Bon Air

Before the formation of the mines, Bon Air bore the name Bon Air Springs. Bon Air Springs was a resort created sometime during the early to mid-1800s, with the earliest mention of it in a letter dated September 23, 1839. As people traveled the highway from Knoxville to Nashville, called U.S. Route 70 in the present day, which Bockman Way is a part of, they could stop at the hotel at Bon Air Springs, owned by the Rogers family, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.[1] Famous Tennesseans like Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk are said to have stopped at Bon Air Springs during their journeys across the nation. Grand balls were held at the Bon Air Springs hotel for the locals to enjoy.[2] Many vacationed at the springs to escape the cholera epidemic of the time. At the onset of the Civil War, Confederates burned down the hotel to punish the Rogers family for supporting the Union. The hotel was never reconstructed.[3] However, another hotel did exist at Bon Air in 1923.[4]

George G. Dibrell, along with John C. Brown, John F. House, J. D. C. Adkins, W. C. Whitthorne, Benton McMillin, Dr. William Morrow, D. W. Dinges, Samuel G. Jones, and W. C. Dibrell, established the Bon Air Coal, Land, and Lumber Company on September 7, 1882.[5] John C. Brown was president and George G. Dibrell was vice president of the company.[6] In its first year, Bon Air shipped out 36,000 tons of coal. From 1889 to 1899, the business exported thirty-five train cars of coal every day.[7] By 1902, the company shipped over 240,000 tons of coal annually and employed over 600 men. In the years from 1888 to 1904, the business established four towns on the mountain, which included Bon Air, De Rosset, Ravenscroft, and Clifty.[8] The company traded as far west as the Mississippi River and as far south as Florida. A purchasing agent for the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway, J. C. Kennedy, commented in a letter to Bon Air General Manager, J. M. Overton, that, “The possibilities of Bon Air Coal are great, very great, if the ability to supply is equal to the demand that could be created for it. My reason for calling your attention to this is because it is so unusual to see any bituminous coal that will stand exposure and freezing and thawing and not disintegrate. I know of no coal but anthracite and Bon Air that will stand it.”[9]

J. M. Overton had started working with the company as far back as January 1, 1887. During that year, he chose the locations for the company to open its initial mines. He briefly resigned after Bon Air opened its first mine. From May 1, 1888, to May 1, 1889, he purchased coal from Bon Air and sold it in Middle Tennessee and North Alabama. On May 1, 1889, Bon Air and Overton created a contract wherein Overton agreed to lease land to the coal company for the next ten years. Overton also worked with Bon Air secretary and superintendent, J. L. Dibrell, to implement improvements for the company. As a result, output increased from 36,000 tons to 186,000 tons. In 1897, Overton became the general manager, and the lease was no longer needed. In May 1897, he became president and general manager.[10] Also in this year, the Bon Air Coal, Land, and Lumber Company acquired the Buffalo Iron Company. This resulted in the organization changing its name to the Bon Air Coal and Iron Company.[11]

Beginning in 1869, George Dibrell was president of the Southwestern Railroad, which linked the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway (NC&StL) to Sparta. In 1875, Dibrell received a charter for the Southwestern Railroad to extend to Bon Air. In 1888, the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway gained the charter rights from Southwestern, so in March, the NC&StL Railway extended the line an additional six and a half miles to reach Bon Air.[12] This line later got extended to DeRossett, Ravenscroft, and Clifty. In a June 17, 1899, paper, “Report of Committee to Chamber of Commerce Sparta, Tenn.,” Sparta’s Chamber of Commerce argued that the cost of shipping goods on the NC&StL railway was too expensive. Thus, they petitioned the Tennessee Central Railway to build a more affordable line into White County.[13]

In July 1917, William J. Cummings purchased the Bon Air Coal and Iron Company. The company slightly altered its name to the Bon Air Coal and Iron Corporation. Among the investors of the time was the owner of the New York Yankees, Jacob Ruppert. One of Bon Air’s trains was named “Jake Ruppert” in his honor. Other investors of the time included: John McEntee Bowman, owner of the Biltmore hotel chain, and William Wrigley Jr., owner of the Chicago Cubs.[14]

Profits and production waned for Bon Air in 1926. Thus, the company merged with two other companies, the Chattanooga Coke and Gas Company and J. J. Gray Jr. Iron Works. Together, they became the Tennessee Products Corporation. William Wrigley Jr. was chairman of the board, R. J. Immerfall was the president and general manager, William J. Cummins was the chairman of the executive board, John M. E. Bowman was the treasurer, Frederic Leake was the secretary, and Dr. William B. Young was the general superintendent and manager of Bon Air Mountain mines. Despite the merger, the Great Depression only exasperated the company’s decline. Seeking better working conditions, the miners at Ravenscroft organized a union. In 1934, the contract between the union and the company expired, and the miners went on strike. This strike hit the company hard. It filed for reorganization under bankruptcy at the U. S. District Court in Nashville during the Spring of 1936. On December 31, 1936, the move passed, but the company still owed a debt of $1,500,000 to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. All of this resulted in the demise of the coal mines on Bon Air Mountain.[15]

[1] “Rock House” by Mary Norman West Keisling, Charles Leonard Collection, White County Public Library, Sparta, TN.

[2] Rev. Monroe Seals, History of White County Tennessee (Spartanburg: The Reprint Company, Publishers, 2004), 17.

[3] “Rock House,” Charles Leonard Collection.

[4] Bon Air Hotel, 12785, 1988-017, Looking Back at Tennessee Photograph Collection, 1890-1981, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Virtual Archive.

[5] J. B. Snodgrass, “Souvenir Supplement,” Sparta Expositor, January 1902, 17.

[6] Jeanette Keith, Country People in the New South (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 78.

[7] Keith, 78.

[8] Keith, 78.

[9] Snodgrass, 17.

[10] Snodgrass, 17-19.

[11] “Bon Air Mountain Coal Companies,” History, Bon Air Mountain Historical Society, https://www.miningonthemountain.org/tennessee-products-corporation.

[12] Bon Air Mountain Historical Society, “Bon Air Mountain Coal Companies.”

[13] Keith, 237.

[14] Bon Air Mountain Historical Society, “Bon Air Mountain Coal Companies.”

[15] Bon Air Mountain Historical Society, “Bon Air Mountain Coal Companies.”