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By Ernie Smothers
smothers@mckeniebanner.com |
Silhouetted by indifference, the aged Bruceton
Roundhouse stands stoically on the outskirts of a small
east Carroll County town. Though battered by time,
weather and neglect, its remains silently allude to the
once powerful bond forged between the railroad and the
town it created.
The interior of the relic retains clues of its former
import. Grimy steam vent hoods, once utilized to remove
smoke from idling locomotive engines, still hang from
the ceiling. A shoe nudge reveals soil-covered railway
tracks (eight sets in all) that led from the building
like arteries from a heart.
Historically, the roundhouse is the last remaining
structure of its kind of the Nashville, Chattanooga and
St. Louis Railroad. Built in early 1925 to replace a
wooden roundhouse that burned on November 21, 1924, the
work performed there rapidly transformed the moderately
active yard into a bustling, non-stop train switching
facility.
Bruceton was, without question, a railroad town, and
railroad was its king. Incorporated in 1920, the town's
very name was created to pay homage to then NC&StL
general manager William Bruce, the recognized father of
the town.
Oddly, Bruceton’s origins do not exist within the
corporation limits. They are found two miles west, in
the quaint little town of Hollow Rock.
A path worn thin bears testimony to the
curiosity value of the hollow rock that lies adjacent to
the railroad tracks in Hollow Rock, Tennessee.
Founded by settlers in the early 1820s, a small colony
known as Sandy Bridge existed for four decades in quiet
obscurity. The peaceful serenity lasted until 1867, when
the Nashville and Northwestern railroad laid tracks
nearby.
Rail workers were credited with renaming the settlement
Hollow Rock. After constructing a telegraph office and
station, workers needed a reference point by which to
identify its physical location. Choosing a huge hollow
rock that lay nearby, the men began to refer to the area
as “Hollow Rock”. The name took.
Measured in the early 1900s, the stone was 456 feet
long, 12 feet tall and 13 foot wide. It has sunk to
where only one circular opening is exposed. Attempts to
dig deep enough to determine the rock’s depth have been
unsuccessful.
Testing has yet to reveal the rock’s mineral
consistency. Many people believe that it is a meteorite
that plummeted from space and embedded into the earth
long ago.
Before its incorporation on February 3, 1869, Hollow
Rock was home to several rail-side saloons that were
built and inhabited by numerous high-spirited
individuals, the most identifiable being the Yellow
Front. Historical documents reveal that 18 men were
killed in the town during its post-Civil War infancy.
Despite the locals' penchant for strife, settlers
inhabiting the area began to erect homes and businesses
near the tracks. The first deeded parcel of incorporated
land was sold to N.B. Lipe in 1869. Lipe immediately
built a residence and store upon his property. Following
in short order, the Marlboro Masonic Lodge was moved in
1871 from its community five miles north of town and
renamed Hollow Rock Masonic Lodge.
Another fortunate event spurred the town’s growth in
1872 when the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis
Railroad purchased North & Northwestern's 153-mile
Hickman, Kentucky to Nashville main line. The NC&StL had
leased the financially insolvent and unreliable rail
line in 1868 before buying it outright four years later.
The more stable rail line increased the potential for
even more visitors to visit the young and prosperous
little town.
In 1875, a large wheat and corn grinding operation known
as the Hollow Rock Roller Mill was constructed. In quick
secession, the Presson Hotel, Phillips Drug store,
Kirk's Grocery, Hiram Blow Stave Company, and W.A.
Green's dry good store crowded into the bustling
downtown area.
As the region became more densely populated, educating
the young became a town priority. In 1875, the first
school, a small one room structure, was built and
staffed. A larger school, built to house the growing
student population, was constructed in 1887. Finally, in
1919, a large two-story high school was built to educate
not only the town's children, but those who resided in a
community located two miles to the east named Hollow
Rock Junction.
As Hollow Rock’s fortunes soared, fate dealt the town a
near fatal blow.
In 1892, the Paducah, Tennessee and Alabama railroad's
southward rail expansion effort had reached the NC&STL
railroad line roughly two miles east of Hollow Rock.
Rail officials, needing an area large enough to build a
rail yard, made the decision to by-pass the swampy
grounds near Hollow Rock and build a multi-track train
yard near its neighboring community, Hollow Rock
Junction.
The railroad's decision, much like the fabled impact of
the great hollow rock falling from the heavens, shook
both communities, with decidedly different results.
As soon as the railroad’s intent was known, countless
settlers converged upon Hollow Rock Junction in search
of rail jobs. Industry followed shortly thereafter.
The shift in the two communities' fortunes was
unstoppable. As Hollow Rock Junction robustly grew,
Hollow Rock withered. It was written that many residents
of Hollow Rock never forgave the NC&StL railroad for
building its yard at the Junction.
Hollow Rock’s continuously expanding business district
was dealt a major blow when the great fire of 1893
consumed many of Hollow Rock's businesses including
Phillips Drug, Kirk's Grocery and Green's dry good
store. Nevertheless, the town continued to grow
prodigiously.
At the turn of the 20th century, the rail lines brought
even more settlers and business people to Hollow Rock.
Newly constructed businesses included Sam Holcomb's
Produce, W.B. Brown's Hardware and Appliance Store, Hill
Brothers Grocery, Clark Roger's Blacksmith Shop, the
town's first cotton gin, and Bain's Restaurant and Soda
Fountain providing residents and guests numerous dining
and marketing opportunities.
