Chattanooga - A Complicated Past

This past trip down through Tennessee I stopped in Chattanooga for the first time.

Chattanooga’s first sky scraper, the James Building 1906, Sullivanesque style

Ruby Falls and the Chattanooga Choo Choo are the big attractions here, but I came for some Starbucks wi-fi and to see the downtown architecture.  On my way I drove along the Tennessee River, where Cherokee Chief John Ross started a trading post, warehouse, and ferry back in 1815.  Ross's Landing is now a public park along the river just below the Tennessee Aquarium, I wish I had known so I could have visited the site!

The area would remain known as Ross's Landing until after 1838, when the Indian Removal Act was executed, thanks to President Andrew Jackson.  The area around Chattanooga was a staging point during Indian Removal; more than 16,000 Cherokees started their long journey to Oklahoma from this part of the state.

Reflection of 1926 Georgian style Read House Hotel, designed by Chicago architects Holabird and Roche

Chief John Ross was only 1/8 Cherokee by blood, but in the Cherokee Nation of old that did not matter, what mattered was that you belonged and you were part of the people if they said you were.  Before opening that trading post on the river he fought in the War of 1812 and in the Creek Indian War along with General Andrew Jackson and 1000 other Cherokee.  The Cherokee fought in both wars without pay and still were not considered true Americans.  Oh, what irony.

Volunteer Life Building, 1917

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He was noticed for his ability to negotiate and made his way up the ranks to become Assistant Chief of the Eastern Cherokee over the next few years.  He participated in the drafting of the Cherokee Constitution in 1827 which was modeled after the U.S. Constitution, including a Senate and a House of Representatives. John Ross was elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1828, a position he would hold until his death in 1866.

Andrew Jackson above doorway of Volunteer State Life Building

The story is an old one, in 1828 gold was discovered nearby in Georgia and the government wanted the Cherokee and other nearby tribes gone so they could have the rich land to themselves.   Chief John Ross and the majority of the Cherokee people remained adamantly opposed to removal.  A separate party believed removal was inevitable and started negotiations without approval from the majority. In the end, 500 of the Cherokee (out of thousands) supported a treaty to cede the Cherokee lands in exchange for $5,700,000 and new lands in Indian Territory in what we know as Oklahoma. 

From Legends of America website: Chief Ross and the Cherokee National Council maintained that the document was a fraud and presented a petition with more than 15,000 Cherokee signatures to congress in the spring of 1838. Other white settlers also were outraged by the questionable legality of the treaty. On April 23, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson appealed to Jackson’s successor, President Martin Van Buren, urging him not to inflict “so vast an outrage upon the Cherokee Nation." But it was not to be.

Read House behind sculpture under construction

 Along the 2,200 mile journey, road conditions, illness, cold, and exhaustion took thousands of lives, including Chief John Ross’ wife Quatie. Though the federal government officially stated some 424 deaths, an American doctor traveling with one the party estimated that 2,000 people died in the camps and another 2,000 along the trail. Other estimates have been stated that conclude that almost 8,000 of the Cherokee died during the Indian Removal.

Hamilton County Courthouse

I didn't mean to turn this post into a history lesson, but sometimes one little fact leads you somewhere you didn't intend to go.  As for the architecture I saw, it turns out much of it was probably designed by Rueben Harrison Hunt, Chattanooga's version of Louis Sullivan.  He built the above Hamilton County Courthouse, a Neo-Classical design of Indiana Bedford limestone that sits solidly on a hill.

He also designed the Maclellan Building, now a luxury apartment building as so many of the old ones in Chicago have now also become.  It was built in 1924 in the Beaux Arts style.

Here I will add that information on all the buildings in Chattanooga was hard to discover on the internet.  Most of them weren't even on Wikipedia, but I did find a link to this architectural walking tour - almost an exact replica of the walk that I aimlessly discovered just letting my eyes take me along.  Unfortunately it did not give much beyond the barest of details. Above is the Dome Building which dates back to 1892 and its dome roof is made of sheet copper weighing about 1,300 pounds and was gilded in gold.  I was so busy admiring it that I missed the Carnegie Library across the street!

