. AA 1910 1626 Wallace White, H. AA 1911 1328 Carson Crook Sharks, L. A. AA 1911 1330 Carson Alexander, B. AA 1911 1332 Carson Shettly, J. AA 1911 1650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1911 1652 Clinton Goins, W. AA 1911 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA 1911 I 617 College Lane, W. AA 1911 1619 College Tedford, A. AA 1911 1619 Dora Patterson, J. AA 1911 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1911 305 James Razzell, J. Knox. Iron Co. AA 1911 305½ James Vacant 1911 306 James Chambers, W. AA 1911 307 James Bacon, S. AA 1911 307½ James White, C. AA 1911 135 Russell Wilson, Mary AA
192 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1911 137 Russell Naff, Gentry AA 1911 141 Russell Winston, Letilia AA 1911 145 Russell Allen, Charles AA 1911 149 Russell Bennett, George AA 1911 411 University Henderson, J. AA 1911 413 University Vacant 1911 415 University Moore, Ann AA 1911 1624 Wallace Cassell, W. AA 1911 1626 Wallace Floyd, J. AA 1912 1328 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1912 1330 Carson Alexander, B. AA 1912 1332 Carson Elder, J. D. AA 1912 1650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1912 1652 Clinton Vacant 1912 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA 1912 1617 College Lane, W. AA 1912 1619 College Williams, D. AA 1912 1619 Dora Braswell, D. C. AA 1912 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1912 305 James Razzell, J. Knox. Iron Co. AA 1912 305½ James Shields, W. AA 1912 306 James Chambers, W. AA 1912 307 James Bacon, S. AA 1912 307½ James White, C. AA 1912 135 Russell Vacant 1912 137 Russell Not Listed 1912 141 Russell Winston, Letilia AA 1912 145 Russell Allen, Charles AA 1912 149 Russell Bennett, George AA 1912 411 University Tumlie, C. AA 1912 413 University Young,A. AA 1912 415 University Brabson, J. AA
193 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1912 1624 Wallace Nicholas, G. W. AA 1912 1626 Wallace Vacant 1913 1328 Carson Cross, J. AA 1913 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1913 1332 Carson Elder, M. AA 1913 1650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1913 1652 Clinton Henley, J. AA 1913 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA 1913 161 7 College Henderson, J. AA 1913 1619 College George, Abut, Rev. AA 1913 1619 Dora Braswell, D. C. AA 1913 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1913 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1913 305½ James Shields, W. AA 1913 306 James Watkins, J. AA 1913 307 James Bacon, S. AA 1913 307½ James White, C. AA 1913 135 Russell Oliver, Mary AA 1913 137 Russell Shivers, Minnie AA 1913 141 Russell Vacant 1913 145 Russell Vacant 1913 149 Russell Vacant 1913 411 University Greenway, H. AA 1913 413 University Hill, D. AA 1913 415 University Brabson, J. AA 1913 1624 Wallace Harris, W. AA 1913 1626 Wallace Rowan,H. AA 1914 1328 Carson Cross, J. AA 1914 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1914 1332 Carson Elder, M. AA 1914 1650 Clinton Howard, R. AA 1914 1652 Clinton Henley, J. AA
194 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1914 1654 Clinton Lenoir, R. AA 1914 1617 College Henderson, J. AA 1914 1619 College George, Abut, Rev. AA 1914 1619 Dora Braswell, D. C. AA 1914 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1914 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1914 305½ James Shields, W. AA 1914 306 James Watkins, J. AA 1914 307 James Bacon, S. AA 1914 307½ James White, C. AA 1914 135 Russell Oliver, Mary AA 1914 137 Russell Shivers, Minnie AA 1914 141 Russell Vacant 1914 145 Russell Vacant 1914 149 Russell Vacant 1914 411 University Greenway, H. AA 1914 413 University Hill, D. AA 1914 415 University Brabson, J. AA 1914 1624 Wallace Harris, W. AA 1914 1626 Wallace Rowan, H. AA 1915 1328 Carson Cross, J. AA 1915 1330 Carson Vacant 1915 1332 Carson Beathie, A. AA 1915 1650 Clinton Lyons, Jos. AA 1915 1652 Clinton Prater, J. AA 1915 1654 Clinton Harden, J. AA 1915 1617 College Smith, J. AA 1915 1619 College Vacant 1915 1619 Dora Wimbish, G. C. AA 1915 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1915 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1915 305½ James Shoun,J. AA
