It was 1918 and the war was raging in France and along the Western Front. Hundreds of men from the Tennessee Valley had enlisted following President Woodrow Wilson’s April 2, 1917 address to Congress requesting a ‘Declaration of War’ against the Triple Axis [Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire]. The outpouring of patriotic fervor from men of both European-American and African-American ancestry - - men anxious to serve in America’s Expeditionary Forces in Europe - - reflected the region’s history and shared values and dreams.
One year later, on April 12, 1918, the Chattanooga Daily Times headlined June 1 as the projected opening date for Lincoln Park.
The ten-acre park near Citico had been designed as an amusement park for ‘Negro’ residents and was to include a children’s playground, fine paths, flower beds, fountains and buildings designed for family and community events. The park would add to Chattanooga’s impressive “chain of parks,” designed to provide” attractive open-air resorts.”
The plot of land had first been designed as the site of a Chattanooga and Hamilton County ‘isolation hospital’ until it was determined to be unsuited for the designated illnesses and, in an effort to protect other citizens, a more “remote” location had been chosen for the hospital. Chattanooga Commissioner Ed Herron immediately requested that the land instead be used for a park and, upon approval by both entities, had begun work planning for a neighborhood park “as modern as any to be found in this city or elsewhere.”
By early May 1918, the Commissioner announced that sealed bids for construction projects related to Lincoln Park had been opened, evaluated and awards had been made. D. F. Brandon would construct the carousal building and the dancing pavilion at a cost of $8,512 while the modern multi-stall refreshment stand contract, $747.50, went to A. W. Duncan. Architect fees for all buildings totaled $462.37, although the architect was not named. The city’s parks department would provide all other labor related to the actual park, plantings, etc.
If a visitor had looked at the site in 1917, that person would have wandered through an “old corn field” in the midst of a substantial “Negro community” located at the rear of Erlanger hospital. One year later, the corn field had disappeared and the improved tract had been planted with grass, surrounded by a fence featuring “neat rows of green-painted posts,” waiting for the wire to be stretched. A hedge along the fence soften the look and had been accentuated with spirea, all-ready budding roses and a variety of evergreens, “thriving huskily.” An extensive horseshoe-shaped road, beginning at East End Avenue and terminating at a difference entrance a block away offered visitors access to all parts of the park.
In one corner, a children’s playground had been fashioned, including sandboxes, swings and see-saws with other playground equipment on order. Commissioner Ed Herren visited the park site almost daily during it construction and commended Parks Superintendent Ed Shugart for “the great care exercised in laying out the ground, planting the shrubbery and deciding on the character of the buildings.” Once the basis construction was completed, the Superintendent planned to move forward with tennis courts, swings and other “up-to-date” attractions to “furnish … the best the city can afford.”
June came and, while area families had been welcomed to use the lush landscape of the park, construction had not been completed and the ‘grand opening’ had been postponed. Commissioner Herron apologized for the delay and, in a press announcement, expressed his concern over the delays in securing materials “from the north” due to the understandable priorities given to the war effort. He admitted that he feared the merry-go-round would not be “put up until next year,” but that the park itself was already a “crowning jewel” of the Chattanooga Parks system alongside Warner Park.
By August 1918, plans were being finalized for the formal opening of Lincoln Park on Labor Day, coordinated by the Patriarchs No. 5, Grand Council of the Odd Fellows with assistance from the city. All the buildings were being prepared with lighting and the park grounds would be illuminated with streamers of electric lights. Flyers touted the concessions of “every kind,” dancing, refreshments, tennis tournament and the unveiling of the huge fountain stocked with goldfish of varying hues.
The “Negro community” and others excitedly waited for Labor Day 1918.
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Linda Moss Mines is the official Chattanooga and Hamilton County historian.