The rails lead to Bruceton
The NC&StL rail yard quickly took shape as numerous rail
lines were laid throughout the sprawling area. From its
inception in 1892 through the late 1910s, the yard was
home to an evolving hotbed of technological ingenuity.
The greatest addition to the yard came with the
construction of the roundhouse. The structure was the
literal heart of the yard's operation, allowing for
multiple switching and rerouting tasks to be performed
perpetually. The roundhouse helped to solidify the
yard’s reputation for speed and dependability of
service. Hollow Rock Junction had become the main hub
between Memphis and Nashville.
The “heart” of the hub
A train speeds by the Bruceton
roundhouse.
The roundhouse’s operation was based around the usage of
a spinning, circular turnstile located inside the
building. The turnstile, employed to pivot boxcars from
one track to another, allowed for rapid reconfiguration
of trains that were being "made up" on eight separate
tracks inside the structure. The large volume of trains
that passed through the yard daily gave credence to the
staggering amount of work being performed inside the
roundhouse walls.
Built to provide various essential services to the
ever-changing train fleet, the yard was also equipped
with a large coal chute, ice manufacturing plant, and
large water storage tanks. In addition, a permanently
dedicated steam locomotive engine was utilized to
position train lines that were being "made up" on
various tracks throughout the yard.
Due to its size, location and serviceability, the yard
was designated as a stop for three luxury passenger
trains that arrived and departed twice daily on
round-trip travels between Memphis and Nashville.
"The Dixie", "The City of Memphis", and "The Volunteer"
brought numerous dignitaries, entertainers and
politicians to Bruceton, some of whom opted to extend
their visit by booking a room at the Bruceton Hotel
located just above the station. Sadly, one can only
speculate as to the number of brave servicemen who
departed from the station's loading platform on their
way to fight for their nation on foreign soil. Some,
paying the supreme sacrifice, never returned home.
The last remaining structure of its kind,
the roundhouse at Bruceton stands as a memorial to the
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad that
founded the town of Bruceton.
By the late 1940s, passenger train service to the yard
had gradually begun to decrease, and was terminated
altogether in 1952.
Perhaps the most recognized symbol of collaborative
effort between the towns was realized in 1927, with the
construction of the Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central High
School that stands on a hill in sight of the railroad
yard. Though partially torn down and remodeled in 1979,
the school remains in the original location of its
predecessor. No longer needed, Hollow Rock High School
was abandoned and demolished in the early 1960s. Hollow
Rock Elementary School, which provided educational
services to children from kindergarten through eighth
grade, was maintained until students were rerouted to
the CHS campus in 1971.
The admiration between the town and its railroad was
often manifested. The railroad provided Hollow Rock
Junction with its first school, a boxcar located on
rails in the yard. Additionally, the rail road provided
the school’s football team with usage of a special
passenger train, dubbed “The Tiger Special” that
transported the players and fans to games as far away as
Nashville.
Reciprocating its appreciation, CHS' Alma Mater states
in its opening refrain, “On a hill above the
railroad---'neath the southern skies..."
Young and brimming with vitality, Bruceton’s industrial
base grew exponentially. Grocery stores, gas stations,
car lots, Greyhound bus stops, drug stores, soda
fountains and restaurants, banks, funeral homes, doctor
clinics, and taxi service were but a few of the
businesses that dotted the landscape.
The town’s largest industry provider by far arrived in
Bruceton in the early 1940s. Henry I. Siegel, a clothing
manufacturer from New York, visited Bruceton and liked
what he saw. Siegel built several plant facilities in
town and soon developed a huge national manufacturing
and distribution facility that employed large numbers of
people not only from Bruceton and Hollow Rock, but
from numerous communities located in and beyond
Carroll County.
The roundhouse sits forlorn in the busy
Bruceton train yard..
Years after Sam Siegel's death, a reorganized H.I.S.
moved its clothing manufacturing and distribution
operations from Bruceton to Mexico in the late ’90s. The
lost financial revenue and jobs continue to place a
burden on the town.
Remembered by many for his generosity and contributions
to the health, livelihood, and growth of the town, a
statue paying tribute to Siegel was erected at the old
town park.
An L&N caboose, also on display, serves as a modern
symbol of gratitude from the people of Bruceton to the
railroad.
The roundhouse remains, located a short distance from
the park, remind passersby of the glory days when
railroad was king.
King again?
During a town board meeting held in June 2005, Bruceton
mayor Robert T. Keeton III informed aldermen of CSX
Transportation Services' intent to upgrade the town's
rail yard for the purpose of facilitating multi-modal
freight and passenger train service. The upgrade, part
of a 25-year Tennessee Department of Transportation
initiative to develop an access link to the I-80
corridor that traverses the east coast, would create a
seamless service route from Bristol to Memphis,
increasing freight transport by rail and decreasing
truck transport on Interstate 40. According to TDOT,
I-40 is currently operating at 100 percent above its
intended transportation capacity.
Needless to say, an up scaling of the yard could only
benefit the town.
Although currently in the developmental stage, the
intermodal plan would provide traveling entrepreneurs
and industrial planners the opportunity to once again
cast their gaze upon Bruceton.
Who knows? They might even pay a visit to the "hollow
rock", and travel a bit further down the rails to the
town where it all began. |
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