Last Friday night's singing sponsored by WJJT Radio brought in some truly outstanding singers that had some of us in awe of their talent - especially Steve Warren. And we were honored to have with us that night from Nashville, Ron Campbell, Broadcast Information Officer for the Tennessee State Legislature, who is a fine singer as well and does both radio and television there.

There's not much that can be said concerning our Fourth of July celebration that was not repeated countless times during all of the activities. In fact one former mayor of a nearby town told me that he now comes to Jellico on a regular basis because he is so greatly impressed with what we do for the Fourth - as well as all of the other activities that we have throughout the year.

We lost track of the calls that we received from out of town concerning our celebration - including one from a lady in London, Kentucky who said that her family had heard so much about what goes on in Jellico on the Fourth that they planned to come here this year.

There is no way that I can thank everyone for their contributions and so I will not try to do so. But it requires a tremendous amount of work and planning on the part of an awful lot of folks and on behalf of the City of Jellico, I want to thank every individual involved in any way.

It's good to know that the word is spreading concerning what is now taking place in our town.

Our next bit activity in Jellico and White Oak (although there could be singings in the Park, etc. prior to that time) will be WEROC that is scheduled for next weekend (July 14,15,16). The sport continues to grow more popular around here and Jake Bennett does such a great job in publicizing the event - plus the fact our area has that great natural course at White Oak.

The Church of God, Mountain Assembly's 100th Anniversary Assembly is now only a month away. It will be a truly historic event and I hope that our folks join in the commemorative events including attending services, the parade, possible talent show, fireworks display, etc. Let's make the CGMA delegates and visitors both very welcome and appreciated in Jellico.

Everyone is reminded that Jake has scheduled our first "Antique Tractor and Engine Show" for Saturday, August 26th as part of our second "Downtown Day". Mark it on your personal calendar and let's celebrate the progress we have made in renovating and revitalizing Jellico.

We would like to make that day and evening into a throwback to the time when our town was jam packed with folks shopping and socializing on Saturdays and Saturday nights. Hopefully all of our businesses will remain open until 10:00 PM that evening as they did that first "Downtown Day" we had eight years ago that really got our drive to improve our town off to a good start.

In the absence of Councilman Alvin Evans due to military service, I again met with representatives of Hatfield and Associates and the East Tennessee Development District and the bidding contractor in preparation for work to start on our sidewalk/walking trail. A contract was signed for the actual work to begin on or about July 31st and to be completed by October 31st. The construction will start at Veterans Park and be completed in the downtown before proceeding on the baseball fields which should prevent any conflict with activities such as Downtown Day, the 9/11 Candlelight Vigil, Fall Fest, etc.

Following our meeting, the representatives from both agencies in attendance, also checked out our sidewalk situation and offered to approve funding for some additional work - an offer which we were all too happy to accept. That work might include a section of North Main Street and possibly even a sidewalk or two on secondary streets. But the representatives are to survey the situation once again before making any decision as to what addition(s) they will approve.

The founding of the CGMA is not the only occurrence approaching its 100th year. Alla Faye Rutherford has reminded me of the upcoming 100th anniversary of another truly historic event in the history of our town that is fast approaching.

The Great Jellico Explosion occurred on our then very large railroad yard (just behind Veterans Park) in the early morning of Friday, September 21, 1906. Approximately 7:45 AM. We had two towns at that time (Jellico, Tennessee and Jellico, Kentucky) and both were almost destroyed by the explosion - especially Jellico, Kentucky. A railroad car containing eleven (11) tons of dynamite suddenly exploded on the yard killing seven, wounding an estimated 150 to 200 others and doing tremendous damage.

Among the six killed instantly was Joe Seller, engineer for the Proctor train and my grandfather Kasee's next door neighbor in Proctor who was also his closest personal friend and brother in the Odd Fellows Lodge. Although my grandfather was an underground mine "bank boss" for a period of years for the Red Ash (Proctor) Coal Company, he and all employees were required to use company money called "scrip" and forbidden to trade anywhere other than the company commissary. Seller had a designated spot during his evening run to Jellico with gondolas loaded with coal where he slowed the train coming out of Proctor Hollow to a crawl and allowed miners to hop on. On the return trip after trading in town where prices were much lower than in the company commissary, they jumped off at that same spot and slipped through the woods and back into their homes with groceries and other goods to avoid losing their jobs. Needless to say, he was highly beloved by the members of that community.

