Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 8.04 Industry
Presentation #1 Title
The Legacy of John T. Wilder, East Tennessee’s Industrialist Entrepreneur
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
After the Civil War, Indiana industrialist and former Civil War Union officer John T. Wilder moved to Tennessee to take advantage of the rich mineral resources available in the eastern part of the state. As one of many Midwesterners who helped develop Chattanooga and East Tennessee during the reconstruction years, Wilder spent the next several decades moving throughout Eastern Tennessee, with homes in Chattanooga, Rockwood, Johnson City, Roan Mountain,Knoxville, and Monterey. Wilder built mines, developed industries, towns and communities; built several hotels (including the original Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City); started a railroad; and even briefly dabbled in politics. According to biographer Samuel Cole Williams, Wilder anticipated the Tennessee Valley Authority by several decades by establishing a power company and the acquisition of water rights along the Little Tennessee River. Wilder was also instrumental in getting the National Battlefield at the Chickamauga battle site established, and was an original trustee of what is now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This paper will show Wilder’s development in reconstruction Tennessee, with associates he brought to the South from Indiana and Ohio, and his entrepreneurial spirit in the Volunteer state.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Steven Cox is a professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he has been the head of Special Collections since 2001. Among the collections under his care are collections dealing with Appalachia.
The Legacy of John T. Wilder, East Tennessee’s Industrialist Entrepreneur
After the Civil War, Indiana industrialist and former Civil War Union officer John T. Wilder moved to Tennessee to take advantage of the rich mineral resources available in the eastern part of the state. As one of many Midwesterners who helped develop Chattanooga and East Tennessee during the reconstruction years, Wilder spent the next several decades moving throughout Eastern Tennessee, with homes in Chattanooga, Rockwood, Johnson City, Roan Mountain,Knoxville, and Monterey. Wilder built mines, developed industries, towns and communities; built several hotels (including the original Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City); started a railroad; and even briefly dabbled in politics. According to biographer Samuel Cole Williams, Wilder anticipated the Tennessee Valley Authority by several decades by establishing a power company and the acquisition of water rights along the Little Tennessee River. Wilder was also instrumental in getting the National Battlefield at the Chickamauga battle site established, and was an original trustee of what is now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This paper will show Wilder’s development in reconstruction Tennessee, with associates he brought to the South from Indiana and Ohio, and his entrepreneurial spirit in the Volunteer state.
