Sixth grade at H. Clay Evans School in 1945
By the 1920s, the real estate map of Chattanooga’s Westside was mostly all filled in from Cameron Hill to College Hill. Some of the earlier single-family structures had been torn down and replaced by apartments. A few of the stately mansions had been partitioned into multi-family units.
To accommodate the growing number of families, Chattanooga City Schools officials decided to combine the Chestnut Street and College Hill grammar schools into a new school.
The site would be the northwestern corner of Poplar and West Sixth streets where the U.S. 27 freeway passes by the Downtown YMCA today. Some apartments had to be torn down in order to make room.
Originally to be called “Westside Grammar School,” the new school was instead named for H. Clay Evans, a local businessman, civic leader, and first Commissioner of Education after Chattanooga switched from an alderman to commission form of government.
Nell Evans Johnson, daughter of H. Clay Evans, was a leader in the effort to build the new school. The Evans mansion was on the East Terrace of Cameron Hill. More about Mr. Evans can be found at 1882-1883 H. Clay Evans (chattanooga.gov) .
H. Clay Evans Grammar School opened on January 2, 1928. Maude Chandler transferred from the principal role at the Chestnut Street School and led a staff of 13 teachers.
Over the years, the school frequently hosted programs from the fine arts. The May 18, 1928 Chattanooga Times reported that a cast of 70 students performed the operetta “Mid-Summer Day” with a junior orchestra providing music between acts.
New schools often appeal to prospective home buyers. An advertisement in the June 24, 1928 Chattanooga Times reminded readers that the house at 321 Poplar St. (in the vicinity of present-day AT&T Field) was only a three-block walk to the Evans school.
The H. Clay Evans School became an important part of the culture of the Westside community during the years of the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean War.
Gale Weidner Fleming, who lived her first 12 years on Cameron Hill, recalled, "H. Clay Evans School was located on West 6th Street between 6th and 7th Streets and Poplar and Cedar Streets… taking up the entire block except for a few houses on Cedar Street that backed up to the school playground. The education obtained there was exceptional. We learned to speak, read and write the English language as it was meant to be spoken, read and written without exception. We were as well prepared as any student from the most expensive private school in the Chattanooga area. The teachers and the principals were exceptional."
By the mid-1950s news reports were being made of the Westside Urban Renewal project and the Westside Freeway which was a major task of the project.
The March 28, 1956 Chattanooga Times reported that the path of the freeway on Cameron Hill would bisect the campus of H. Clay Evans School. The Sept. 23, 1956 edition of the same paper confirmed that the school would be taken but that the city would build a new school in the area. As of the Aug. 23, 1956 edition, the razing of the school was underway but classes were still being held in portions of the building.
During the 1959 spring school calendar, Evans classes were moved back to the building which once housed the Chestnut Street School at 400 Chestnut Str The students from Evans were assigned to the Clara Carpenter School starting in the 1959-1960 school year. Principal Ralph Gandy moved to Mary Ann Garber School. One secretary and 15 teachers also had to find other jobs. Among the teachers was Helen Jordan who had taught at Evans since its first year. She moved to St. Elmo Elementary School and joined a veteran group of teachers led by Principal Herbert W. Kaiser.
While the H. Clay Evans School was demolished and hauled away, the former Chestnut Street School building remained in service for a few decades longer. In the late 1920s – after the Evans school had been built - Mayor Ed Bass and others had championed the idea of using the Chestnut Street School building for technical and vocational classes. This was the beginning of Kirkman Technical High School, which later had a large campus on Chestnut Street until being demolished for riverfront redevelopment in 1991. It fielded sports teams on Hawk Hill (present-day AT&T Field site). The Chestnut Street School building was later home to the Chattanooga Regional History Museum and then demolished to be the site of a Hampton Inn.
If you have additional information on the H. Clay Evans Grammar School, please email me at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.
Some H. Clay Evans School students in 1948