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Crowded Chattanooga Avenue School 'fun' for Southside children
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Thursday, May 8, 2008

Crowded Chattanooga Avenue School 'fun' for Southside children

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Napoleon “Donut” Williams said his days as a school patrol officer at Chattanooga Avenue School were likely the impetus for his 45-year career in law enforcement.

“We had some good times,” said Mr. Williams, who is chief of security for Chattanooga State Technical Community College after several decades as a Chattanooga police officer and detective. “It was a fun time.”

The two-story, brick school, located on a block bordered by Cowart, Long, 28th and 29th streets, opened in 1913 and closed in 1966.

As a school in the then-segregated Chattanooga City Schools system, it served only black students — up to 1,000 at some points in its existence, according to a history in a Southside Family Reunion booklet.

John James, who attended the school from 1944 to 1950, said Chattanooga Avenue was one of only four black elementary schools in the system at the time and served the population of South Chattanooga. There were three all-white elementary schools within a small radius of Chattanooga Avenue, he said.

For blacks, it was referred to as a “community school,” he said.

The area today, the former students said, looks nothing like it did in the days when the school existed. The elevation of 28th Street, on which the school fronted, was raised during railroad relocation in the late 1960s. Houses along the streets have been replaced by businesses.

Staff Photo by Brett Clark -- Officer Napoleon Williams, right, and John James, left, went to Chattanooga Avenue Elementary School before schools were desegregated. They stand where the school once stood as Officer Williams holds a book with a photo of the old school.

In spite of more than 50 years since they attended the school, both Mr. Williams and Mr. James remembered each of their classroom teachers and several instructors.

Mr. James, 69, said second-grade teacher Eva P. Stamper inspired him to learn the books of the Bible, which earned him a trip to the then-new Cedine Bible Camp in Spring City, Tenn., in the late 1940s.

His fifth-grade teacher, E.J. Henderson, also was director of the Knothole Gang, a group of school children whose good grades and perfect attendance at area schools earned them the right to attend Chattanooga Lookouts games at no cost.

Knothole Gang members also got to work the stands, hawking hot dogs, peanuts and soft drinks, Mr. James said.

“It was a great honor to be a Knothole Gang member,” he said.

Mr. Williams, 67, who attended the school from 1946 to 1950, said the itinerant teachers who came to the school included John Franklin, who guided recreation activities such as horseshoes and softball, and Janie Bell Holder, who taught music.

A playground and ball field behind the school, where a railroad line now runs, provided hours of entertainment, the students said.

Mr. Franklin later was a school principal, city commissioner and vice mayor. Ms. Holder went on to become principal at Spears Avenue School and Frank Trotter Elementary.

REMEMBER THESE

In future Generations stories, the Times Free Press will recall Cedar Hill, Fort Cheatham, Central, Jefferson Street/William J. Davenport, West Main Street, Park Place and Park City elementary schools, all of which closed in the 1950s or 1960s. Former students who are willing to share their memories of these schools should call Clint Cooper at 757-6497 or e-mail ccooper@timesfreepress.com.

The teachers were strict but no less loved, said Mr. Williams, whose four siblings also attended the school.

“They’d make you stay after school if you didn’t do all your homework,” he said. “That’s when school was school.”

Recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance was a daily activity, fish on Friday a staple and May Day an annual school celebration, the former students said.

“Everybody in the neighborhood would be there,” Mr. James, whose two sisters also went to the school, said of May Day. “There would be strings around the flag pole, hot dogs and lemonade.”

Only three principals, J.W. Howse, Clarence A. King and Oliver Bryant, all known as “Professor,” served the school between its erection in 1913 and its closing in 1966, according to the Southside Reunion booklet.

State Rep. JoAnn Favors also attended the school, which was affectionately known as “Avenue School,” in its later years.

Chattanooga Avenue School