(Editor’s note: First of two parts)
The Chattanooga News headline on Monday, March 24, 1904, grabbed readers’ attention: “Red Hot Wrangle Ensues at Meeting.” A community gathering, hosted by the Hill City Business League, would allow the residents of the Third District of Hamilton County to choose the location of a proposed grammar school. Described as the “most exciting meeting ever held in Hill City,” the crowd was so large that the meeting had to be moved from the Odd Fellows Hall to the Southern Methodist Church. “The church was filled to overflowing,” with people standing in the aisles and around the perimeter.
Hill City Business League President Y.L. Abernathy opened the meeting at 8 a.m. Saturday. “From that moment until the vote was taken on the proposed school site, spirited debate with wild disorder prevailed.” Attendees feared that serious “trouble” would lead to a fight, but “no one was hurt.”
A member of the Business League made a motion that the meeting move forward toward a vote on school site. “The leaders of the opposing factions began to resort to all kinds of tactics to win their point.” The residents from the south side of Hill City strongly supported the Sylvan Park location (at 700 Franklin Street), while north side residents loudly argued for the Mississippi Avenue site.
President Abernathy asked W.T. Cooper, the secretary of the special committee examining various sites for the new school building, to share the committee’s findings. Cooper began by explaining that the current buildings were inadequate for providing state-of-the-art facilities for “our free school children.” He reminded those present that at the previous community meeting, the committee had been charged with obtaining definite information related to a series of proposed sites. Each had been thoroughly studied about their suitability for building, dimensions and costs related to land preparation and construction.