Every Day in Tennessee History

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Page design and maintenance by his son, Boyd R. Jones.

1785, Jonesborough. The second General Assembly of the State of Franklin was convened.

1950, Nashville. There were three Ku Klux Klan cross burnings at three different locaitons in the city, all aimed at protesting Communism. At the corner of Hillsboro and Golf Club Lane a sign read "If this nation is to survice, communism must go." It was signed "Federation of Ku Klux Kland, Inc." The Nashville Fire Department dispatched a unit to put the flaming cross out. There were also Ku Klux Klan flyers which read "Ku Klux Klan Rides Again. Communism will not be tolerated." The leaflet's heading read: "Wake Up America." Two other crosses burned at the intersection of Thompson Land and Glen Cliff Road, and on 3rd Avnue and Charlotte.

1867, Nashville. It was announced in the Daily Press that the newly formed Eureka Baseball Club "promises to reserve the championship of the State to Nashville." The team had a diamond near the L&N warehouse property, where the now defunct Stonewall Club once played. The Eureka team was formed mostly from members of the Stonewall club. Additionally the formation of the Atlantic Base Ball Club was announced. "The Atlantics," stated the article, "intend to visit the princple cities in Tennessee to increase the interest in base ball."

1867, Nashville. At J. Glassock's drugstore at the corner of Cherry and Cedar, a freak of nature in the shape of a four-legged chicken was on display. The little monstrosity lived only a few minutes after hatching, and was dubbed a real curiosity. It had two perfectly formed bodies which were joined at the neck.

1950, Oak Ridge. Three solemn pickets, including a second generation Japanses, paraded before the obsolete Y-12 plant, with signs reading "No More Hiroshimas," "Let Us Try the Christ Way of Peace," and "War Is Hilter and Stalin's Way." The protest was held a day before the fifth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Kantsui James Otsuka, a Niesi from Indiana, Mrs. Marjorie Swann from Michigan, and Dr. Ralph Templin, from Yellow Springs, Ohio, were the protestors. The protest had been planned by the "Hiroshima 1950 Committee." Otsuka was unflatteringly described as a World War II draft doger, who also served time for not paying taxes. It isn't difficult for feel sympathy for Otsuka, who was, like all other Neisi, persecuted and rounded up and placed in guarded camps. No wonder he dodged the draft, they way his country treated his family and friends.

1885, Memphis. A crowd of some 200 baseball fans congregated at the Terrace Hotel lobby to see watch baseball played on a blackboard. Play by play results were sent over the telegraph wires to the lobby and the news was written on the black board while pieces bearing the players names were moved about and placed on hooks representing the baseball diamond and field. In the game between Nashville and Memphis, Nashville won.

1760, Monroe County. Fort Blount was surrendered to the Cherokee Chief Oconostota who had been holding a siege of the British fortification. The fort was constructed in 1756-1757 by South Carolinian provincial troops to check the advances of the French during the French and Indian War and to strengthen English influence in the Mississippi River Valley.

1904, Nashville. The Tennessee Socialist Party held its nominating convention. The nominee, John M. Ray, was from Rutherford County.

1846, Lometa, Mexico. Colonel W.B. Campbell, from Nashville and in the U.S. Army, wrote to his uncle, David Campbell, former governor of Virginia about his experiences in the Mexican War. "I have not the space or time to inform you of the great frauds that are perpetrated on the [U.S.] Government here in carrying out this war, the great prices given for old steamboats and other extravagant prices paid, no doubt to favorites or to persons who share with the officers the spoils."

1760, Monroe County. At the junction of the Tellico River and Cane Creek, the Fort Loudon force which had surrendered to Chief Oconostota and other Cherokee Chiefs, was returning to Charleston, SC, when their safe conduct was betrayed by an attack. Twenty five were killed, the rest wdere taken prisoner.

1883, Memphis. An alarming number of chicken thieves were operating in the city, mostly on Jones Avenue. Neighbors were considering a "shotgun" policy because the police were either unable or unwilling to stop it.

1958, Memphis. Elvis Presely, after being granted emergency leave, flew in from Fort Hood, Texas, to visit with his mother who was seriously ill.

