Earl Freudenberg: Manning Street Memories

While sitting on his front porch in the summer of 1965 on E. Manning Street, my grandfather, E.C.Freudenberg, said something like, “North Chattanooga will one day see a revival, not in my lifetime but maybe in yours.” Grandpa’s prophetic words are now coming to pass.

The Freudenberg family is believed to have come to the United States in the late 1800s from a little European city, Freudenberg, Germany. They settled in Ohio but part of the family moved to Signal Mountain – Walden’s Ridge.

This writer’s great-grandfather re-located from the mountain to North Chattanooga near the river and opened Freudenberg Grocery in the 300 block of N. Market Street. My grandfather, Emmons Freudenberg, operated the store until the mid-1940s when he closed the business because of competition from nearby Kroger and A&P supermarkets.

Newspaper clippings found in the family Bible revealed the store served a large portion of what was known as “Hill City.”

My father, Charles Freudenberg, told stories about being raised at the foot of the Market Street Bridge. He hung out with Luther Masingill and Ernie Feagans. Ernie’s family operated a nearby service station and Luther’s father sold merchandise to both the filling station and Freudenberg grocery.

My father told the story about Ernie and Luther going with him to the Atlanta farmers market to pick up a load of fresh produce. They left about midnight and both Ernie and Luther went to sleep around Ringgold, Ga. Dad said he picked up the produce and, when they nearly got back home, his friends woke up saying, “Are we there yet?”

My father said Ernie and Luther missed Atlanta but his mother had a large breakfast waiting for the boys before they headed off to school.

My father said during the Depression no one went hungry as far as the family grocery was concerned. He said his dad provided groceries to families whether they could pay for them or not.

There were two houses located on the right side of E. Manning St. going up the hill. This writer’s grandparents lived in one and the other was where workers would stay. Before the day started, Grandmother Freudenberg fixed the men a hearty breakfast.

Grandpa Freudenberg didn’t know what skin color was. He hired a lot of black men whose families lived at nearby Pine Breeze. Grandpa paid his workers, but also provided their families with food. Grandmother had a small garden and a few chickens behind their house, a resource for preparing those meals.

North Chattanooga was a little city of its own as families rarely ventured across the bridge. Frazier Avenue had two five and ten cent stores, three pharmacies, and a post office. There were nearby restaurants and dry cleaners.

When my father joined the Army, some of his buddies would get a weekend pass from Fort Polk, La. and they’d ride the train home. Jody Kissinger operated the Northside Cleaners (corner of N. Market and Manning Streets.) and would pick up the G.I.s at the train station, take the men back to his business and clean their uniforms, while they waited.

A few days before my father’s passing (June 23, 2004) Luther Masingill spent several hours with dad at Parkridge Medical Center and there were plenty of stories. Luther reminded dad of throwing water balloons off the grocery store roof at Chattanooga Officer Barney Roth. Mr. Roth put the boys in his squad car threatening to take them to jail, instead, taking them to their dad’s.

My father talked about carpooling to Baylor School with Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Charles Coolidge. The Coolidges operated a printing business. Dad said Mr. Coolidge was a very patriotic student in high school and he wasn’t surprised about his heroic actions during World War II.

Growing up, Grandmother Freudenberg would take her grandsons to the foot of the bridge. We’d stop at Sam Jones Pharmacy and enjoy a sandwich, fresh fried potato chips, and Coke. Grandmother would take us across Frazier Avenue to the Redford’s Dime Store and buy us a small toy steel car or truck for our collections. We’d stop by Agnew Hardware and see John Blair, purchasing some small tool for grandpa, then complete our afternoon with a visit to the nearby Kay’s Ice Cream Shop.

The Freudenbergs were frequent diners when the Town and Country Restaurant opened in the late 1940’s. Grandpa Freudenberg enjoyed conversations with the Abercrombies about the struggles of operating a family business. Grandpa said the Town and Country Restaurant was one of Chattanooga’s best family business success stories.

Grandmother was good friends with Bess Hackney who operated a ladies dress shop at the corner of N. Market St. and Frazier Avenue. Grandmother joked with Mrs. Hackney about her high prices.

It was fun spending the night with our grandparents. We knew what time it was when the American Lava whistle would sound at shift change time, 7:00, 3:00 and 11:00 o’clock. You could hear the whistle all through those hills.

The Freudenbergs became good friends with Rev. Marshall Roberson, pastor of the nearby North Chattanooga Church of God. On his morning walk, the minister would stop, sit on the front porch, and eat one of Grandmother's left over biscuits and slice of ham. They’d sit and talk about the Lord.

Grandpa Freudenberg knew most of his customers by their first names and would make home deliveries himself when they were sick. Grandmother Freudenberg made sure some of the widows had Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.

Grandpa talked about Charles “Chess” McCartney visiting North Chattanooga. Known as the Goat Man, McCartney traveled with over a dozen goats across the South. Grandpa said when McCartney and his team would spend the night near the store, he took him some sandwiches and they talked about the Bible. Grandpa said the Goatman could have used a bath.

In the early days of this writer’s talk shows, listeners would often reflect on visiting Freudenberg’s Grocery. Jim Sadler, who lived near the store, said, “Your Grandparents never met a stranger; as a child, the store was a fun place to go, he would give us candy.”

Grandpa Freudenberg was right that hot summer afternoon about a revived North Chattanooga, now known as the Northshore. Many of the historic buildings have new faces and there are plenty of new businesses. One of the first Chattanooga Publix Superstores opened in 2014 on what was for years the Freudenberg home place and grocery store.

On grand opening day, this writer told the manager, “Your toilet paper shelf is located about where the bathroom once was in my grandparents’ house.” The manager got a kick out of that story.

My grandparents didn’t live to see the opening of Coolidge Park in 1999 but certainly that’s part of the revival my Grandfather dreamed about.

Manning Street memories are many, especially those sitting on the front porch listening to the stories of Grandpa and Grandmother Freudenberg and their speaking to those walking up and down the hill during their daily stroll to the foot of the bridges.