195 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1915 306 James Shamble, A. AA 1915 307 James Harrison, J. AA 1915 307½ James White, L. AA 1915 135 Russell Winton, T. AA 1915 137 Russell Robertson, W. AA 1915 141 Russell Vacant 1915 145 Russell Plummer, V. AA 1915 149 Russell Hempell, C. AA 1915 411 University Perin, D. W. AA 1915 413 University Ellis, J. AA 1915 415 University Vacant 1915 1624 Wallace Harrison, W. H. AA 1915 1626 Wallace Rowan, H. AA 1916 1328 Carson Cross, J. AA 1916 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1916 1332 Carson Bennett, J. AA 1916 1650 Clinton Moore, W. AA 1916 1652 Clinton Stewart, P. AA 1916 1654 Clinton Worley, J. AA 1916 1617 College Hardin, J. AA 1916 1619 College Warren, A. AA 1916 1619 Dora Wimbish, G. C. AA 1916 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1916 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1916 305½ James Perin, D. W. AA 1916 306 James Oliver, M. AA 1916 307 James Thompson, C. H. AA 1916 307½James Vacant 1916 135 Russell Harvey, 0. AA 1916 137 Russell Robertson, C. W. AA 1916 141 Russell McMann, L. AA 1916 145 Russell Winton, L. AA
196 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group
1916 149 Russell Carmichael, S. AA 1916 411 University Edmonson, W. AA 1916 413 University Dowel, C. AA 1916 415 University Odon, J. AA 1916 1624 Wallace Amy,B. AA 1916 1626 Wallace Rowan,H. AA 1917 1328 Carson Cross, J. AA 1917 1330 Carson Rollins, M. AA 1917 1332 Carson Bennett, J. AA 1917 1650 Clinton Moore, W. AA 1917 1652 Clinton Stewart, P. AA 1917 1654 Clinton Worley, J. AA 1917 1617 College Hardin, J. AA 1917 1619 College Warren,A. AA 1917 1619 Dora Wimbish, G. C. AA 1917 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1917 305 James Razzell,J. AA 1917 305½ James Perin, D. W. AA 1917 306 James Oliver, M. AA 1917 307 James Thompson, C. H. AA 1917 307½ James Vacant 1917 135 Russell Alexander, E. AA 1917 137 Russell Vacant 1917 141 Russell McMann, L. AA 1917 145 Russell Vacant 1917 149 Russell Cargiles AA 1917 411 University Edmonson, W. AA 1917 413 University Dowel, C. AA 1917 415 University Odon, J. AA 1917 1624 Wallace Amy,B. AA 1917 1626 Wallace Rowan,H. AA 1919 1328 Carson Cross, J. AA
197 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1919 1330 Carson Pye, J. AA 1919 1332 Carson Cochrum, L. AA 1919 1650 Clinton Smiley, J. AA 1919 1652 Clinton Terry, Chas. AA 1919 1654 Clinton Austin, P. AA 1919 I 61 7 College McGhee, A. AA 1919 1619 College Warren, A. AA 1919 1619 Dora Wimbish, G. C. AA 1919 304 James Marshall, D. AA 1919 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1919 305½ James Reason, E. AA 1919 306 James Perin, D. W. AA 1919 307 James Oliver, M. AA 1919 307½ James Thompson, C. H. AA 1919 135 Russell Vacant 1919 137 Russell Childs, Bland AA 1919 141 Russell Vacant 1919 145 Russell Vacant 1919 149 Russell Vacant 1919 411 University Edmonson, W. AA 1919 413 University Vacant 1919 415 University Hodison, Lucy AA 1919 1624 Wallace Amy,B. AA 1919 1626 Wallace Shepherd, H. AA 1920 1328 Carson Vacant 1920 1330 Carson Williams, J. AA 1920 1332 Carson Pye, J. AA 1920 1650 Clinton McGhee, A. AA 1920 1652 Clinton Hutchinson, C. AA 1920 1654 Clinton Carter, Chas. AA 1920 1617 College Bigby, C. AA 1920 1619 College Latie, J. H. AA
198 Table D-2. (continued)
Date Address Name Occupation Ethnic Group 1920 1619 Dora Vacant 1920 92 Douglas Dixon, Jas. AA 1920 93 Douglas Dixen, B. AA 1920 94 Douglas Johnson, M. AA 1920 304 James Harrison, J. AA 1920 305 James Razzell, J. AA 1920 305½ James Johnson, G. AA 1920 306 James Perin, D. W. AA 1920 307 James Gamer, Wm. AA 1920 307½ James Coleman, C. P. AA 1920 135 Russell Vacant 1920 137 Russell Clark, G. AA 1920 141 Russell Rople, C. AA 1920 145 Russell Vacant 1920 149 Russell Phillips, J. AA 1920 411 University Bates, E. AA 1920 413 University Fain, Benj. AA 1920 415 University Jones, Jas. AA 1920 1624 Wallace Walker, G. AA 1920 1626 Wallace Lane, A. AA
Sources: Knoxville City Directories, 1890-1920.
