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39-491: The library was established in 1885 with a $ 50,000 donation from Knoxville businessman Charles McClung McGhee , and named for McGhee's daughter, May Lawson McGhee, who had died suddenly in 1883. The library was initially located on the second floor of the Rebori Building. This was due to the first floor being purposefully occupied by several businesses, so the library could have income from the business' commercial use of

78-575: A captain in the county's militia during the American Revolutionary War . In 1783, he led an expedition into the upper Tennessee Valley , where he discovered the future site of Knoxville. White served in various official capacities with the failed State of Franklin (1784–1788) before building James White's Fort in 1786. The fort was chosen as the capital of the Southwest Territory in 1790, and White donated

117-529: A Masonic temple. McGhee's son-in-law, Lawrence Tyson , was a World War I general and United States senator. McGhee Tyson Airport is named for McGhee's grandson (Tyson's son), World War I pilot Charles McGhee Tyson (1889–1918). James White (general) James White (1747 – August 14, 1821) was an American pioneer and soldier who founded Knoxville, Tennessee , in the early 1790s. Born in Rowan County, North Carolina , White served as

156-619: A great deal of time with his mother's relatives. In 1846, he graduated from East Tennessee University . Upon his father's death, he and his brother, Barclay, inherited the family's plantation. Around 1860, McGhee relocated permanently to Knoxville. At the outbreak of the Civil War, McGhee pledged his support for the Confederacy and agreed to supply the Confederate States Army with bacon and other pork products. He

195-693: A hill overlooking the confluence of First Creek and the Tennessee River. William Blount , governor the Southwest Territory (created in 1790), chose the fort as the Territory's capital, and appointed White justice of the peace and a major in the Hawkins County militia. The following year, White set aside a portion of his land for the creation a territorial capital, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox . The new city

234-566: A manufacturing mecca. During the 1880s, McGhee and Sanford gained control of the Coal Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company, which operated coal mines in eastern Anderson County . During the Coal Creek War of 1891–1892, McGhee and Sanford took a hardline stance against the miners, who were striking over the company's use of convict leasing . In letters to one another, McGhee and Sanford consistently complained about

273-575: A mob of angry settlers that had amassed at Gamble's Station for a march against the Overhill towns . The Cherokee considered White a man of honor, and the Creeks praised his "goodness." In 1798, White helped negotiate the First Treaty of Tellico . In 1796, White represented Knox County at Tennessee's constitutional convention (which took place near his fort). After the admission of the state to

312-500: A result of North Carolina's Land Grab Act, which opened up lands in what is now East Tennessee to settlement, White and several others explored the Tennessee Valley as far west as what is now Lenoir City in 1783. White eventually obtained a grant for a 1,000-acre (400 ha) tract of land at what is now Knoxville, and in 1784 he was elected to the senate of the new State of Franklin, a position which kept him preoccupied for

351-566: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a library -related building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Charles McClung McGhee Charles McClung McGhee (January 23, 1828 – May 5, 1907) was an American industrialist and financier, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee . As director of the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railway (ETV&G), McGhee

390-682: Is among the tallest monuments in the cemetery. McGhee was a well-known philanthropist in Knoxville in his later years. In 1875, he helped secure funding for Knoxville's St. John's Orphanage, which stood on Linden Street. In 1885, McGhee donated $ 50,000 for the establishment of the Lawson McGhee Library. Now part of the Knox County Public Library system, the building was named for McGhee's daughter, May Lawson McGhee, who had died suddenly in 1883. McGhee organized

429-618: The Memphis and Charleston Railroad and the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad. McGhee financed the extension of the latter to L&N lines in Ohio in 1883. Using his access to northern capital markets, McGhee financed numerous business ventures in the 1870s and 1880s, often in partnership with his long-time associate, Edward J. Sanford . McGhee financed the creation of the Knoxville Street Rail Company in 1875, and in

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468-838: The First Presbyterian Church Cemetery. White's descendants played prominent political and economic roles in Knoxville's development for more than a century after his death. His eldest son, Hugh Lawson White , was a United States Senator, and ran for president on the Whig ticket in 1836. Along with Charles McClung, White's sons-in-law included Judge John Overton (married to Mary White), a cofounder of Memphis, Tennessee , and Senator John Williams (married to Melinda White). His other descendants include Congressman Joseph Lanier Williams , railroad magnate Charles McClung McGhee , Admiral Richmond P. Hobson , and playwright Tennessee Williams . In 1970, White's Fort

507-838: The James White Greenway. In the early 1990s, Pamela Dishongh, who was conducting a survey of the Riverdale Historic District in eastern Knox County for its inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places , discovered what was believed to have been White's first cabin (1785) in Knox County on the front lawn of the McNutt-Campbell-Kennedy House. A subsequent archaeological survey of the site led by University of Tennessee archaeologist Charles Faulkner confirmed

