Note to online readers: A special section on Oct. 8 included a large number of “clippings” from Polk County News editions through the years. If you would like to receive a .pdf copy of this section, just email us at polknews@online.com and we’ll be happy to send it.

The first issue of the Polk County News was October, 1883. Unfortunately, there are no full editions of the newspaper available until around 1919, but a search through local history information gives an idea of what the county was like when its community newspaper was born. Polk County was 44 years old at the time.

The county was mostly agricultural and the county seat was the hub of activity. Copper mining had shut down in 1878 after a brief effort to rejuvenate the industry after the Civil War. There was one hotel in Benton that had originally been built in Columbus, then moved when Benton was made the county seat. The Courthouse was a year away from burning down in 1884.

The county’s population in 1880 was 7,269, including 344 blacks, 39 English and Welch, 12 Germans, 3 Frenchmen and one Irishman.

Livestock on the farms included horses, mules, working oxen, milk cows, cattle, sheep, and swine. Products were wool, butter, corn, oats, rye, wheat, sorghum, tobacco, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cotton.

Benton’s first corn show was held in the front office of the Polk County News in 1884.

Telephones were almost unknown except for Benton and Ducktown.

Copperhill did not exist as a municipality.

There were no cars.

The rivers were running freely.

John Clemmer and Thomas Biggs were raising sheep in the area now home to Chilhowee Recreation area. Dr. Felix Oswald had a cabin on what is now Oswald Dome.

The Halfway House offered travelers a place to stay on their way between Ducktown and Cleveland.

Several Cherokee families had escaped the Removal and were living in the mountains, as were a number of pioneer families.

Hickory was known as the early settlers’ best friend. Because of its toughness and resiliency it had many uses, such as ax and hammer handles, single and double trees to work horses with, chair bottoms and also it was extremely long lasting when rived into shingles and placed on a roof.

The mountains were covered with huge chestnut timber. The chestnuts that fell shortly after the first frost were one of the greatest sources of food for wild game and until the chestnuts were extinct about 1930 there was plenty of game. Most families had several hogs which ran loose in the mountains. The settlers had to fence their crop land and let the stock run outside, fattening up until the winter arrived. Cattle also ranged free from May to November.

George P. Wetmore and Gov. A.V. Brown and associates owned 65,000 acres of land covered with timber in Polk and Monroe counties. Some 55,000 acres of that was purchased by Prendergast Lumber Company in 1908.

The old Dutch Settlement in Sylco, started in the 1840s, was barely still in existence. Only two families were left in 1899. Rosine Parmentier sold or gave away the land.

Industry was mostly limited to meeting the needs of the agriculture community. The Rose family operated an iron furnace on Jacks River. Throughout the communities were artisans offering wood carding machine, sawmill, woodworking, carding, tannery, saddles and shoes, blacksmithing, brickmaking, grist mills. The Scarborough gristmill was established in 1879.

Masonic Lodges were an important part of several communities. Ocoee Lodge No. 212 F.& M., est. 1851, is the oldest continuous organization in the county other than churches. Ducktown/Mine City Lodge No. 241, had been established in 1855 and Conasauga Lodge No. 396, est. 1869.

The Old Copper Road was the only form of transportation between the two sides of the county. It had fallen into disrepair and local residents were allowed to set up toll booths in exchange for upkeep over small sections. The Old Federal Road was the main north-south artery. The Old Line railroad was completed in 1890. George Barnes operated a ferry on the Ocoee, and there were ferries in operation on other rivers.

Steamboats named “The Ocoee” and “The Union” operated on the Hiwassee River from 1850-90. Many folks that lived nearby would leave their hoes lying in the field to run to the river to see the boat pass by. The loud sound of the steamboat whistle would ring out across the hills and valleys.

Copper Basin

The copper mines closed in 1878 until 1890. Although the copper mining industry was shut down in 1883, there were several  mines that had been developed before then and would later be reopened.

Old Tennessee

(Cherokee)    1851-1987

Mary Mine    1853-1971

Polk County Mine 1852-1971

Calloway Mine    1853-1983

Boyd Mine    1854-1985

Eureka Mine    1853-1975

London    1853-1926

East Tennessee

(Peanut)    1853-?

According to Robert Barclay Sr., “The era of the shut-down of the mines witnessed the transformation of Hiwassee (Ducktown) into a quiet, dignified little village.” The Copper Basin suffered economic decline until the mines reopened in 1890, although a visitor reported that business at Hiwassee and Isabella was better than he expected.

The law court was shut down, the regular hack line between Cleveland and Ducktown was halted and even mail service was spotty.

In 1883, a Ducktown correspondent said: Ducktown has six churches, no whiskey saloons, and has had only two dances since the war. It is 29 miles to the nearest still-house in the state, and there is not a drunkard to be found in the town, nor within a radius of two miles. He told of a temperance convention at Hiwassee, with stirring speeches and strong resolutions favoring prohibition. Cattle and sheep were raised and driven to markets at Atlanta, Dalton and Cleveland. White beans and sorghum were hauled to these markets and sold for cash to pay taxes. Trips took from one to two weeks.

It is believed that Copperhill had its beginning when Harbert T. McCay purchased the Tennessee side of the farm in 1870 and later built a comfortable home near the Y.M.C.A. building in Copperhill. In 1876 the Union Consolidated Co. leased three acres of land from Harbert T. McCay on the Ocoee River in order to acquire quantities of cordwood, and it was on this site that later grew the city of Copperhill. The Post Office was established March 15, 1890 at McCays, and the name was changed to Copperhill February 16, 1898. In 1898 a newspaper account recorded the town's new growth: "a sawmill, planing mill and grist mill are operating and building lots are selling rapidly."