And according to my grandmother, Seller's death brought on great mourning in Proctor. Without all of the death and other benefits available today, his survivors eventually had to leave Proctor and went to Indiana. A few years ago while I was walking in the Black Oak area, a man and his wife in a vehicle with Indiana license tags pulled up to me and asked if I had any idea where his grandfather named Joe Seller might be buried in that area. Without thinking, I said no. They had barely gotten out of the range of my voice when I realized the grave they sought and could have easily pointed out the cemetery where he reportedly is buried. And I could certainly have shown him the remains of the Proctor railroad bed where his grandfather engineered the train. I still greatly regret my slow thinking that day! (I hope somehow he sees this note on the Net and contacts me.)

Two days after the blast, twenty years old Johnny Koch succumbed to his injuries and I will never forget as a child several times visiting his sister's home (her married name was Bomaze) sitting where the Eddie Barton farm is now located. (Koch is said to have planned to enter the priesthood and his family of German immigrants had helped to build the original and beautiful St. Boniface Catholic Church on Kentucky Hill that burned several years ago.) She always showed visitors his room that she maintained exactly the way it was the day of his death and she also kept candles burning in his memory until her own death many years later.

A tremendous crater was created by the force of the blast and there are numerous photos still around depicting its great length, width and depth. And there are numerous photos that clearly demonstrate the damage to so many, many buildings and especially those on the present day "Kentucky side" (then Jellico, KY.). At least two of those photos can be seen in the Office of Tourism.

When I worked for the University of Tennessee football program as a graduate administrative assistant, former Jellicoan Tom Siler, then Sports Editor of the Knoxville News-Sentinel and President of the American Sportswriters of America, used to stop by the office. My being from Jellico, he liked to discuss the explosion with me since he said that according to his mother, he or another member of his family (and I can't recall which) narrowly missed being killed as a small baby when a very large and heavy chunk of coal was blown through the window of the Siler home on Fifth Street that just did miss the crib where the infant was sleeping. (Due to the tremendous velocity of the explosion, many very heavy objects traveled great distances through the air including the wheels of the exploding gondola.)

No definite cause was ever attributed to igniting the explosion although trains were busily switching cars on the numerous nearby tracks which may have created static electricity that could have been the culprit. But my grandmother always said that a Red Ash Coal Company official insisted that he saw a man doing target practice with his pistol (which many carried at that time) and that a glancing bullet had probably struck the gondola loaded with the dynamite.

The great explosion coming at a time when the young Jellico had just fully recovered from a huge and devastating fire of a few years earlier, really put the town in dire circumstances. But following a period of mourning, the healing and rebuilding began and many of the wooden buildings that had been damaged beyond repair were replaced by more sturdy brick structures that are still standing today. And Jellico began experiencing a period of increased growth and prosperity!

Then came the killer "influenza" epidemic of 1918; the great flood of 1929 and the tornado of 1933 that ironically formed in Proctor Hollow and took a path through what is now Indian Mountain State Park and the Seventh Day Adventist Church/School. But that huge twister that grew as it traveled did most of its loss of life and terrible damage several miles from here. But those are other stories!

I need to be there myself! I was asked by Sue Thomas and several other ladies to announce that "Weight Watchers" has come to Jellico and is meeting each Thursday evening in the Community Conference Room located in the city building at our main traffic signal. Meeting time is 5:30 PM. There is an initial charge of $30.00 to join the group and a weekly fee of $12.00. However everyone is invited to visit the group at no cost.

(From all indications, the interest level in that activity is going to be very high around here!)

I try to make these articles as informative and entertaining as possible concerning our town. And a fellow at Hardees the other morning and following last week's edition, told several of us that he now reads only this column for both information and entertainment. He said that this column is upbeat; points out all of the good things going on now; doesn't run down our town and our people; and tells him all that he needs to know about what goes on in Jellico and our area. That's a tremendous compliment and I sincerely hope that an awful lot of others find them so beneficial. That's my intention in writing them!

E-mail me at: mayor@jellico.tn.us

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