Oak Street Homes Scheduled For Demolition Have Plenty Of History

The historic homes in the 1000 block of Oak Street might not have much of a future, but they have had quite a past.
 
At least that is the opinion of a couple of observers interviewed recently as news of the structure’s planned demolition to make way for a private housing development catering to UTC students moves forward.
 
UTC art and architecture professor Dr. Gavin Townsend said that while the homes appear to be in uneven condition, they are good representatives of a century-old architectural style with limited remaining examples in Chattanooga.
 
“This is a tough one,” he said of hearing the news of the planned razing.
 
Longtime Chattanooga attorney W. Deaderick Moon said the home at 1000 Oak Street was the residence of his grandfather, former 3rd District Congressman John A. Moon, and the lawmaker’s wife. Mr. Moon served in the House from 1897-1921 – longer than any other representative of the 3rd District to date.
 
The homes have been in the news in recent days after the City Council approved rezoning plans on June 14 by developers David Hudson, Bob McKenzie and John Clark for their McCallie Commons student housing project.
 
Efforts to reach the developers were unsuccessful, but they said at the City Council meeting that the homes will have to be torn down to allow parking to be enclosed inside the development. Otherwise, parking would be exposed on McCallie Avenue and O’Neal Street, they said.
 
Dr. Townsend said the homes represent a “four square” style that was popular across America between 1895-1925 – roughly the time period that Mr. Moon was in Congress. “Such houses tend to be square in plan, two stories high with a one-story front porch and hipped roof,” he said. “Typically there are four rooms on each floor, each room nearly equal in size.”
 
He added that if the homes are torn down, he would love to see the architects replace them with similar buildings, including detached house-like dwellings faced in brick and featuring gable or hipped roofs.
 
“They should also be set back from the sidewalk and provided with front porches,” he said. “In effect, they should take their cues from the circa 1900 houses on the other side of Oak Street.”
 
While Mr. Moon said he respects the right of the developers to tear down his grandparents’ old home at 1000 Oak St. if that is their wishes, he said he has a lot of memories of being at the home.
 
His grandfather died in 1921 before he was born, but he has quite a few memories of his grandmother, Adeline McDowell Deaderick Moon, continuing to live there until her death in August 1948 at the age of 93.
 
He recalled sitting on the front porch and hearing her talk of the Civil War battles around her home of Jonesborough. Her brother, Shelby Deaderick, one of several siblings to fight for the Confederacy, was killed at Snodgrass Hill at Chickamauga.
 
“She was a wonderful, sweet lady,” he said. “She died while I was in law school” (at Vanderbilt).
 
He recalled that after she became a widow, other people also moved into the spacious home, including several women teachers from Bright School, which was located at the time a few hundred yards away on Fortwood Street.
 
Mr. Moon said that the home was initially built on two lots, and a truck would regularly park on the open side and drop off coal for the numerous fireplaces in the home that burned coal.
 
“Inside the home was one big ventilator,” he said.
 
He also recalled that the home had a bathroom on each floor, but no closets. As a result, the residence had several large armoires, or movable cabinets or wardrobes.
 
He added that the home was built with a dressed limestone foundation, and its brick never had a crack in it as a result.
 
The home was apparently constructed after the turn of the 20th century. A 1904 Chattanooga city directory shows Mr. Moon at the time living at what would now be the 700 block of Oak Street.
 
The home at 1000 Oak Street was actually outside the city limits of Chattanooga initially, the younger Mr. Moon recalled.
 
The congressman was born in Virginia and educated at King College in Bristol and its preparatory school. After coming to Chattanooga in the 1870s as an attorney, he served as a state representative before becoming a circuit judge.
 
He had married his wife, Addie, in 1884. She was the great-granddaughter of Kentucky’s first governor, Isaac Shelby, and the granddaughter of a well-known Kentucky surgeon, Dr. Ephraim McDowell.
 
In 1896 Mr. Moon was elected to Congress as a Democrat. He went on to serve for 24 years and became known for such issues as helping develop the U.S. Post Office’s rural free delivery program and for drafting the government structure for U.S. territories. He was also known as someone who wanted to strictly follow the Constitution in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson.
 
In 1920, with a backlash against Democrats as Republican Warren G. Harding was elected president over the outgoing Democrat Woodrow Wilson, he lost a re-election bid. Congressman Moon was defeated by Baylor School graduate Joe Brown, the son of former Congressman Foster Brown.
 
Mr. Moon retired to his Oak Street home and suffered from kidney problems. He died on June 26, 1921, at his residence a few hours after having a heart attack. He was 66.
 
The funeral service was held at the residence, with Dr. J.W. Bachman from First Presbyterian Church officiating. According to his grandson, he had been a Baptist, while his wife was a staunch Presbyterian.
 
Mrs. Moon’s funeral was also held at the home, with First Presbyterian minister the Rev. James Fowle, whom she often listened to on the radio, officiating.
 
A glance at some city directories showed that a variety of residents besides the Moons lived at the homes pinpointed for demolition.
 
Those living there in 1924 besides Mrs. Moon were C.F. Powers, a vulcanizer with Southern Rubber Co., at 1004 Oak St.; contractor Joseph Trimby at 1008; Mrs. A. J. Cartwright, the widow of a former grocer, at 1010; Nixon Mining Drill Co. president and general manager George and Elizabeth Nixon at 1012; Moon Coal Co. salesman Samuel and Mattie Fraker at 1028; and salesman Frank and Mellie M. West at 1030.
 
The Moon home – which still has some vintage 1000 Oak St. signs visible on it – also bordered on Central Avenue, which was newer than some of the other streets in that part of Chattanooga.
 
Those in the Oak Street homes in the 1940 city directory were Mrs. Moon at 1000; Hamilton National Bank assistant cashier Meredith E. and Guinn Dement at 1004; widow Mrs. L.D. Trimby on the first floor at 1008, with two residents on the rented second floor; Mrs. Cartwright at 1010 (with the second floor listed as vacant); C.L. Johnston at 1012; Southern Railway chief clerk Paul and Leota Martin at 1028; and Southern Railway brakeman William and Julia Kreis at 1030. The residence at 1006 was listed as vacant.
 
According to the younger Mr. Moon, across Oak Street for a number of years lived Chancellor Clifford Curry, with whom the younger lawyer had legal dealings over the years.
 
By the time the 1965 city directory was published, that block had changed somewhat. The Chattanooga Bible Institute and the Southern Hebrew Mission were at the former Moon residence, with the Rev. F.H. Cochran residing on the second floor; Hamilton County Courthouse custodian Thomas and Genevieve Burkeen lived at 1004; Chattanooga Department of Public Works lab worker Will and Mildred Florence were at 1006; Chattanooga Observer publisher Walter C. and Cora Bell Robinson were at 1008; Riverside High teacher Walter L. and Sarah P. Hainey were at 1028; and Mrs. Mattie Myers was at 1030.
 
In 1990, the old Moon home had become the Chattanooga Bible Institute’s Counseling Office. Other residents of the street were Annette Jenkins at 1004, Claiborn Fairbanks at 1006, Mariah Robinson at 1008, four residents in four apartments at 1010, and Mrs. Hainey at 1012. The building at 1030 had been converted to several apartments, too, with students living in one of them.
 
In later years, the New Home Missionary Baptist Church used the area around the Moon home.
 
The block told quite a story about Chattanooga history over the years, and now a new chapter with new brick and mortar characters appears ready to be told.
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net