546-511: The Knox County militia, White managed to defuse a number of potentially hostile situations between the settlers and the local Native Americans . He donated the land for many of Knoxville's early public buildings, and helped establish Blount College (now the University of Tennessee ). White's descendants continued to play prominent roles in the political and economic affairs of Knoxville into the twentieth century. Brigadier General James White

585-644: The Murphy Branch Library, opened in 1930. The library celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2011 with tours of the original location on the at the Rebori Building at 125 South Gay Street. Steve Cotham, the manager of the McClung Historical Collection of the Knox County Public Library, was there to provide information to guests. The current Lawson McGhee Library building was designed by architect Bruce McCarty . This Tennessee building- or structure-related article

624-653: The People's Bank in 1865 and was appointed the bank's president the following year. Around this time, McGhee and several associates organized a syndicate which purchased Knoxville's two main rail lines, the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad and the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, and in 1869 merged the two into the ETV&;G. As director of this railroad, McGhee became acquainted with numerous New York financiers, through which he gained funding for an acquisition of

663-680: The Tennessee militia into northern Alabama in October of that year to engage a contingent of hostile "Red Stick" Creeks . The militiamen scored victories at the Battle of Tallushatchee (November 3) and at the Battle of Talladega (November 9). In the aftermath of the latter, one of the hostile groups, the Hillabee , made peace arrangements with Jackson. However, the Tennessee militia's East Tennessee contingent, led by John Cocke , had arrived around

702-488: The Union Army in 1864, and quickly mended ties with the city's Unionists. McGhee also assisted a couple that had been formerly enslaved by him, Handy and Evaline, and they took his last name as "he aided them materially in securing employment and starting them in life." Evaline McGhee died in Knoxville in 1905 at age 112. By the end of the war, McGhee had become one of Knoxville's leading businessmen. He helped establish

741-513: The Union, White was elected brigadier general of the new state's Hamilton District (which included what is now Knox, Jefferson , Blount , and Sevier counties), and was elected to the state senate. Upon William Blount's return from the U.S. Senate in 1797, White resigned to allow Blount to run for the seat. Following the Fort Mims massacre of August 1813, Andrew Jackson and John Coffee led

780-590: The building of the library's new location was finished in 1917. Despite its status as a free public library, the municipal Lawson McGhee Library only served white patrons, leading to the formation of an additional segregated library branch. With $ 10,000 donated by Andrew Carnegie in 1916, the Free Colored Library opened in Knoxville on 1918 and was governed by the Lawson McGhee's board. It would eventually close in 1961. Another segregated branch,

819-592: The city, which had developed into a rowdy frontier capital. He was again elected to the state senate in 1801 and 1803. White served as an elder in the Lebanon-in-the-Forks Presbyterian Church, and later served as an elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, which stood on land White had set aside for a church in the 1790s. White died in 1821 at his country estate, and was buried next to his wife in

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858-653: The early 1880s he secured $ 125,000 for the Roane Iron Company, which used the money to finance a massive steel-production operation. In 1884, McGhee and Sanford co-founded the Knoxville Woolen Mills, which by 1900 included a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) plant and employed 600 workers. In 1889, McGhee and Sanford formed the Lenoir City Company and established Lenoir City, Tennessee , as a company town , which they hoped would grow into

897-402: The floor. It had a collection of 4,000-6,000 books. In 1904, the library burned from a fire and was forced to move. Because the income from the building's businesses was still available after its recovery from the fire, the library was able to maintain and improve at a new site, now under the city as Lawson McGhee Library, without financial issue. The city's public library system opened in 1916 and

936-582: The land for a permanent city, Knoxville, in 1791. He represented Knox County at Tennessee 's constitutional convention in 1796. During the Creek War (1813), White served as a brigadier general in the Tennessee militia. White had a reputation for patience and tactfulness that was often lacking in his fellow Euro-American settlers on the Appalachian frontier. As lieutenant colonel commandant of

975-548: The last third of the nineteenth century." A descendant of Knoxville's founders, McGhee established a pork packing operation during the Civil War . After the war, he formed a syndicate that bought and merged two railroads into the ETV&G, gained control of several other railroads, and financed a railroad construction boom that connected Knoxville to most of the eastern United States. McGhee established one of Knoxville's first suburbs, McGhee's Addition (now Mechanicsville ), in

1014-465: The late 1860s and cofounded Knoxville Woolen Mills in 1884, at the time the city's largest employer. He also helped finance the Roane Iron Company (which established Rockwood ) and cofounded the Lenoir City Company (which established Lenoir City ). McGhee was born near modern Vonore in Monroe County, Tennessee , the youngest son of John McGhee and Elizabeth "Betsy" McClung McGhee. His father

