JOHN CHISHOLM'S TAVERN

by Ron Allen

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One of Knoxville's earliest taverns was owned and operated by John Chisholm. There is no doubt that his tavern was located on State Street. Precisely where that tavern was actually located has been debated, in print, in unpublished writings, and in discussions. For many years, an old building located on the north side of Front Street, between State and Gay, was generally thought to have been the original structure that had been Chisholm's Tavern. In fact, the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a plaque on the chimney of the building, identifying it as Chisholm's Tavern. Unfortunately, that building had not been Chisholm's Tavern. The Front street building was nonetheless a very old structure, having been built in the early 1800's. The plaque remained on the building, and when the Front Street area, which had become a run-down section and was being eliminated from the scene, local newspapers promoted the idea of saving "Chisholm's Tavern", when a series of articles by prominent citizens encouraged the public to get behind a campaign to save the building from demolition. The building actually once moved a short distance from its original location, but eventually the campaign failed and the building was demolished. While it was not the original Tavern, it was nonetheless perhaps second in antiquity in downtown Knoxville at that time only to William Blount's home, and the building should have been preserved. Nonetheless, the old structure came tumbling down.

I have not determined when the real Chisholm Tavern was demolished, but that house of entertainment was located at the corner of State avenue and Front street, and the evidence seems to indicate that the building faced State street. The verifiable facts and circumstances concerning the tavern are presented here. Unfortunately, some twentieth century writings have occasionally tended to cloud the issue further, sometimes referring to facts that are not in evidence. The known facts concerning Chisholm's Tavern, as far as I have been able to determine, are as follows.

1. The December 17, 1791 issue of the Knoxville Gazette indicates that Lot number seventeen in the original town of Knoxville was drawn by Ignatius and John Chisholm. An original map of the lots, now located at the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, shows that lot number seventeen was the southeast quarter of the four sections of the entire block extending from Gay Street east to Arch (now State) Street, and from Front Street north to Hill. The fact that Lot number Seventeen was actually in the names of Ignatius and John, and not John Chisholm alone, seems to have eluded most writers on the subject. I assume this was John Chisholm's son, Ignatius, who was approximately thirteen years old at the time, but I have no explanation as to why the son's name, at that early age, would have been recorded together with his father's name.

2. Approximately five months later, the December 19, 1792 issue of the Knoxville Gazette contains a large advertisement, notifying the public that a "house of entertainment" had been opened in Knoxville, by John Chisholm and three other individuals -- Alexander Campbell, John Wool and Peter McNamee. No additional advertisements for this tavern are to be found in known copies of the Gazette. Every reference I have consulted mentions this advertisement, but most of those writings further assume that this was the identical and only location of Chisholm's Tavern in Knoxville. That assumption is possibly true, but it is important to notice two statements that appeared in that original advertisement. First, there were three other individuals involved in this venture besides John Chisholm. Secondly, nowhere in the advertisement is the location of the house of entertainment shown. While one may conjecture that the original tavern was located on John Chisholm's property, such speculation remains as an unverified assumption, although that may have been the case.

3. Less than four months after the advertisement for Chisholm's Tavern had appeared in the Gazette, Chisholm again advertised in the Gazette, on April 10, 1793, advising the public that he had "a convenience house to let in this town, by the year, half year, or quarter". That house contained "two rooms below and one above stairs". The same ad appeared in the Gazette three additional times - - on May 18, June 1, and June 15 during the same year, 1793. Whether this house that Chisholm offered for lease was the same site as the original tavern that had been advertised in December, 1792 is unknown. In any event, it clearly establishes that Chisholm was attempting to rent or lease a building in 1793. Certainly it is logical to assume that the building was located on Chisholm's property, being Lot Number 17, the property located at the corner of State and Front Streets. If in fact this was the same building as the original tavern, it is also the indication that the original tavern, or house of entertainment, had been closed by April, 1793.

4. Chisholm placed another advertisement in the Gazette on October 17, 1793, requesting those indebted to him to pay their bills. The same ad was repeated in the November 23, 1793 issue. No clue has been found as to what these debts represented, although perhaps such debts were in connection to the operation of the original tavern. The fact that four months earlier, for a two month period that same year -- from April to June - Chisholm had offered for lease a building located on his property, may have been an indication that Chisholm had been unsuccessful in finding a tenant for the property, and that he had already determined to open his own tavern in Knoxville. Chisholm's advertisement three months later may have been evidence that he had managed to collect at some of those debts, enabling him to open (or re-open) the tavern.

5. Another advertisement by John Chisholm appeared in the January 12, 1794 issue of the Gazette. Chisholm advised the public that he had opened a house of entertainment at Number 17 State Street, where "boarding may be had by the year, half year, or quarter, on the usual terms". The ad indicates that the house would be conducted by Mr. James Montgomery. The same ad was repeated in the issues of the Gazette on January 30 and February 13 the same year. Apparently, no additional ads or notices of this house of entertainment, or tavern, appeared.