The story behind the Tudor Gothic church tower of the First Methodist Episcopal Church was more easily located.  It was constructed on this lot in 1927 by R H. Hunt - Stone for the church was quarried on the Joshua Beck farm, loaded on barges, was floated down the river and carried by ox cart to the location.   The church was demolished when they merged with another church but the steeple was left intact.

Designed by R. H. Hunt the Tivoli theater was said to be an exact replica, but smaller, of the Tivoli

in Chicago.  Noticing a theme here?  No wonder I felt so at home walking around Chattanooga, much of the architecture is Chicago influenced. I also passed families on their way to see Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, the children chattering excitedly about the outing.

Besides families on their way to the theater I also saw quite a few weekend afternoon joggers and folks walking their dogs.  For a Saturday this area of town actually seemed quite empty, something must have been going on elsewhere that kept residents away or perhaps everyone left town for Spring Break.

Strangely empty streets

Built in 1971 the "Gold Building" was erected for Blue Cross Blue Shield but now is home to the Westin Hotel. It features live music on an open-air patio, mountain views, an atrium and a sky bar.  It turns out to be the only building I feel like I should have walked inside to poke around, but by that point I had been walking well over an hour and was ready to head back to the campground at Foster Falls.

Westin Hotel's gold exterior

I should have done a little research and not missed Ross's Landing, and I'm sure there is more I missed as well. If I drive past again I'll check it out and perhaps the famed Ruby Falls and Chattanooga Choo Choo as well. Keep your eyes open when you are in a new town, you never know what you might be missing!

Historic Ironwood

While in Ironwood, Michigan I stopped at Depot Park where I could stretch my legs between appointments while learning a little bit of history.

The museum was closed, but an information marquee informed me that the depot was built of Lake Superior sandstone back in 1893 and brought travelers and prospective miners to the booming town.
By 1891 there were 6 mines operating in the area, and by 1920 the population had doubled.

Ironwood was an immigrant town, with over 90% of the population having at least one parent born outside the country.  Most were from Finland, Sweden, Poland and England.  By the 1930's the iron boom began its decline for a number of reasons and each decade saw the population decrease.  From its peak of more than 15,000 residents it has now dwindled down to a third of that and now draws visitors for its outdoor sports.

I didn't get a look inside the Ironwood Theatre but hope to on my next visit, and can you believe I missed a mural that pays tribute to the miners also?  You never see it all, even in the small towns!

Man Code and Hip Chic

I can't believe we've been back home for 5 days.  Especially since I just spent the last 3 days helping Katrina with her move.  We got home on Sunday, I worked on Monday, then I drove up on up to the Marinette/Menominee area on Tuesday.  Wednesday was cleaning, organizing and shopping, Thursday I was back on the road home again.  I'm tired and for a change I don't want to travel anymore!  Katrina is working in Marinette, Wisconsin, but lives just over the bridge in Menominee, Michigan.  That's right, I have my very own Yooper!

But,  I still have vacation stuff to talk about yet, and I was too busy to do any sightseeing the last few days anyway.  (Don't worry, it won't be long before I'm wandering  around the U.P. with a camera.)

I know you're dying to know about the title for the post. While on vacation a few signs caught my attention.  Sometimes signs do, usually old neon, but sometimes newer ones have some flair as well.

The above signs were on the same block as the State Theater in Sioux Falls, I just liked the look of the whole collection.  Here's a closer look at the sign on the theater by itself.

I loved the Palace Theater sign in Luverne, bet it looks awesome at night all lit up.

The theater didn't seem to have a regular blockbuster type movie showing while we were there, but they are showing Despicable Me 2 at the moment, just once a day.  Wasn't that showing at the Fargo Theatre back in June?  Hmmm....

The mosaic tile in front of the doors was neat too, here's a peek, it was kind of a sign as well.

Yankton, South Dakota, had quite a few signs that caught my eye.

