Copyright (2002) * All rights reserved
J.C. (Jim) Tumblin, OD, DOS
3604 Kesterwood Drive, East
Knoxville, Tennessee 37918-2557
(865) 687-1948

Fountain City Places That Made A Difference

(1929-Present)

"Books are a way up and a way out."

Judge John W. Green

Among the reasons our nation has progressed more and in a shorter time than any other are two institutions that strongly influenced intellectual achievement among its citizens--our land-grant universities and our public library system. The early stimulus provided by Andrew Carnegie was highly significant to library development. An early library presence in Fountain City contributed greatly to progress in our community.

Locally, Col. Charles McClung McGhee, an heir of the founders of Knoxville (including General James White) made one of the largest philanthropic gifts in Knoxville’s history. He endowed the Lawson-McGhee Library in honor of his daughter, Lawson McGhee. Colonel McGhee, along with Fountain City’s own John Webb Green, continued to influence the development of the library system for many years. Both men were among the five original men who organized the library board on April 22, 1885. Judge Green continued to serve on the board until his death in 1957--a total of 72 years. The library system, through its branch libraries, now has a significant presence in 17 Knox County communities (1).

In 1928 the County Court appropriated $2500 to provide library services for Fountain Citians, who were then outside the city limits. On January 22, 1929, the Fountain City Library opened in the Odd Fellows Hall at the corner of Hotel Avenue and Holbrook Drive at the foot of "High School Hill" (now the site of Gresham Junior High School). Although the library circulated books and the librarian held children’s reading groups regularly, there were almost no conveniences and few books. For the first six months the rent was free and thereafter was $5.00 per month. A pot-bellied stove was used for heating the room. Personal donations and gifts from the garden club provided funds for shelves, tables and chairs. During the first year 13,596 books were loaned. In just six years the collection had grown to 2007 books and the librarians delivered quality services in the sparse surrounds (2) (3).

Odd Fellows Hall

(Fountain City Library, 1929-1936)

The demand for services increased dramatically during those early years, as evidenced by the circulation figures: 1930, 3805; 1931, 13,596; 1932, 16,764; 1933, 15,034; 1934, 17,062; and 1935, 21,356 (4).

Obviously new facilities were needed. In 1936 Judge John Webb Green headed a movement for a new building to house the library located on historic Hotel Avenue at the western end of Fountain City Park (5). The concrete block building cost $3,000, half contributed by Knox County Court and half by the citizens of Fountain City. The city operated the system under contract with the county library services. This arrangement was continued in the 1,250 square foot building until 1946 when a famous law suit—the Southern Suit--brought an end to the city library service. In keeping with its "on again, off again" history, the library was closed for a few months in 1946 only to reopen in 1947 under the Knox County system.  The library flourished and loaned 70,000 books during 1962, its last full year of operation before annexation (6).

(Fountain City Branch Library, 1936-1964)

Fountain City was annexed to the City of Knoxville on January 1, 1963 and the library became a part of the Knoxville Public Library system. In 1964 the City of Knoxville demolished the former library building and constructed the 4000 square foot brick, concrete and glass building with exterior walls of gray mountain pebbles that we now know--modern in every detail for its time. Barber and McMurry were the architects and George W. Reagan Company the general contractor. The dedication ceremony was held on April 5, 1964 (7).

(Fountain City Branch Library, 1964-Present)

As important as it is to have a facility conducive to study and learning, the most important attribute a library can have is a helpful librarian and staff. The early records also show that Jessie Douglas, Mildred Tate and Mary Wheeler served on the staff in 1944.  Later, Ella Mae Thompson was the branch librarian in the early 1950s and was succeeded by Gladys Carpenter (8). 

Ella Mae (Thompson) Worman

Ella Mae Thompson was born on May 31, 1925 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the first of four children of Walter Steele and Lola (Beeler) Thompson. When Ella Mae was five years old the family moved to a dairy farm on Washington Pike near Corryton. The other children are Beeler Thompson, Martha Thompson (Donahue) and Katherine Thompson (Gooch). The children completed their elementary grades at Corryton Grammar School. Ella Mae graduated from Gibbs High School in 1944 and attained her BA at Maryville College in 1948, majoring in English (9).

