Eighty miles northeast of Chattanooga in Roane County lies Harriman, born out of the temperance movement and subsequently known as the “Prohibition City of the Nation.”
The title to each deed in Harriman had a clause “prohibiting the making, using, handling, storing or selling of intoxicating liquors.” Violation could lead to a revocation of title. The town’s official seal bore the motto “Prohibition, Peace and Prosperity.”
Harriman, named for Walter Harriman, a Union officer and later governor of New Hampshire, was founded in 1889 as a planned community by East Tennessee Land Co. The goal was to attract industrial and economic development through mining and manufacturing operations while avoiding the vice-driven pitfalls of other late 19th-century company towns.
The land company built a three-story building for its headquarters. Its striking brick and stone facade and four Norman towers cost $26,000. The structure was said to be the “finest private office building in the state.” When the company failed during the Panic of 1893, the abandoned building became part of newly formed American Temperance University.
Attracting non-drinking students throughout the country easily transported by several railroad systems, the school welcomed its first class – 250 students from 15 states – on Sept. 12, 1893. In 1907, the school reached its peak enrollment of 376 students from 20 states.