Chisholm Tavern was a historic building at Front and

Gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

streets in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

. It stood on the same block as

William Blount Mansion The Blount Mansion, also known as William Blount Mansion, located at 200 West Hill Avenue in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, was the home of the only territorial governor of the Southwest Territory, William Blount (1749–1800). Blount, a Fou ...

. Construction was completed cn. 1792, and it remained for almost 200 years until it was demolished as a part of urban renewal in 1966. A historic marker was placed at its location (35° 57.691′ N, 83° 54.863′ W) by the Blount Park Association in 1967. Chisholm Tavern was originally constructed as a home for Captain John D. Chisholm, who came to Knoxville (then known as James White's Fort) with Governor

William Blount William Blount (March 26, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, statesman, farmer and land speculator who signed the United States Constitution. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention o ...

in 1790. Captain Chisholm purchased a half-acre lot on Front Street, and is believed to have used the same architect who designed the Blount Mansion. Both homes utilized frame construction with similar detailing. The home became the frontier community's first tavern, which in that era included both hotel and dining facilities. It eventually declined until, by the time of the Great Depression, the

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

documented it as being occupied by "slum tenants." The federal survey notes the following: ''The two story frame house was built on a steep slope. At each end and on the kitchen ell are brick chimneys of the freestanding variety. The interior is typically of the Revolutionary Period: sunburst mantel in the dining room, cupboards with scrolled shelves in the dining room, and dog-eared trim throughout the house. The triangular space beneath the main stairs is paneled with radiating rails''. Before Chisholm Tavern was demolished, there were discussions as to whether the Tennessee State Legislature may have met there when Knoxville was the state capital. During the formative years, the legislature is believed to have met at multiple convenient locations in the city, but no conclusive evidence had survived that they had met in this tavern.

References

* Isenhour, Judith Clayton. ''Knoxville - A Pictorial History.'' (Donning, 1978). * ''History of Homes and Gardens of Tennessee.'' Garden Club Study Group of Nashville, pages 68, 69. * ''Tavern, Front & Gay Streets, Knoxville, Knox County, TN.'' Historic American Buildings Survey, Survey No. HABS TN-111. Library of Congress.

External links

Chisholm Tavern Marker
THE HISTORICAL MARKER DATABASE {{coord missing, Tennessee Buildings and structures in Knoxville, Tennessee Historic American Buildings Survey in Tennessee Houses completed in 1792 Taverns in Tennessee

See also

References

External links