A First-Person History of 219 West Glenwood

Transcribed from a handwritten document provided and annotated by Andy Anderson.

The Historical Value of 219 West Glenwood Ave, Knoxville, Tennessee Written by Mildred Keister Dennis, age 80 years of age Lived 70 years at 219 West Glenwood Ave

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

When I was ten years old, my father and my mother, Mr. & Mrs. O. B. Keister, bought this home at 219 West Glenwood Ave for a save “Haven” for their family of three sons and one daughter.

This home was built five years previous to this time by a wealthy land owner, Mr. Griffin, who had a lovely wife and five pretty daughters, the reason for six bedrooms on the second floor.

Mr. Griffin saw that the best available materials went in to the building of his city home of 219 West Glenwood.

These things included the finest of oak wood, solid brass hardware on all doors, eleven panels of Bevilled glass, seven fireplaces, a basement with a furnace to heat the house. The first floor includes a large spacious [illegible] with a living room, a reception room with sliding oak doors, a large dining room, a butlers pantry, a kitchen, and a storage pantry and a back porch. A hall runs thru to the front door and an extra bedroom is at the end of this hall. Another hall leads by the small lavatory onto the side porch. Also a large front porch extends across the front of the house with white Grecian ornate columns on the porch.

On the second floor, with oak stairway leading upstairs, runs into a wide hall and six bedrooms open into the hall. Two tile bathrooms are on this floor.

The next floor leads to the attic, a place of storage that covers the whole house.

Often this home was called the “Show Place of North Knoxville” and its location was ideal as three churches are near by, three schools are also near, then the Broadway Shopping Center with its many stores is in walking distance, and also St. Mary’s hospital is close by in case of an Emergency. I have lived in this home for 70 years.

The street that borders our home on the right side was formerly called Dewey Street, named for Admiral Dewey of the United States Navy.

As the years passed by, a controversy arose between the Knoxville citizens in regard to the name of Dewey, so it was decided to change the name to Fremont as a memorial to Admiral Fremont of the United States Navy, and it still remains Fremont today.

It seems that our Knoxville citizens admired our Navy and named a community near Knoxville Farragut in memory of Admiral Farragut and it is still called by this name today.

No doubt our President Ronald Reagan, enjoyed reading American history and chose the sight of Farragut to hold an important meeting there, in recent years. [Note: Reagan visited Farragut High School in June 1983.]

Now back to the history of 219 West Glenwood. Many years ago, when my father and my mother bought our home, it was located in a Glen and was surrounded on all sides by a forest of trees (wood) hence its name came “Glenwood.” Very few houses were near this property, since it was termed “out in the country” as Knoxville was a very small town at this time of history.

The smooth red brick used to build this home was shipped in from Kentucky and were their best brick that was made in this state.

Since many contractors have considered that this home was one of the best constructed houses in Knoxville, it has three floors on the first floor namely, subflooring, maple planks, and hardwood flooring, which add extra strength to the foundation of this home.

Five generations of the Keister family have lived and enjoyed the comforts of this ancestral Home. My father’s mother, Sarah Angeline [illegible, maybe Stanfiel] Keister, lived to be 92 years of age and was a very devout Christian, who was a charter member of Trinity Methodist Church that still stands on Lovenia Street in North Knoxville. Every time the church doors opened, she was right there in her regular place, inside of this historic church, so this creed of devotion to God has been handed down to all of us at 219 West Glenwood.

Since the location of this property was ideal and since a small house was moved off of this land to make room for the present 219, and we were told that the front yard extended down to the next street of Armstrong Ave. and in recent years, a big deep hole was observed that used to be a well to supply water to its owners.

Many people during these past years have tried to buy 219, but my answer was always “No.” One many wanted to buy all of my Bevilled glass to put into his new home and another man from Murfreesboro Tennessee said he had always admired 219 and for me to name my price and he would buy it, and I smiled and said “I wouldn’t sell this home for 120 million dollars. It means that much to me.

Our lovely neighbors have been many prominent Knoxville citizens who have made Old North Knoxville their homes, namely President & Mrs. Hoskins of the University of Tennessee, President and Mrs. Walter Bonham of C. M. McClung Hardware co., Dr. W. N. Lynn,who instigated the building of St. Mary’s Hospital and his lovely wife, Edith Ross Lynn who taught the Girl Scouts of Knoxville how to be a scout that was admired for receiving expert training,1 Dr. & Mrs. Dewey Peters who was on the staff of St. Mary’s  Hospital and gave his untiring services to all those who needed his help, Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Mann, a Rotarian of great ability and added prestige to our city as her laid many citizens to rest in their Heavenly homes, Mr. O. B. Keister and Mrs. Keister, and he was General Manager of the Southern Railway and their two sons, O. B. Jr. and Earl, were both presidents of railroads, since they inherited the training of “railroading” from their father, Mr. Ed. Barkley and Mrs. Barkley, who was a gifted musician. Mr. Barkley became President of C. M. McClung Hardware Company after the passing of Mr. Bonham, Dr. & Mrs. J. N. Ellis and their four lovely daughters also lived on West Glenwood. 2

Then, the Henry Blanc family, who did much work toward the building of the Baptist Hospital and also of Carson-Newman College. Later on the Oscar Robinson family came to live on North Glenwood Ave, and he owned and operated twelve coal mines and twelve flour mills in Tennessee and in Kentucky.

Then, Bill and Gladys Camp, descendants of the famous Major Camp family who built a stone mansion on North Broadway and it was located in our community3 and just down Broadway lived the Ben Morton Family and Mr. Morton (mayor of the city) achieved recognition for his excellent endeavors in making the Great Smoky Mountains a reality for many thousands of Tennessee citizens and others to enjoy its beauty all year around.

Then the Carl Watson family of Deaver Dry Goods Company as an Executor of the great farms lived on West Glenwood and added zest to our neighborhood.

Memories, memories, they are all so precious to me and they will live on with me for ever and for ever.

With a heritage like this, no wonder our dear Lord has blessed Old North Knoxville with His love and his mercy toward all of there citizens.

There always has to be a P.S. and in it we find Miss Gladys Million who taught and trained several prominent Judges and attorneys in our city as they earned their degrees, to be heard in our Court House.

All of these named citizens lived good Christian lives, as they lived day by day the Golden Rule of doing for others as they would have others do unto them,

Thus, the true image of 219 West Glenwood lingers on from day to day, with rain amid sunshine, snow amid sleet, storms that blow from East to West as we the citizens of Old North Knoxville awate the coming of the Rapture to take us on to our new home, neath the bright blue skies, on up to Heaven where we will be greeted by our dear Lord as He greets us with

“Well done, my good & faithful servants.”

“Welcome Home.” Mildred Keister Dennis died in 1993 at the age of 89. Read about her life and work as one of Knoxville’s pioneering filmmakers on the Bridges Funeral Home Facebook site.

Notes

1. The Lynns lived next door.

2. Dr. & Mrs. Ellis built the house where Andy and Jo Ann Anderson currently live.

3. Bill and Gladys Camp lived at [517 East Oklahoma Avenue?]. He was one of the first treasurers of ONK.

4. Gladys Million was on the ONK board and taught mathematics at Knoxville High School.

5. One of them was Judge Howard Bozeman, who lived on Baxter Avenue.