Schools

F.P. Kennester was Superintendent of Schools, receiving a salary of $50. Capt. Julius Raht provided equipment for most of the schools from Cleveland to Ducktown. There were 27 log schoolhouses in 1884.

Teacher salaries varied from $22.50 per month to $29.35.

There were four black schools. In 1897, 80 black students were enrolled.

The Mine City Institute opened in Ducktown in 1866 and continued into early 1900s.

Benton Academy opened around 1870 and continued until 1912. It combined the Ocoee Male Academy and the Ocoee Female Academy. Tuition was $2, with an additional 75¢ a term for fuel and 5¢ a term for chalk.

Hiwassee Seminary (Boyd’s School) was chartered in 1885 and continued until 1922.

By 1890, there were 45 schools: 19 log buildings, 45 teachers, and 1,592 students.

Two-year high schools didn’t get started until near the turn of the century: Hiwassee High School at Ducktown, 1897; Isabella School, 1897; Conasauga 1899.

The Quarterly Court voted in 1909 to establish four public high schools.

Early Churches

Friendship Baptist Church, 1826

Cookson Creek Baptist, 1836

Ocoee Baptist (Benton, First), 1836

Benton Methodist, @1840

Cumberland Shed (Ocoee Cumberland Presbyterian), 1842

Zion Baptist, 1845

Zion Hill Baptist, 1845

Smyrna Baptist, 1848

Greasy Creek Baptist, 1848

Hiwassee Union Baptist, 1848

United Baptist Church, 1849 (north of Hiwassee)

Benton Cumberland Presbyterian, 1852

St. John Presbyterian, Ducktown, 1850

Bethlehem Baptist

Grassy Creek, Sugar Creek, Mt. Moriah, Lebanon, Damascus, Macedonia

Mine City Baptist, 1869

Antioch Church of Christ, 1873

Croft’s Chapel Methodist, 1874

Ducktown Station Methodist, 1876

Baker’s Methodist Chapel

Camp Ground Methodist

Summer activities included Sunday School picnics at Hiwassee, sometimes with an attendance of 1,000, and a camp meeting at Fightingtown Camp Ground.

Tourism

Even in the early days, the mountains attracted visitors. There were cabins in Hilderbrand Spring on Bean Mountain. Benton Springs Resort had two hotels,  cabins, croquet ground, and healing springs.

Minnewauga Springs in Ladd Springs offered a hotel and springs.

Hunting was popular, with game including bear, deer, and panthers.

Post offices

Benton. The original name was Bentonville which was established in 1840. The name was changed to Benton in 1845.

Conasauga. Originally spelled Canasauga. Established in 1827 in the Cherokee Nation.

Chable. Established in 1886.

Chestuee Mills. Established in 1879.

Copeland. Established in 1882. Changed to Old Fort in 1888.

Ducktown. Est. in 1858. Originally known as Davidson's Store, est. 1857

Fetzerton. Established in 1883.

Heliotrope. Established in 1882.

Ocoee. Established in 1873.

Parksville. Established in 1854.

Reliance. Est. in 1881.

Rymer. Est. in 1880.

Servilla. Est. in 1881.

Sylco. Est. in 1850. Changed to Higdon's Store in 1854. Re-established as Sylco in 1880.

Other tidbits from the time around 1883:

The period in American history from 1878-1889 was called the Gilded Age because of the great many fortunes that were made by such families as Rockefeller (oil) and Carnegie (steel).  This period saw the growth of industry and a wave of immigrants. The railroads were beginning their boom.

The Prohibition Party was established in Tennessee.

Vanderbilt University was ten years old.

The Washington Monument was under construction.

Four time zones were established for the nation.

The Brooklyn Bridge was built.

The Metropolitan Opera House opened its doors with a performance of Faust.

One of the largest and most destructive tsunamis ever recorded traveled at least half way around the world after a volcano in Indonesia.

Sarah Winnemucc was the first Native American woman known to secure a copyright and publish in the English language with her publication of “Life Among the Paiute”

The first light bulb was created in 1879.

Charles Guiteau assassinated President Garfield in 1881.

Billy the Kid escaped from jail in 1881.

The phonograph was invented in 1878.

The electrification of New York began with the launch of Pearl Street Central Station in 1882.

The first Labor Day was celebrated in 1882.

Susan B. Anthony began the woman’s suffrage movement in 1884

Sophie Tucker was born in 1884.

Good Housekeeping magazine began publishing in 1885.

The Statue of Liberty was built in 1885.

Tennessee’s “War of the Roses” gubernatorial campaign between Robert Taylor and Alfred Taylor was in 1886. Robert, whose symbol was the white rose, won. Both were master fiddlers, which enlivened the campaign. Benton was among the campaign stops, with more than 4,000 in attendance.

The first baseball cards were in 1887.

Athlete Jim Thorpe was born in 1888.

The first Coca-Cola was bottled in 1886.

Buffalo Bill Cody put on his first Wild West show in 1883.

The first night baseball game was played under lights at Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1883

Oscar Mayer wieners had their beginnings in 1883 in a Chicago retail shop opened to sell fresh and cured meats.