Dr. William Raht Lived Many Years On Prospect Street High Above The City

  • Tuesday, October 18, 2022
  • John Wilson

Dr. William Eckhardt Raht lived many years at 217 Prospect St. (Boynton Terrace) on Cameron Hill.

The house was first occupied by the Davidson family, who built several beautiful homes atop Cameron Hill. Charles A. Davidson was at 217 Prospect in 1882. A railroad contractor, Charles T. Wilson, occupied the home at the time the Davidsons had it. Dr. Raht had moved in by 1886.

Dr. Raht was the son of Julius E. and Matilda Dombois Raht, who were born and reared in Germany. The parents sailed to the U.S. in 1850. Julius Raht for many years was superintendent of the copper mines in Polk County. He was a mining engineer and a graduate of a German college. He died in 1879.

William E. Raht, who was born in Polk County, was the third of eighth children. He spent three years at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, then he graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1883. He took a post graduate course at Hahnemann Homeopathic Medical College before coming to Chattanooga, where he entered into a partnership with Dr. D.G. Curtis.

Dr. Raht in 1883 married Alice Edmiston, who was from Logan County, Ohio. They had one son, Theodore. His son, Theodore Raht, Jr., was killed in 1942 at Guadalcanal. He was 22.

The Raht home was later divided into four units for the Boynton Terrace Apartments (not the same as the later Boynton Terrace Apartments on the flattened section of Cameron Hill).

A photo of the Raht home has not yet been located. 

 

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