After she worked as a cataloguer at the Maryville College Library for a year; attended library school at Emory University near Atlanta, Georgia; and served a year as librarian at Carter High School; she was employed at Knoxville’s Lawson-McGhee Library. From 1953 to 1956 she was director of the Fountain City branch, a period in which the library experienced growth. In 1956 she transferred to the Burlington Branch Library.

Miss Thompson moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas in October 1959 to become circulation librarian at Arkansas State University. She planned and implemented moving the extensive collection into a new building, supervised two full time employees and 82 student assistants and helped convert to the Library of Congress classification system.

It was in Jonesboro that she met and married Harold Worman, a native of Wichita, Kansas, who was a professor in the music department at the university. They later moved to the Rio Grande Valley at Edinburg, Texas where he taught at Pan-American University which became a branch of the University of Texas.

In 1969 Mrs. Worman was appointed director of the Edinburg Public Library. She worked with the County Court and the City Commission to increase the library budget and gain approval for a new building. When the planning was completed and the blueprints were in hand, the Wormans remained in Edinburg in semi-retirement but spent part of the year in Traverse City, Michigan where professor Worman joined the summer faculty at the Interlachen National Music Camp.

After Mr. Worman’s death in 1995, Mrs. Worman returned to Knoxville where she lives in retirement within a few miles of her childhood home and close by her brother and her sisters.

Gladys Carpenter Barkley

Gladys Carpenter worked for a while at the downtown library with Emma Suddarth, county library director. She was assigned to assist Ella Mae Thompson at the Fountain City branch for three years and then assumed the duties of branch librarian on October 5, 1956 and continued until 1966. She served the reading and study needs of many adults and encouraged numerous girls and boys to be interested in books. Many Fountain Citians owe their lifetime interest in reading to her "Children’s Corner" reading program (10).

Gladys Carpenter was born in Jefferson County on July 30, 1909, the youngest of five children of Samuel P. and Ruth Galloway Carpenter. She attended elementary school in Jefferson County. The family moved to Fountain City and she graduated from Central High School in 1927. She and John Daniel (J.D.) Barkley were married in 1934. J.D. Barkley was a Knoxville banker for 47 years. He joined the East Tennessee National Bank in 1929 and was Senior Vice-President of the Hamilton National Bank at the time of his retirement in 1976.

Early in their marriage the Barkleys lived on Maple Avenue. In the 1950s with their son, Joseph Edward Barkley, they moved to Crestwood Road and resided there until her death. Gladys Barkley’s career in library service would eventually span 44 years. She passed away on March 15, 1987 and rests in Lynnhurst Cemetery beside her husband who died in 1988. She had been a member of Fountain City United Methodist Church for 62 years (11).

Mary Ann Alexander assumed the title of branch librarian briefly and Billie S. McKinney succeeded her in 1967.                                

Willia S. (Billie) McKinney

Billie McKinney was born in Knoxville but grew up in Fountain City on Garden Avenue. Her father, William S. McKinney, was born and spent his early years in the Wheat Community of Roane County. He and his wife, Lillie M. McKinney, had three daughters, Jean, Billie and Evelyn. At the time of his death in 1950 William McKinney was the vice-president of Fountain City Bank. Billie attended Fountain City and Smithwood Grammar Schools and graduated from Central High School in 1944. She earned her BA in Political Science at the University of Tennessee and an MS in Library Science from Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts (12). 

After working as reference librarian at the New Hampshire State Library from 1954-1958, the Concord (NH) Public Library as a cataloger of reference materials and working for the State of New Hampshire in the State Planning Project, she returned to Knoxville in 1966.

While pursuing pre-doctoral work in Political Science with an emphasis on public administration of libraries at the University of Tennessee, she met Dr. Carleton Rochelle of Lawson McGhee Library who asked her to join the library staff. She became branch librarian in Fountain City in August 1967 and served until April 1975, a time she remembers as her happiest work experience.

Alice Ogdin had been an assistant librarian there, was urged to remain and did. Miss McKinney met Mary Longfellow as a patron, observed her extensive reading and love of books and urged her to apply for a position with the library. Lucille Temple, an assistant at the Inskip Branch Library at the time that it closed, also transferred to Fountain City. Custodian John Gary was also a valued member of the team. He checked the program and exhibit schedules and was always ready to set up for meetings and would also improvise to meet unexpected problems with exhibits. Through the years there were many student assistants, such as Jay Garrison, his sister Jan Garrison, the late Jan Hotchkiss and Melinda Dempster Davis.

