by Gary Anderson
My family, the Charles and Alene Andersons, moved to 2300 Spence Place in the Spring of 1957. We didn’t move that far, as we lived only a short distance away on Belvedere Street. This little lane connects with Gilbert Lane. That particular area seemed populated thickly with Andersons at that time. My great grandmother, grandmother and several great aunts and uncles lived close by.
I believe we were the second family to occupy our Spence Place home, and my mother lived there for fifty years. In 2007 her declining health required her to move into assisted living.
Andersons had lived in South Knox County since shortly after rocks cooled or maybe it was about 1800. There is documentation that my fourth great grandfather was born in the area in 1805. My third great grandfather and grandmother are buried in an unmaintained cemetery in the woods behind the large house at the exit ramp to the James White Parkway. A great great grandmother and third great grandfather are buried at Island Home Baptist Cemetery.
My dad’s aunt and uncle, Carl and Marie Anderson, already lived in Island Home Park at 1999 Maplewood Dr. when we moved here. For a while they owned and operated Island Home grocery, and later had Sevier Hardware. In one front corner of the hardware my great Aunt Marie had a little dress shop. It came in very handy for my dad to race down to on Christmas Eve day and buy my mom a dress. That building is no longer on Sevier Avenue, but was located near where Alliance Brewing is now. The hardware was in the same building as Kent Drugstore. Their granddaughter, Cheryl Mathews, and her family still live in this house.
My two sisters, Charlene (Gammon) and Suzanne (Darden), are five and seven years younger than me, so I was their really really big brother. I know they would agree that growing up in Island Home was a wonderful experience.
Bicycling then was just as popular as now, but I don’t recall a battery powered one. We had the tennis court and swings at the park in those days, and my friends and I, without our mothers’ knowledge, would play at and on the river. A favorite thing to do was to untie an old row boat that was always tied up at the airport bridge. We would pole up the river to Ijams and float lazily back down. I know it was a foolish thing to do now.
In the 1950’s Halloween was also a big event, although I’m sure the numbers of children we see today are many times more than those days. One of the nicest experiences I had as a trick or treater was one bitterly cold Halloween a very nice couple at 2208 Hillsboro Heights invited my friends and me into to warm up and have a cup of hot chocolate. After Paulette and I moved back to Knoxville in 2003 I was touched to see the tradition is still alive at Rick and Ellie Bowling’s house (2122 Island Home Blvd).
My dad told me stories about trick or treating in Island Home Park back in his youth. He was born in 1922, so I would date his experiences from the late 20’s to mid-thirties. One thing different in Knoxville back in those days was that youthful vandalism was a common theme. My dad would tell about the time he and some friends put grease on the trolley tracks going up Fisher Place. They would hide and watch as the trolley would try and fail to make it up the hill. When the conductor would get out to put sand on the tracks they would jump up and yell and take off running.
I told this tale at a Knoxville City Council meeting several years ago, and I was very relieved to hear Mayor Bill Haslam officially proclaim that the statute of limitations had expired in this case. I know my dad was pleased to see St. Peter erasing that checkmark.
Dad was pretty much confined to a hospital bed the last six years of his life and my mother cared for him through all of that time. Being so confined to home spurred her into becoming an expert gardener. Her vegetable garden and perennial flower beds were something to behold. Cooking was also one of her many talents, and family holiday dinners became a much anticipated event after we left home.
Almost as anticipated as the meal was the post meal “Goofy Golf” game played by most of the family that didn’t get roped into cleanup and dishwashing (I’m sorry Charlene and Paulette). This game is a prehistoric version of Frisbee Golf. Since the Frisbee was yet to be invented, we used a softball which was rolled or tossed to hit a small marble slab. Nine such “holes” were strategically placed around the yard. The Royal and Ancient Rules of Goofy Golf are available (but don’t Google it).
My sisters and I, as well as most of the children in the neighborhood, attended South Knoxville elementary. Mr. I. L. Huskey was the principal and I think he was the principal when scrolls were still in use. He must have been the last person in the country to wear button shoes. The old original building was torn down and replaced since my day, but the gymnasium and new cafeteria were built when I was in the fifth or sixth grade. Of course that was so long ago those may now have been replaced.
Several of the Island Home Park children from those days that still live here are Kathy Sanders Keck, and her sister Ellie Sanders Bowling, Jack Sanford, Charlene Anderson Gammon, Mary Range Lynn, and Becky Miller Luper. It would be interesting to hear their memories of those days.
Gary Anderson
2026 Island Home Blvd.