| Sources |
- [S101] 1880 Census, Cusicks Cross Roads, Sevier, Tennessee, 443D.
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Joseph BOWERS Self M Male W 26 TN Farmer TN TN
Elizabeth BOWERS Wife M Female W 26 TN Keeping House TN TN
Eliza BOWERS Dau S Female W 1 TN TN TN
Ida BOWERS Dau S Female W 6M TN TN TN
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 14 Nov 2010.
Upland Chronicles: Central Hotel fixture in Sevierville many years
by CARROLL McMAHAN
The first Central Hotel building was a two-story clapboard structure.
The New Central Hotel was built in 1924 and dismantled in 1968.
Joseph E. Bowers operated the Central Hotel from 1902 until his death in 1912.
In 1923, a fire engulfed the old Central Hotel, located on the southwest corner of the Public Square in Sevierville. After surveying the damage, owners decided to raze the wooden structure and erect a modern brick building in the same location.
Sanders L. Atchley, who was cashier of Sevier County Bank, sketched plans on the back of a postcard which Burden Brothers Construction Co. used as a blueprint to erect the new structure.
The date the original hotel opened for business is unknown, but was sometime prior to 1900. W.A. Trammel operated the hotel in the late 1800s until 1902.
P.E. Walker and M.B. McMahan Sr. sold Central Hotel to Joseph E. Bowers and his wife, Elizabeth Sing Bowers, in 1902 for $1,800. Mr. Bowers operated the hotel until his death in 1912 and his widow continued the operation along with her daughters, Ida and Serene Bowers.
Central Hotel was a white-clapboard structure with a large double stacked porch on the front. A “sample room” was provided at the front of the hotel for traveling salesmen, commonly called drummers, to display their wares.
The hotel was a seasonal home to many milliners who came to the different stores in town to create custom-made hats for ladies.
There was no running water, and rooms were heated by a coal burning grate. On the night of the fire, a spectator who was a salesmen and frequent guest commented that “surely room #33 is warm for the first time.”
Mrs. Bowers sold Central Hotel in 1919 to a new corporation which included: A.H. Lowe, Dr. R.J. Ingle, C.L. Thurman, W.C. Henderson, Garland Price, E.E. Conner and K. Rawlings and Company.
James and Margaret Bowers Davis leased the hotel from the stockholders. After James Davis died in 1920, Mrs. Davis continued operating the hotel until she constructed her own hotel two blocks south on Cross Street (now called Court Ave.). Her hotel was named Davis Hotel and is now Rawlings Funeral Home.
The new brick building, called New Central Hotel, had 40 rooms with more than half having private baths. The first managers were Ralph Murphy and his bride, Willie Kate Brown Murphy.
A gala dinner was held to celebrate the grand opening was held on September 24, 1924. 400 people attended. About one fourth of the dinner guests were from surrounding counties. The Farragut Hotel and St. James Hotel in Knoxville sent trained waiters to assist with the event.
On the evening of the grand opening a couple of the requested waiters were unable to report for work. Ralph Murphy remembered George and Stewart Burden, the brothers whose company constructed the new building, once worked as waiters for the Statler Hotel in Detroit, Michigan.
When the Burden brothers arrived, dressed for the dinner, Mr. Murphy asked them if they would mind helping serve the meal. They removed their suit coats, put on the waiter’s uniforms and began serving dinner in elegant style.
After the guest had finished their meal, Ralph Murphy started the program. He introduced the contractors before they had time to remove their waiter uniforms. George and Stewart Burden came out of the kitchen and bowed to the astonished crowd.
An article appeared in the Montgomery Vindicator in 1930 stating: “Through keen business judgment Ralph Murphy has made the New Central Hotel known throughout East Tennessee and he made it a credit to this entire community.”
The Murphys ran the hotel for 13 years until Mr. Murphy became postmaster of Sevierville. Between 1937 and 1951, the establishment was operated by Mell Lawson, Mrs. M.B. Allen and Gerald “Doc’ Hayes.
In 1951, the hotel was sold at public auction to Dwight Wade Sr. and Eugene Robertson. The name was changed to Hotel Sevier, and Mr. Robertson’s wife, Mildred Umbarger Robertson, ran the business for the next 16 years.
The hotel served as the setting for many notable social, business and political events.
In 1925, Clarence Darrow was a guest at the hotel when he was informed of the sudden death of William Jennings Bryan in Dayton, Tenn., a few days after the conclusion of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor, stopped at the hotel en route to the dedication of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1940.
The hotel experienced many firsts for Sevierville, including the first television broadcast in the lobby, the first color television viewed, the first long distance telephone call and the first successful beauty salon.
The hotel was dismantled in 1968 to make way for Sevier County Bank. The bank was located on that spot for almost four decades before moving into anew building next door in 2006.
— Carroll McMahan is the special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, contact McMahan at 453-6411 or e-mail to cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or e-mail to ron@ronraderproperties.com.
Copyright 2010 The Mountain Press. All rights reserved.
© themountainpress.com 2010
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 12 May 2013.
Upland Chronicles: Sevierville Mills was local landmark for a century
- [S94] Sevier County, Tennessee Census, 443, 1880.
http://sevierlibrary.tripod.com/page81880.html
- [S34] In the Shadow of the Smokies, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (1993), 87.
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