199 APPENDIXE
Representative Photographs of Shotgun Houses in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1996
200
Address 128 W. Anderson Exact date 1898 Ethnic Address 419 W. Anderson Group White Exact date 1908 Ethnic Group White
Address 122 W. Anderson Address 122 W. Anderso1 Exact date 1908 Exact date 1898 Ethnic Group White Address 2006 Ailor Ave. Exact date 1923 Ethnic White Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
Address 2010 Ailor Ave. Exact date 1939 Ethnic White Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 5202 Johnson St. Address 130 W.Anderson Exact date 1893 Ethnic Goup White Photo By Lafayette Benjam in
Address 134 W.Anderson Exact date l 906 Ethnic Goup White Address 142 W.Anderson Exact Photo By Lafayette Benjamin date 1894 Ethnic Goup White Address 1126 Alexander Exact date 1909 Ethnic Goup White
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 4 l 7 Citico St. Address 425 Citico St. Exact date 1908 Ethnic White Exact date 1908 Ethnic Whit(
Address 414 Citico St. Address 423 Citico St. Exact date 1909 Ethnic White Exact date 1908 Ethnic White . - Address 427 Citico St. Address 421 Citico St. Exact date 1906 Ethnic White Exact date 1908 Ethnic White
Addre s 419 Citico St. Exact date 1908 Ethnic White Address 421 Citico St. Exact date 1906 Ethnic White Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 120 I Delaware St. Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
Address l 006 Delaware St. Ethnic Group White Address I l 03 Folson St. Exact date 1893 Ethnic Group African Amenican Photo By Lafayette Benjamin ~-. Address 1615 Harvey Exact Address 16 l 7 Harvey Exact date 1909 Ethnic Goup White date 1909 Ethnic Goup White
.• . !- ...... ,'·\ ~ f .
Addres 162 l Harvey Exact Address l 623 Harvey Exact date 1909 Ethnic Goup White date 1909 Ethnic Goup White Address 406 James St.Exact date 1904 Ethnic Group African American
Photo By Lafayette Benjam in
Address 405 James St.Exact date 1905 Ethnic Group African American Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 3 l24 Johnson St. Ethnic Group White
Photo By Lafayette Ben jam in Address 3236 Johnson St. Ethnic Group White Address IO 19 Louisianna Ave.
Address 102 l Louisianna Ave.
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
Address I 025 Louisianna Ave. Ethnic Group African American Address 416 Oldham Ave. Exact date 1902 Ethnic Group White
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
Photo By Lafayette Ben jam in
Address 128 W. Anderson Exact date 1898 Ethnic Group White Address l 505 Tennessee Ethnic Group White
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
Address 1142 Tennessee Exact date 1913 Ethnic Group White
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 2225 Vermont Ave. Ethnic Group White Photo By Lafayette Benjam in Photo By Lafayette Benjam in
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 1939 Western Ave Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Ethnic Group White · Photo By Latayette Benjamin Photo ~Y Lafayette Benjamin -· ... - 1115 Harvey Interior 1115 Harvey Interior Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
1 Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
1113 Harvey Interior 1113 Harvey Interior 1115 Harvey Interior
Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
1113 Harvey Interior Photo By Lafayette Benjamin
1115 Harvey Interior Address 407 Douglass Exact date 1902 Ethnic Group White Photo By Lafayette Benjam in Address 724 Virginia Ave. Ethnic Group White Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 1626 Wallace Exact date 1902 Ethnic Group African American Photo By Lafayette Be~jamin
Address 1624 Wallace Exact date 1893 Ethnic Group African American Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 1113 Harvey St. Address 1115 Harvey St. Photo By Lafayette Benjamin Address 1115 Harvey St. Exact date 189·8 Ethnic White
Interior 1115 Harvey St.
Addre s I 113 Harvey St. Exact date 1898 Ethnic White
Vita
Dagmar VonToal was born in Greenville, Pennsylvania on March 29, 1963. Her family moved four years later to Staten Island where she attended a private school. The following year the family moved to Milford, New Jersey. Dagmar then attended public schools through the ninth grade. After that she and her mother moved to Williamsburg, Virginia where Dagmar attended a private high school name
Walsingham Academy. After graduating, Dagmar entered the College of William and Mary during
September of 1981 and in May of 1985 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a minor in French. After working for four years in archaeology at Virginia Commonwealth University, she entered the Master's program in Anthropology at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in January of
1993. She is currently still emolled and working on completing the Master's thesis.
229