A Knoxville woman's idea 100 years ago gave birth to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

It’s a constant on the Knoxville horizon—a range of peaks and valleys long adored from a distance. 

"It’s hard for us to imagine because the Smokies seem so much a part of our lives in Knoxville today that it was not like that 100 years ago. I like to say that 100 years ago in 1924 more Knoxvillians had seen Times Square than had seen Cades Cove because Times Square was a lot easier to get to," Knoxville historian Jack Neely said. 

Before 1924, the Smoky Mountains were inhabited by a few and visited by even fewer. But a woman from Knoxville, Anne Davis, had an idea that grew out of a cross-country trip with her husband Willis.

"They had gone out west and seen the wonderful national parks out west and she said to her husband 'Why can’t we have a national park in East Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains?'," Neely said. 

Willis Davis, a powerful businessman, set the inspiration into motion. In a matter of months, he connected with other Knoxville notables including Col. David Chapman, who would then head up The Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association. 

The group met regularly at the Farragut Hotel on Gay Street.  They devised a plan to establish the Smokies as a national park. When the Knoxville contingency got wind in the summer of 1924 a government commission was meeting in North Carolina to consider establishing a park in another part of that state—Chapman wasted no time getting in front of them. 

"Col. David Chapman had a great idea. He said to Knoxville’s greatest photographer commercial and pro photographer to put all of his best photos that he had taken in the back of his car and sent them to Ashville," Knoxville History Project's Paul James said.

That photographer, Jim Thompson, spent years prior, capturing the beauty of the mountainous chain. He shared his pictures with the commission gathered in Asheville.

"The commissioners were just blown away by his photographs and they decided to come to Knoxville," James said.

Just weeks later, the team from Knoxville led the commissioners on a journey to see the beauty for themselves.

"They hiked Rainbow Falls all the way up to Mt. Leconte now that was not the trail we know and love today. It was barely a pig path," James said.

By the end of 1924, the committee recommended the Smokies as a new national park. But, unlike others before it, the federal government did not own the land along the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

"Some of them were industrial, some were residential, some were farms, and so forth that they had to talk the owners out of this property to make it possible," Neely said. 

The Knoxville group forged ahead with an effort to purchase more than 6000 tracks of land. Anne Davis, who pitched the idea of the park, secured thousands from the state. 

Every day people pitched in pennies. But, it was a gift of millions from the famed Rockefeller family that made up the difference.

"They say that day that was celebrated here on Gay Street they have people from New York and Washington here to accept this big gift. They say it was the most historic day in Knoxville's history," Neely said. 

"Knoxville ended up contributing 60% of the fundraising down to Col. Chapman and the Knoxville players they were advocating and going in and experiencing the park and encouraging people to come," James said.

From idea to reality spanned more than 15 years. President Franklin Roosevelt, in 1940, dedicated the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Newfound Gap.

In the years since, the Smoky Mountains have beckoned millions to hike, bike and explore. A natural treasure that took root 100 years ago in a place that's constant on its horizon—Knoxville.

Thousands of vehicles traverse this major Knoxville thoroughfare each day, and few if any, behind the wheel give much thought to its namesake.

Chapman Highway built in the 1930s to connect Knoxville to the Smoky Mountains bears the name of the man known as the father of that national park.

"Col. David Chapman is known as the father of the national park because he was so instrumental in the acquisition of these 6600 property parcels," James said. 

Chapman led the effort in the mid-1920s that eventually convinced the federal government to protect and preserve the range of mountains between Tennessee and North Carolina.  

Starting in 1924, Chapman and a contingent of Knoxville leaders discussed their national park plans in the lobby of the Farragut Building, now the Hyatt Place Hotel, and in an 11th-floor office in the Burwell Building. Today, it’s home to the Tennessee Theater.

"These guys who were founding what became the national park could look out the windows of Judge Lindsey’s and see the mountains in the distance—this was as close as most people got to the Smokies in the 1920s," Neely said. 

Just a few miles from the city’s center, a refuge in the wilderness. What is today the Ijams Nature Center was the homestead of Henry Ijams and his family. At the turn of the 20th century, the Knoxville artist was one of the earliest explorers of the Smokies.

In North Knoxville, Essary Drive winds its way through Fountain City neighborhoods. It’s named for Samuel Essary—a UT professor and botanist who led treks into the Smokies to study the flora and fauna. 

"They were taking students into the smokies. That was probably a pretty big deal for students to visit in the 1880s and 90’s," James said. 

Thompson Photo Products sits on the corner of Middlebrook Pike and N. 21st Street. It's one of Knoxville's oldest businesses and was founded by photographer Jim Thompson, a key figure in Champan's team championing the Smokies as a National Park.

"Jim Thompson was one of the hardy explorers. He went there before there were roads to take photographs. They were astonishing to people who had only seen the smokies through a distance," Neely said. 

Thompson's pictures of the majestic mountains helped convince government leaders in 1924 that the Smoky Mountains were worthy of national park status.

Drive through the park today and you’ll come to a pull-off that offers sweeping views of the Smokies. The Ben Morton overlook is a nod to the mayor of Knoxville during the mid-1920s who helped secure money critical to the park’s creation.

And housed at the Collections Preservation Center in Townsend, a pen adorned with a peacock feather used by Tennessee Governor Austin Peay. 

In 1925, Peay signed legislation by Anne Davis authorizing the purchase of land for the national park. It was that Knoxville wife-turned-lawmaker who with a simple question to her husband Willis set a movement into motion.

On Friday, July 26, and Saturday, July 27, the Knoxville History Project and partners will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the "idea" of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that sparked a movement. 

The two-day symposium will include a presentation Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. It is free to the public. There will also be a downtown Knoxville walking tour, a film screening, pop-up exhibits, celebratory hikes and more.