Here is the first instance of confusing information in some twentieth century writings concerning Chisholm and his Tavern. "The French Broad Holston Country" states "He (Chisholm) selected and purchased from James White, lot number 17, at the corner of Front and Arch (now State) Streets, upon which he later constructed a tavern. In December, 1792, the public was informed that he, Alexander Campbell, John Wool and Peter McNamee had opened houses of entertainment. Captain Chisholm advertised that he had opened a house of entertainment at Number 17 (State Street), to be conducted by Mr James Montgomery". In fact, the original advertisement in December, 1792, makes no mention of the address of the tavern, nor is James Montgomery mentioned in that earlier advertisement. In this reference the original 1792 advertisement has been intertwined with the January, 1794 advertisement, issued thirteen months later, resulting in associations of the original tavern with the latter, when in fact such correlations are not in evidence in those ads. Some obvious questions that arise are the following

a) What happened to the three other individuals who originally were associated with Chisholm in the original tavern advertised in December, 1792. Apparently, that partnership or association had been dissolved, since they were no longer mentioned.

b) Was this the same building Chisholm was attempting to rent or lease in April, May and June, 1793? Certainly that probability seems likely but is not confirmed.

c) Finally, did Chisholm decide to open - or re-open - his house of entertainment in January, 1794, or had the tavern been continuously in operation since December, 1792 ? The fact that he offered a "convenience house to let" in 1793 would seem to favor the former rather than the latter scenario. According to the description of Chisholm's property when it was sold in 1799, a dwelling and a house were located on the lot. Apparently, one was his own dwelling, and the other seemingly was the location of the tavern, likely also being the same building that he was attempting to lease for at least three months in 1793. One thing seems evident from Chisholm's 1794 advertisement. The building at lot Number Seventeen apparently extended northward along the west side of State Street, and fronted on that street, else he likely would not have stated in his ad that the tavern was located at number 17 State Street, instead of being on Front Street.

6. Following the insertion of the advertisement in the Gazette on February 13, 1794, I find no additional advertisements for Chisholm's Tavern among the existing copies of that newspaper.

By the middle of the year 1794, Chisholm obviously had expanded his business interests. The Gazette of June 5, 1794 contains an advertisement notifying the public that Chisholm was opening a butcher shop. Where that establishment was located in unknown. Perhaps it was at the same location as the tavern itself. Three years later an advertisement for Lewis Tiner's Hardware store appeared in the Knoxville Gazette three years later, in 1797, indicating that Tiner's store was located "opposite Captain John Chisholm's". That same year, Chisholm went to England, at the direction of William Blount, concerning the attempts to seize the Louisiana Territory from Spain, according to William McArthur, in "Heart of the Valley", where it is also mentioned that soon after returning to America, Chisholm sold his Knoxville property and moved to Muscle Shoals. Chisholm sold his lot seventeen to Samuel Cowan, on July 8, 1799. Knox county records indicate that the property consisted of a "dwelling, a house, and a half lot of land, known by the Number Seventeen, joining the east side of Joseph Baker's lot and joining and lying along State Street, being a corner lot, opposite S. Cowan's lot of Number Sixteen." Cowan paid Chisholm fifteen hundred dollars for the property. Chisholm's son, Ignatius, who would have been twenty-one years old in 1899, apparently remained in Knoxville, at least for a few years. In April, 1802, Ignatius Chisholm and his brother James Chisholm were in court in Knox County, charged with having stabbed a slave belonging to Charles Wright.

This review of John Chisholm's property in early Knoxville only provides evidence that his tavern was located on the west side of State Street, between Front and Hill. It does confirm the fact -- already previously determined by others -- that the building long thought to have been Chisholm's Tavern was not the frame building on Front Street that was long misidentified and was located west of Chisholm's property. However, this information likewise provides evidence that Chisholm was involved in the operation of a tavern in Knoxville at two different times, albeit possibly at the same location. The first was in association with three other men, and the second was on his own, more than a year after the original tavern had apparently ceased to exist.

The 1859 city directory reveals that the building at the northwest corner of State and Front was then being operated as a boarding house. Persons residing at that address then included Alfred Arnold, a laborer, Benjamin Burnett, a carpenter, and Lemuel Burnett, occupation not shown. Whether that building was the same one that had been standing in the early nineteenth century, as the original Chisholm Tavern, is unknown. However, it is quite possible that the original structure was then still standing at that corner in 1859, and that what had once been the Chisholm Tavern had become a boarding house shortly before the Civil War. A number of old buildings along Front Street were still standing many years later, including the aforementioned large structure that was long mis-identified as Chisholm's Tavern.

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