1947, Lima, Peru. After serving as ambassador for one year Prentice Cooper entered in his diary that a parasite had been discovered in his intestinal tract.

1891, Nashville. Mrs. ex-President James K. Polk died forty-two years after her husband.

1958, Memphis. Elvis's mother, Mrs. Gladys Presely, died of a heart attack. Elvis and his uncle mourned at Graceland.

1977, Memphis. Elvis A. Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll" died in his mansion Graceland. The coroner's report officially listed as heart disease as the cause, yet other evidence indicated he was the victim of an overdose a number of drugs, all prescribed by his physician. o wanted The Reverend King slain.

1786, Greene County. David ("Davy") Crockett was born in the Lost State of Franklin.

1920, Nashville. The 19th or woman's suffrage bill passed in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

1874, Memphis. A story in the Public Ledger commented on the suicide death of Dr. McDowell, the "famous tapeworm physician." McDowell advocted the use of tape worms as a great physic (laxative). He was found dead in his room at the Commercial Hotel, and died apparently from the inhaling ether. He was often on the streets selling "his wonderful tape worm physic" at twenty-five cents a bottle. McDowell's remains were sent to his relatives.

1913, Nashville. Tennessee artist Avery Handy was born.

1885, Memphis. The Memphis Street Car Drivers' strike ends. A prankster placed a "torpedo," or a small explosive warning device on the track near Market and Jefferson. The car drivers struck for recognition of their union and they got it. The successful Memphis streetcar strike had awakened the laboring men of the city to the importance of organizing. Accordingly, the Memphis Teamsters' Union of Shelby County was formed and it was composed solely of Negro drivers.

1920, Nashville. Debate ended on the Nineteenth Amendment.

1833. President Jackson ended a four week vacation at Old Point Comfort, Virginia. His bar tab for twelve bottles of champagne, brandy and gin, three gallons of whisky, wines and six bottles of olives at $1.50 each, amounted to $118.50. Old Hickory was not a temperance advocate.

1920, Memphis. Alan Vasco Smith, Shelby County's first Negro County Commissioner was born.

1890, Nashville. The Central Labor Union, later to be called the Trades and Labor Council, was formed and took out a charter with the American Federationof Labor

1874, Memphis. According to an article in the Public Ledger: "Every night several skiffs, loaded with 'boys and girls' are pulled [rowed] over to the Hopefield sandbar, and a regular Long Branch bathing is indulged in. The screams and laughter of the mixed crowd awake the echoes on both sides of the mighty river. It is rumored that the bathing suits are of the Garden of Eden pattern. There are some queer and fast people residing on this Chickasaw Bluff."

1874, Gibson County. A mass murder occurred near Trenton, when, in the midst of the 1874 pre-election furor over the Federal Civil Rights Bill, a band of hooded horsemen broke into the Gibson county jail around 2:00 A.M., bound and gagged, forcibly removed and lynched sixteen African Americans.

1920, Nashville. Governor Albert H. Roberts (Democrat 1919-1921) signs the certification paper and sends the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Secretary of State for addition to the United States Constitution. For all intents and purposes American women finally had the right to vote.

1919, Belle Meade. Attorney Robin Cooper was called from a high stakes card game in his stylish and handsome home in Belle Meade at about 9:00 P.M. and drove away in his automobile with a stranger. On Saturday, August 30, his body was found in a creek about one mile from his home

1851, near Schaffhausen, Germany. While on his tour of Europe, Nashville native Randal McGavock noted in his diary: "I saw for the first time two men kiss each other. They both had long moustaches [sic] and look very queer [sic] to me, although it is the custom in Germany."

1918, Nashville. Kitty Wells, the Queen of Country Music, was born. Perhaps one of her more famous hits was "God Didn't Make Honky Tonk Angels" (1952). She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1972.

1860, Memphis. It had been calculated that for the year 1859-1860 some 110 steamboats had sailed from Memphis to New Orleans. This averaged about one steamboat every three days.

July's Archived Excerpts

June's Archived Excerpts

May's Archived Excerpts

April's Archived Excerpts

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