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Jerry Summers: Scopes - City High’s Creed Bates

  • Monday, September 16, 2024
  • Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers

One of the most respected Chattanoogans who had a connection to the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial” (term not loved by many Rhea County resident families) was the Chattanooga High School (City) principal from 1927-1964 Colonel Creed Bates Jr. who also served in the military in both World Wars.

A famous photo of Creed Bates at the trial in 1925 in a tie and rolled up shirt sleeves is part of the William Silverman photograph collection in the Smithsonian Institute Archives in Washington, DC.

In the photo, William Silverman (WS) is portrayed with his former high school teacher in a formal suit, tie, and carrying a straw hat on the lawn of the Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton.

At the time, Silverman was a nineteen year old student at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta where he was studying business administration after graduating from City in 1922.

A box containing historical photographs and images of most of the individuals and events is indexed under the subject of Evolution (Biology) and the preferred citation is Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 10-042, William Silverman, Photographs at osiareF@si.edu.

The 100th Anniversary of the “True Trial of the Century” will be held in July 2025 with collateral proceedings at Bryan College, a two hour play enactment in the historic Rhea County Courthouse, and an opportunity to visit the museum on the trial in the basement.

The Rhea County Historical Society will be glad to provide the specific details at a later date at (423) 605- 4067.

(On a lighter vein (cliché) one of the less serious photographs that may or may not be in the Silverman collection is a photograph of 5 temporary privies (outhouses) set up on the courthouse lawn with a “Read Your Bible” sign prominently attached in the middle in large letters. Any connection to Colonel Bates and his student William Silverman is undocumented!)

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If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact him at jsummers@summersfirm.com)

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