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Contact Information:Special CollectionsCarol G. Belk Library and Information Commons Appalachian State University Boone, North Carolina 28608 USA Phone: (828) 262-4041 Fax: (828) 262-2553 Email: spcoll@appstate.edu URL: http://www.library.appstate.edu/appcoll |
| Repository: | Appalachian State University, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection |
| Creator: | Knoxville and Fountain City Land Company |
| Title: | Knoxville, Tenn., and Fountain City Land Agreement, circa 1890 |
| Language of Material: | Material in English |
| Location: | For current information on the location of these materials, please consult Appalachian State University. |
| Abstract: | The collection consists of one document, a broadside which outlines a plan to develop Fountain City near Knoxville, Tennessee, and to establish the Holbrook Normal College under the guidance of "Prof. Holbrook" in Fountain City. |
| Extent: | 1 item, |
The collection is open for research use. An appointment for research is required. No Inter-Library Loan.
Copyright restrictions may apply.
[Identification of item], Collection 438. Knoxville, Tenn., and Fountain City Land Agreement, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA.
The collection was purchased from Bartleby's Books in 2004. Its original title is "Synopsis of Agreement between the Knoxville and Fountain City Land Company and the Subscribers for three hundred lots at Fountain City, etc. etc." Its accession number is 08-49. It was opened to the public in March 2009.
Processed by Simms Toomey, December 2008
Encoded by Simms Toomey, December 2008
Fountain City, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville, was founded in the late 1700s by John Adair. Adair originally named the community Fountain Head, probably because of a nearby spring. By the late 1800s, tourists were visiting the Fountain Head Hotel and Resort, which was situated around the spring. When a post office was established at Fountain Head in 1890, it was named the Fountain City Post Office since there was already a Fountain Head Post Office in middle Tennessee. The Fountain Head Railway, a steam railway built in 1890, made its first 5.25-mile run from Emory Place in Knoxville to Fountain Head. The city's planners decided that a college would also boost development and, having heard of the Holbrook family's role and influence in the field of higher education, approached the family.
As first president of Fountain City's Holbrook Normal College, Josiah Holbrook, II, (1844-1921) was continuing the Holbrook family legacy in American education. Josiah's father, Alfred Holbrook (1816-1909), was a leader in the early development of professional teacher education in the Midwest and his grandfather, Josiah Holbrook (1788-1854), organized the lyceum movement of adult education. There are conflicting accounts of the extent of Alfred Holbrook's role in founding the college in Fountain City. The Holbrook Normal College, established in 1893, was taken over in 1900 by the Tennessee Baptist Association, who paid the Knoxville and Fountain City Land Company approximately $13,000 for the defunct college.
The collection consists of one document, a broadside with the heading "Synopsis of Agreement between the Knoxville and Fountain City Land Company and the Subscribers for three hundred lots at Fountain City, Etc., Etc." The document describes a plan to develop Fountain City, Tennessee, and to establish the Holbrook Normal College, under the direction of "Prof. Holbrook," on ten acres in Fountain City. Fountain City is located north of Knoxville.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
| Fountain City (Tenn.) |
| Holbrook, Josiah, 1844-1921 |
| Holbrook Normal College |
| Teachers colleges--Tennessee--Fountain City |
Tumblin, J.C. Fountain Citians Who Made a Difference: The Holbrooks. www.fountaincitytnhistory.info (accessed December 31, 2008).
Dye, Charles M. "Holbrook, Alfred." Biographical Dictionary of American Educators, Vol. 2. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978.
Londoner, Carroll A. "Holbrook, Josiah." Biographical Dictionary of American Educators, Vol. 2. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978.
