Why it’s called McCabe Avenue

McCabe Avenue is in West End. Many drivers use this route to avoid heavier Broadway traffic closer to downtown. The street goes right by the Rhyne Lumber Company site, which is familiar to many people. However, there would only be a very few who will remember that that business was earlier known as McCabe Lumber Company, and at other times, Spiegle Lumber Company. In fact, the area also has been called “Spiegle Hill.”

Until after the Civil War, trees were usually felled only when an area was to be cleared to get the land for cultivation, for firewood or to get material to build a house or barn. For the latter reasons, it was not the largest trees which were cut. In the Southern mountains there was still much virgin forest land and many massive trees.

At that time the demand for wood was greater than that for metal. The economy of the South had been primarily agricultural and had been decimated by the ravages of the war and the abolition of slavery. The northern capitalists soon recognized an opportunity. Here was an area of rich resources, and with a shortage of ready cash, a willing labor pool.

One of the first large scale logging operations in the South was the Scottish-Carolina Timber and Land Company which was established here in Cocke County in 1884. That business has a story all its own, which Wilma Dykeman covered in her book

The French Broad. (The SCTL left here in 1886. Ms. Dykeman’s explanation was the company’s devastation from a flood. She probably had knew, but chose not the write, that another major reason was the lack of cooperation between the SCTL and the local business and political leaders.)

There were other areas in the South where later logging operations were located. The primary focus for the businessmen was removing the desirable timber and for the workers it was getting their wages. There was only minimal regard to the land or landscape.

Forests are a renewable resource which, however, takes time. In many areas, bare land was washed and eroded which, in turn, removed wildlife habitats and damaged the streams.

The Biltmore Forest School on the Vanderbilt estate in Asheville was the first forestry school in the United States. From 1898-1914, its goal was to teach southerners how to conserve the forest resources and to quickly replant cut-over lands. In correlation to this was President Theodore Roosevelt’s desire to protect wildlife and public lands that led to the creation of the national parks, forests, game preserves and monuments.

Having digressed and getting back to the local angle, George Molledore Spiegle (1862-1946) was a lumberman and also a capitalist who saw the potential of the southern mountains. He came here in 1898 and set up business in the former Bellvue Cotton Mill, which was at the present intersection of East Main Street and Lincoln Avenue. The Knoxville Journal and Tribune, May 27, 1900, mentioned that George M. Spiegle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was “operating extensive lumber interests in Newport.”

In “Newport News” in the Chattanooga Daily Times, March 27, 1901, it was reported that Southern Railway was getting ready to put in a sidetrack “for Spiegle’s new lumber mill in the West End.”

The next phases of the story have both confusion and drama.

On Feb. 21, 1906, in the Nashville Banner, it was reported that the Secretary of State has issued a charter to McCabe Lumber Company which had a capital of $50,000. The incorporators were listed as G.M. Spiegle, Walter McCabe, Henry Spiegle, Frank Richardson and W.D. McSween. Walter McCabe was a brother-in-law of George Spiegle, whose wife was Lavinia McCabe. Henry Spiegle was George’s younger brother.

A special section about the city of Newport appeared in the Chattanooga News, Sept. 15, 1906. It was stated that the business had started March 1, 1906, as a successor to Geo. M. Spiegle & Company, which grew so quickly had it was necessary to move to an eight acre tract on the west side of town.

Handling only hardwoods, there they operated a saw mill, a planing mill, dry kiln and a lumber yard. They have shipped lumber across the South. George Spiegle was listed as President and Walter McCabe as Secretary. W.J. and W.D. McSween were their General Counselors. Frank Richardson and Henry Spiegle were the buyers.

As mentioned previous- ly, Henry Spiegle (18701908), known as “Harry,” was George’s brother. Harry married Agnes J. Hauser in 1892 and they had seven children. While George’s principal residence remained in Philadelphia, Harry and his family had moved to Tennessee by 1903.

Evidently, Harry “had issues.” In 1908, he was living in Knoxville and was employed at the Knoxville Saw Mill Company.

As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, on Sept. 4, 1908, Harry had been the black sheep of the family and had “caused more or less domestic discord the last eight to ten years.”

He had been in trouble several times and his brother had had to straighten things out. Harry had “deserted his wife for a southern girl,” and George had brought Harry’s family back to Philadelphia where he was supporting them. Harry had gotten a lumber job in Marshall, North Carolina, when he was arrested and tried for forgery. In August 1908, the case was dismissed on a technicality. For some reason, he felt George was responsible for his arrest, and on Sept. 3 he came to the office, where he fired a .32 revolver which misfired twice. In an ensuing scuffle, George was able to wrest the gun away from Harry and shot at him, meaning it to be just a warning. However, a bullet struck Harry in the shoulder and ranged downward, damaging several vital organs. He underwent surgery but died later that night. George turned himself into the police, made bond and was released. The next year he was acquitted by reason of self-defense. Reports of this incident were reported, naturally in The Newport Plain Talk, as well as across the country.

In 1910, Walter McCabe sold his interest in McCabe Lumber Company to G.M. Spiegle and went into business for himself in Knoxville. Advertisements in the Knoxville newspapers state that he was located on the “old Baldwin ballpark” at Dale and South and was buying “all hardwoods and white pine.” The McCabe family moved from Newport to Knoxville where they were quite active in church and social affairs for many years. Here comes the confusing part: which was which and who owned what?

In 1911, The Newport Plain Talk, reported that Spiegle mill would be enlarged at McCabe Lumber Company. In the Special Edition on Feb. 24, 1915, there was an article about the lumber business of Walter McCabe, and during that time there were regular advertisements, saying that F.S. Graddon was the manager. The McCabe Company would have a lumber yard near the T&NC Depot in Newport. (That was at the present intersection of Asheville Highway and Edwina Road.)

In 1916, Spiegle was part of a group which established an operation, called Cotrim, in Bristol, Tennessee. The men were described as “expert lumbermen and manufacturers and have been operating at Newport, Tenn.” The Spiegle family remained involved with Cotrim for many years. It is still in operation.

In 1918, Charles T. Rhyne, a young man, came to Newport to work for Mr. Spiegle as manager of McCabe Lumber

Company. (Young Rhyne had previously worked for Boice Hardwood Company at Hartford.) One picture shows “McCabe Lumber Company” on the mill and another shows “Spiegle Lumber Company” on the warehouse.

Mr. Rhyne was later able to purchase the business. The Nashville Banner, Feb. 18, 1926, reported that Rhyne Lumber Company had been incorporated with $30,000 capital. The incorporators were listed as C.T. Rhyne, T.Q. Hunt, J.O. Cope, W.D. McSween and Motelle Rhyne.

(Mrs. Patsy Williams recalls that the Rhyne family went to the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and stopped in Philadelphia to deliver their final payment to the Spiegle family.)

So, this is why Newport has McCabe Avenue. These men made a difference in providing a market for loggers and industrial jobs for mill workers. Also, they produced quality construction materials for contractors and carpenters. These opportunities remained constant even during the years of the Great Depression.