Patrons came to the Fountain City Library from all over the county, sometimes making it a family outing by having a picnic, playing on the slides and swings in the park and then coming in to the library to read, choose books or get reference help.

Prior to the 1970s the old Knoxville-Knox County records were stored in several locations and Miss McKinney was assigned to bring them together into proper groups according to the "Tennessee Manual for Records Organization." This task was completed in October 1976 and the materials became the nucleus for the Knox County Archives.

She was a member of the Fountain City Reviewers Club from 1968-1983 (when it ceased); is a longtime member of Fountain City Town Hall, former chairman of its Education and Libraries Committee and its corresponding secretary (1979-1980); the American Library Association; the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She continues to live in Fountain City and currently pursues several research projects (13).

In the 1970s and 1980s many others were members of the Fountain City library staff, including Mary Evelyn Lynn (1974-1977), Dale Watermulder, Patty Cooper (Dohm), Paula Underwood and Nelda Hill. Many present-day Fountain Citians will remember Mary Longfellow as the librarian who introduced them to books when they attended her Children’s Reading Hour.

Mary Orr Longfellow

She was appointed a library assistant In Fountain City on January 6, 1969 and served for 17 years (1969-1985). Her favorite duty was to conduct the weekly story hour for children. Even after her retirement in 1985 she worked as a substitute in the library system (15).

In 1991 Fountain City Town Hall named Mary Longfellow "Fountain City Woman of the Year"--a mark of appreciation for her contribution to the community. She was active in the St. Paul Methodist Church, the East Tennessee Historical Society, the Open Door Book Review and Fontinalis. She passed away on September 7, 1994 and is buried in Lynnhurst Cemetery (16).

When she was awarded "Fountain City Woman of the Year" in 1991, Mary Longfellow was asked, "Why do you like Fountain City?" Her reply was, "The people--the fact that they care about the community and it has a small-town feeling that appeals to me. Fountain City is a great place to live!" Obviously, Fountain City liked Mary Orr Longfellow.

Elizabeth (Libby) Nelson

The present head branch librarian is Elizabeth (Libby) Nelson, a native of Illinois, and a graduate of Centre College, Danville, Kentucky. She has been a Knox County Public Library employee since 1979 and became Fountain City Branch Librarian in 1986. Ms. Nelson was honored by the Fountain City Town Hall as its Fountain City Woman of the Year in 1994 (17).

The library hosts other community groups. The Open Door Book Review has met there eight months of the year since the 1950s. Nannie Lee Hicks presented her first "History of Fountain City" lecture at this monthly meeting or at a meeting of the Reviewers Club (both claimed the honor) and over a period of years developed her lecture into her classic book, now in its fourth edition. Many children attend weekly reading groups and a summer music appreciation for children has been featured. The library continues to make an important contribution to community life.

Judge John W. Green observed in an autobiographical chapter in one of his books, "... poor indeed is he who, as the shadows lengthen and his activities slacken, cannot find real enjoyment, comfort, companionship, and solace in a good book (18)." Many Fountain Citians, young and old, continue to find the Fountain City Branch Library a source for the books that fulfill their intellectual needs.

In the fall of 2000 the Knox County Commission began to seek property for an expansion of the library and acquired a 2.2-acre parcel at the corner of Essary Road and Stanton Drive. Design and architectural work have begun early in 2002 with construction to begin in 2003 and completion by August of that year. Of the total $2.25 million appropriated by the Commission, $1.5 million is earmarked for the construction. A 12,000 square foot building is planned--two and one-half times as large as the present library. The plan will make it expandable to 15,000 square feet. In addition to a larger reading room, electronic media area and children’s reading area, the new library is expected to house a meeting room.

At a public meeting held in December 2001 representatives of Fountain City Town Hall asked that considerations be given to include in the architecture of the new library features representative of the proud heritage of Fountain City (19).

If "Books are a way up and a way out," and they are, then the Fountain City Library has provided a way up and a way out for Fountain Citians for almost 75 years. Fountain Citians eagerly await the new library where lifetime learning opportunity for future generations can continue in an even more desirable environment.