The Yankton Rexall Drug store has been in business for 88 years, and has held a liquor license since the end of prohibition.  I'm guessing the sign was probably from the 1950's or 60's by reading the history of the store.  Does that sound right to any of you that would know about this style of sign? Has that atomic age look to it, I thought.

Found a nice link for Yankton's  Dakota Theater, apparently it was remodeled on the inside to its original Art Deco look, but I didn't get a look inside.  I've got to start hanging around long enough to look inside some of these theaters, or return with a plan to get inside when they're open.  I labeled the posts now, so I can easily see which ones I have to return to.  My list of labels is growing, but I've also noticed that this year there is an obscene amount of architecture compared to nature adventures.  We'll definitely take care of that little problem come October when I get to the Smokies!

A Stroll Through Milwaukee's Third Ward

I played hooky from physical therapy yesterday and Katrina and I drove out to Milwaukee instead.  Milwaukee ain't no Chicago as far as difficulty getting there and finding parking, but it can still be a hassle.  We lucked out with our late morning timing and got in and back out of the city by 3:00 with minimum trouble.

Our first stop was actually Whole Foods which is near UWM.  Got to go a long way around here to find those personal and cleaning products that are safe for me and the environment!  We enjoyed gawking at the bit of remaining architecture in the neighborhood while walking to the store, including The Oriental Theater.  After reading Wikipedia's write-up on it I'm thinking I need to go back and catch a show to check out the inside!

Directly across from Whole Foods was The Clock Tower Building, which was written on the side but I couldn't find any information about it on the internet.

After Whole Foods we drove to the Third Ward, where a fire from an exploding oil barrel in 1892 destroyed 440 buildings.  The district was rebuilt over the next 30 years and was a center of commerce then and again today.

I was excited at the prospect of the Milwaukee Public Market, but it was really just a collection of a few lunch counters.  However, they have a parking lot and when we got our parking validated we ended up only paying $2 to park for a couple of hours.  Sweet!  We grabbed some food and ate outside, then walked around the district just admiring the architecture.

The stuff on the inside was fun to look at too.

  We didn't get a chance to take a stroll down the RiverWalk...maybe next time we're in town.

Louisville's Theater District, Ya'll

Since we were not far from downtown Louisville yesterday I swung in to eye a bit of the city's architecture.  One way streets, no place to park, and a sporting event just letting out drove me back out in no time.  Before I left I parked illegally and snapped a few photos on the block that houses the Palace Theatre.  A nice gentleman gave me a  free sample of a dark chocolate bourbon truffle so it was worth the trip!  I was also delighted to find these murals on the old Ohio Theatre facade to contribute to Mural Monday.

The Palace Theatre, first known as Loew’s State Theater, was considered one of Louisville’s most elaborate movie palaces.  It was built in 1928 for a reported $1.2 million and was originally designed to show silent films.  The theater was once equipped with a one-thousand pipe Wurlitzer organ that would lift over the stage and provide sound effects.

Although the building has had several renovations in its 81 years, today the theater has been restored to its original design and is used mainly for concerts and other performing arts events.  I couldn't get inside, but this is what I saw from the sidewalk.  If you're dying to see what the inside looks like, the photos at Bluegrass Baobob's blog are fantastic.

 

Right next door is the Theatre Building and my eyes gobbled up their doorway.  Their door was locked, too.   Apparently this gorgeous entrance is the only part of the building done in the art deco style.  If the interior was art deco I might have considered learning the art of lock picking.  I don't know as many architectural terms as I would like to, but I sure recognize art deco when I see it.

Unintentional Selfie! Happy Monday, Ya'll!

More Fun Finds in "Fort"

After leaving the Hoard Museum I saw an unusual shape against the sky and ordered my driver to investigate.  Wayne and I pondered it for a moment and decided it must be a water tower, even though there were windows.  Further investigation online tells me it was built in 1901 from limestone.  We were lucky to see it, as apparently it was slated for demolition 12 years ago and through generous local support it was renovated and saved.

