Chattanooga Inventor Of The Wrecker Had High Perch On Cameron Hill

Ernest Walter Holmes, the inventor of the wrecker, had a high perch on Cameron Hill right down from Boynton Park.

He and his wife, Hattie, built a frame home at 36 Cameron St. (later changed to 336 Cameron).

Ernest Holmes was born on Jan.

17, 1883 in Hobbs Island, Ala., near Huntsville. His parents were John D. Holmes, a native of Georgia who worked for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad for 42 years. His mother was Laura Gray Holmes, a native of Alabama.

The family moved to the Highland Park section of Chattanooga, first living at 709 Duncan Ave., then moving nearby at 700 Chamberlain Ave. John D. Holmes was first a railroad clerk, then he was chosen as the NC&St.L depot master for Chattanooga. Ernest Holmes attended the public schools of Chattanooga as well as taking business and correspondence courses. In 1905, he married Hattie J. Hackett, who was from Georgia.

Ernest Holmes at one time worked as a salesman at D.B. Loveman Department Store and his wife, Hattie, was the Loveman's auditor. At the time they lived at the 700 Chamberlain Ave., address. Later, he was a demonstrator for the Chattanooga Auto Company and briefly a car salesman. In 1910, Ernest Holmes was the mechanic for the Chattanooga Auto Company and the family was closer to Cameron Hill (462 Chestnut St.). Afterward, he was the manager of Southern Auto and Supply Co.

Around 1910, Ernest and Earl McKinney went into the automotive business on Chestnut Street in a large old building and Ernest and Hattie lived upstairs over the shop. Hattie later recalled, "We had the top of the lot of cars and we had a garage too. There were four electric cars in town then and we had three. (She is probably referring to the storage and maintenance of them, Bill Holmes said)."

Ernest and Hattie Holmes were living at 462 Chestnut St. on March 18, 1910, at the time they bought two lots in the Cameron Hill Addition from W.E. Raht. It was here they built their home.

Ernest Holmes set up his own garage and workshop at 332 Market St. - just down from Cameron Hill. With the growth of the business, he soon acquired nearby property at 318-322 Market and moved there. He began tinkering with a 1913 Cadillac with an idea of modifying it for hauling wrecked vehicles. The invention was jumpstarted after a professor's car ran off Brainerd Road into Chickamauga Creek, and they had to use block and tackle to retrieve the car. By 1916, Ernest Holmes had crafted the world's first tow truck. It was said that it was built and put into service in less than 30 days, though family members believe it took longer. It was said to have been in constant use for two years, then he patented his unique design involving an iron chain, a pulley and several metal poles attached to the back of his Cadillac.

Hattie Holmes later recalled the wrecker's origin: "Ernest had so many wreck calls that he decided he needed a wrecker so he kept the thought in his mind and was formulating ideas for one. One day Dr. Wiley of the Wiley School of Business veered off the road into the Chickamauga Creek. Ernest had nothing to work with except a block and tackle, which was a terrible thing to get out and to turn over in the water. That decided him to build the wrecker at once so he drew his plans and went to work. He worked day and night until it was finally built and it really created a sensation."

The wrecker enterprise was quite a success, and in 1923 he and his brother moved the operation to 700 Main St., where they employed 70 people. Later, a large plant for building the Holmes wreckers was set up at 2505 43rd St. in East Lake. During World War II the Holmes firm supplied the Allies with thousands of military tier wreckers. Ernest Holmes also became a fixture at NASCAR races, pulling disabled vehicles from the track. He designed and patented numerous other items of garage and shop equipment.

His son, Ernest Holmes Jr., a 1930 graduate of Georgia Tech, ran the business until he retired in 1973. Miller Industries, which is also located in Chattanooga, is the successor to Holmes Wreckers.

The other children of Ernest and Hattie, all of whom grew up in the house on Cameron Hill, were Cornelia G., Mildred L. and Hattie J.

Ernest Holmes was still living at the top of Cameron Hill when he suffered a heart attack on June 10, 1945, at the age of 62. Hattie stayed in the large house, while converting it so there were four different rental sections by 1948.

One of her tenants in the mid-1950s was the well-known University of Chattanooga history professor Culver Haygood Smith. He occupied the second floor of the Holmes house after earlier living at 604 South Crest Road and later moving back to Missionary Ridge at 87 S. Crest Road. A native of Harmony, N.C., who attended school in a one-room schoolhouse there, he later studied at Duke and Yale. Culver Smith served as president of the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Chattanooga Area Historical Association. He was the author of "The Press, Politics and Patronage - The American Government's Use Of Newspapers 1789-1875."

Hattie continued to live there in the same house at 336 Cameron "until she was forced to move around 1960. Strong willed, she fought city hall viciously to save the 'Hill', but to no avail."

She then moved to a house in the Belvoir area next door to her son and his family while never forgetting the happy times at the top of Cameron Hill.