1053-437: The library building so that its first floor could be rented out as commercial space and provide the library with a steady income. McGhee's Knoxville mansion, built in 1872 at the corner of Locust Street and Union Avenue, was one of the first structures in the city designed by Joseph Baumann , whose architectural firm later designed many of the city's most prominent buildings. The mansion has been drastically modified to serve as

1092-456: The main Hillabee town. The Hillabee, believing they had made peace, were unprepared for an attack, and were unable to resist Morgan's assault. The town was destroyed, 64 Hillabees were killed, and several hundred were captured. The destruction of the Hillabee towns, sometimes called the "Hillabee Massacre," greatly agitated Jackson, who believed the withdrawal of the Hillabee would demoralize

1131-662: The neighborhood was annexed by Knoxville in 1883. In 1894, McGhee helped oversee the struggling ETV&G's transition into the Southern Railway , but he retired shortly afterward. He spent his later years travelling back and forth between his houses in Florida, Knoxville, and New York. On May 5, 1907, McGhee died of pneumonia and was interred in Old Gray Cemetery . The obelisk marking the McGhee family plot

1170-550: The next two years. White relocated to what is now Knox County in 1785, initially building a simple cabin at what is now the Riverdale community east of modern Knoxville. Within a year, however, he had moved to his 1,000-acre (4.0 km ) tract along the confluence of First Creek and the Tennessee River , and built what became known as White's Fort. In 1786, White and fellow explorer James Connor erected White's Fort on

1209-539: The remaining Red Sticks. To further complicate matters, the East Tennesseans' terms of service were about to expire. In December, Jackson ordered Cocke and the East Tennessee militiamen to return home. The enraged Hillabee quickly rejoined the Red Stick Confederacy, and fought until the end of the war. In 1800, White moved to his country estate east of Knoxville, perhaps having grown weary of

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1248-499: The same time from Fort Armstrong , and was unaware of the peace negotiations. On November 11, Cocke ordered James White, leader of the Hamilton District militia, to destroy the Hillabee towns. Over the next several days, White attacked the villages of Little Oakfusky and Genalga, burning 123 houses and capturing several Hillabees. On November 18, White dispatched a force of allied Cherokee under Gideon Morgan to surround

1287-499: The state's ineffectiveness in handling the uprising. In the late 1860s, McGhee established a suburb in northwestern Knoxville known as "McGhee's Addition" for the city's growing working and middle classes. Many of this suburb's early residents worked at the nearby Knoxville Woolen Mills or the Knoxville Iron Company (formed by McGhee's future Roane Iron associate, Hiram Chamberlain). Now known as Mechanicsville ,

1326-497: Was a wealthy planter of Scots-Irish descent who owned roughly 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) of land in the Little Tennessee River valley. His mother was the daughter of surveyor Charles McClung , who platted Knoxville in the early 1790s, and a granddaughter of Knoxville's founder, James White . McGhee spent much of his childhood moving back and forth between his father's plantation and Knoxville, where he spent

1365-777: Was born in Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina . He was born to Moses White and Mary McConnell White, who were of Scots-Irish descent. In 1770, White married Mary Lawson. White served as a captain in either the Rowan County Regiment or the Mecklenburg County Regiment of the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution, which would subsequently entitle him to a tract of land as payment for his service. As

1404-536: Was given the rank of colonel on the army's commissary staff, and for the rest of his life, he was often referred to as "Colonel McGhee." Confederate diarist Ellen Renshaw House wrote that during the Union Army 's occupation of Knoxville in 1863, McGhee gave her scarce fabric with which she and her friends sewed blankets for Confederate prisoners of war. Nevertheless, McGhee took the Oath of Allegiance, agreed to support

1443-577: Was platted by White's son-in-law, Charles McClung , and lots were sold in October 1791. Upon creation of Knox County in 1792, White became lieutenant colonel commandant of the new county's militia. This appointment came during the latter years of the Cherokee–American wars , a period of heightened hostilities between the Chickamauga Cherokee and the white settlers. In 1793, White defused a potentially violent situation when he dispersed

1482-581: Was reconstructed as a museum in downtown Knoxville. White's cabin, which provides the fort's southwest corner, is the only surviving authentic part of the fort, although it had been dismantled and moved several times over the years before being reassembled at its present location. White's other namesakes in Knoxville include the General James White Memorial Civic Coliseum , the James White Parkway, and

1521-598: Was responsible for much of the railroad construction that took place in East Tennessee in the 1870s and 1880s. His position with the railroad also gave him access to the northern capital markets, which he used to help finance dozens of companies in and around Knoxville. In 1885, he established the Lawson McGhee Library , which was the basis of Knox County's public library system. Historian Lucile Deaderick wrote that "perhaps more than anyone else," McGhee "brought about and symbolized Knoxville which developed in

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