The 78-foot-tall brick base of the watertower is roughly seven or eight bricks thick, while the upper portion of the base is about four or five bricks thick. The steel tank, which once held as much as 100,000 gallons of water, brings the overall height of the tower to 112 feet.   Steel bands were added to the structure in 1938 when stress cracks appeared in the tower's bricks and mortar. The historic tower was taken out of service in 1989.
 
 
I'm thinking about going back another day for a walk up the interior staircase to the top!

I happened to notice that every other thing in Fort Atkinson is named "Black Hawk", not to mention a few likenesses of the guy himself, so here's the skinny from the Chamber's website on why it's significant in Fort Atkinson:

In July 1832, General Henry Atkinson and his troops built Fort Koshkonong during the Black Hawk War. The war had begun a few months earlier when the Sauk warrior Black Hawk crossed the Mississippi River back into Illinois in an attempt to reclaim the Sauk and Fox homelands there. Soon General Henry Atkinson was hot on his trail, forcing Black Hawk and his people to flee north into what is now Wisconsin. By the time Atkinson arrived here, he was short on supplies and frustrated by his inability to find Black Hawk. So he halted his men and built a fort along the Rock River that would soon house the supplies being sent to him.

The impressive roster of Black Hawk War participants included future presidents Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. It was the commanding general however, whose name was forever attached to our town when in 1841 congress declared us now and forever more to be called Fort Atkinson.

While scouting out the Rock River, we saw fishermen scooping up crates-full of carp and loading them into the back of a big truck.  We were afraid it was the dreaded Asian Carp, but the DNR website says they are not making their way into our rivers from the Mississippi...yet.  It's more likely other carp that is being removed to promote weed growth, increase the game fish population and improve the fishing for more desirable fare like walleye.  They have to get to the nets in a timely manner to not endanger other species, and the harvested carp is sent to fish markets across the country and across the globe. An article in the Prague Daily Monitor said that "in the days leading up to Christmas, it's nearly impossible to walk through Prague without running into a carp vendor."
Prague? Wow!

I found an article on the topic that reported on this happening on the Fox River and if I'm wrong that this is what is going on in Fort, please let me know! Read more here. The article goes on to compare carp harvesting on the Wisconsin rivers to the Midwest's version of Deadliest Catch, entailing expensive equipment, hard work and long hours but with big financial benefits.

There were quite a few glorious turn of the century buildings, both in the residential and the business districts.  This one caught my eye due to the unusual chimney shape.  Another home on the same block had the same design.  I looked really hard but couldn't find anything online about decorative chimney styles.  Was this fluted chimney the whim of a local mason or something that was in vogue at the time?  Anybody with any knowledge on chimneys please chime in because I'm really curious! In the meantime, here's a great link on house styles.

Believe it or not, the building below used to house J.C. Penney!  Well, this one or it's cousin on the other side of Catfish Alley. Now it stands empty, but the giant catfish sculpture where another building was removed is there to keep it company. The buildings were built in 1886 from cream brick. They sure don't build them like that now, do they?

Also of architectural interest was this out-of-place charmer. Apparently it was originally the site of the Fort Theater and this new building incorporated some the of original Mediterranean Revival elements. Now it houses...public restrooms, on the lower level and storage for the Chamber above.  A parking lot graces the rest of the site.  See the smokestack reflection?

A little online searching found a snap of the original building.  I don't know about any of my fellow bloggers, but I find I learn and get just as much enjoyment out of coming back home to do my research as the actual "touring" day.



We stopped for lunch at Paddy Coughlin's Pub, and there will be more on that in another post because there were MURALS! For now, I'll tell you the meal was delicious, the server was friendly, and there was a sheep on skis....which Wayne swears he's SEEN BEFORE.  Really? First time for me, anyway.

On our way out of town I got one more opportunity for a quirky find.  First time I've seen a wood stove converted into a mailbox, how about you?  It certainly added some interest to the farm's driveway and I don't think I'll forget it for awhile!  Fort was definitely a fun town.