Bean Station, Tennessee
Bean Station is an American town located mostly in Grainger County, Tennessee, with a small portion in Hawkins County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,967. It is part of the Kingsport and Knoxville metropolitan statistical areas.
Pioneer William Bean established Bean Station in 1776 as a frontier outpost; it is considered one of the earliest permanently settled communities in Tennessee. During the 18th and 19th centuries, due to its strategic location at the crossroads of Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road and the Great Indian Warpath, the town grew to become an important stopover for early pioneers and settlers in the Appalachia region.
During the American Civil War, the town was the site of the final battle of the Knoxville campaign before Confederate forces surrendered to a Union blockade in nearby Blaine. In the early 20th century, Bean Station experienced renewed growth with the development of Tate Springs mineral springs resort, investment from U.S. Senator John K. Shields, and the construction of the Peavine Railroad which provided passenger rail services to Knoxville. In the 1940s, the Tennessee Valley Authority inundated the town as part of the construction of Cherokee Dam, and nearly all of the town's residents were removed via eminent domain and federal court orders. Following its inundation, the town was shifted to the new junction of U.S. Route 11W and U.S. Route 25E, becoming a popular lakeside community, and a commuter town for the city of Morristown in neighboring Hamblen County. Citing annexation attempts by Morristown, Bean Station was incorporated as a town in 1996.
History
Early years
In 1775, pioneers Daniel Boone and William Bean observed the future site of Bean Station from the top of Clinch Mountain while on a hunting-and-surveying excursion. During the American Revolutionary War, Bean served as a captain for the Virginia militia; in 1776, he was awarded over in the German Creek valley, where he had earlier surveyed and camped with Boone. At this site, Bean later constructed a four-room cabin, which he used as both his family home and as an inn for prospective settlers, fur traders, and longhunters. The inn and its surrounding area were variously called Bean's Cabin, Bean's Crossroads, and Bean's Station. This area is believed to be the first permanently-settled European-American community in present-day Tennessee.Following Bean's death in May 1782, his sons expanded the homestead into a frontier outpost that included the Bean family cabin, a tavern, and a blacksmith's shop they operated. The settlement was situated at the intersection of Wilderness Road, a north–south pathway constructed in the 1780s that roughly followed the present-day U.S. Route 25E; and the Great Indian Warpath, an east–west pathway that roughly followed what is now U.S. Route 11W. This heavily trafficked crossroads location made Bean Station an important stopover for early American travelers. Additional taverns and inns were operating at the station by the early 1800s. By 1821, the pathway of Wilderness Road from Cumberland Gap to Bean Station was established as the privately owned Bean Station Turnpike and received state funding due to its importance for early interstate travel in the Appalachia region.
Throughout the 1800s, Bean Station attracted the attention of merchants and businessmen. In 1825, Thomas Whiteside constructed Bean Station Tavern, a large tavern with a 40-room capacity, wine cellar, and ballroom. The tavern was one of the largest of its time between New Orleans and Washington, D.C.; the tavern housed several famous guests, including U.S. Presidents Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, and James K. Polk. The main portion of the tavern was destroyed in a fire on the night of December 25, 1886.
Civil War and late 19th century
During the American Civil War, the Battle of Bean's Station took place in the westernmost area of the community on December 14, 1863. Confederate Army General James Longstreet attempted to capture Bean Station en route to Rogersville after failing to drive Union forces out of Knoxville. Bean Station was held by a contingent of Union Army soldiers under the command of General James M. Shackelford. After two days of fighting, Union forces were forced to retreat.After the Civil War, businessman Samuel Tate constructed Tate Springs hotel west of Bean Station. In 1876, Captain Thomas Tomlinson, a Union army veteran who served in the Battle of Bean's Station, purchased the property and converted it into a resort complex, which included a large, Victorian-style luxury hotel and mineral spring that was purported to have healing properties. The resort attracted some of the wealthiest people in America but it declined during the Great Depression and closed in 1941. In 1943, the hotel site was redeveloped into a school and orphanage known as Kingswood. A fire destroyed the main hotel structure in 1963, and the only remnants of the complex were cabins, the pool bathhouse, and Tate Springs Springhouse, the last of which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. As of 2024, the Kingswood orphanage at the site of Tate Springs remains operational.
Late 19th and early 20th centuries
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bean Station was a stop along the Knoxville and Bristol Railroad, which was commonly known by residents as the Peavine Railroad. The railroad was a branch line of the Southern Railway that ran from Morristown to Corryton, a bedroom community outside Knoxville. Construction of the railroad, which first operated between Morristown and Bean Station, was completed in 1893. The completion of the railroad influenced the formation of the Bean Station Improvement Company, which was led by resident and former U.S. Senator John K. Shields with the intent of revitalizing the community. The BSIC laid the groundworks of a town street grid system, sold property for development, and promoted the community in widely distributed advertisements and brochures that highlighted the past, present, and future plans for the community. The company helped fund and propose plans to develop the town as an important multimodal distribution rail-and-road center, such as an extension of the Peavine Railroad across Clinch Mountain to Cumberland Gap, and northeast to Bristol. Both extension plans never came to fruition but rail access was extended west through Grainger County to Knoxville. The popularity of Tate Springs resort located in eastern Bean Station peaked between the 1890s and 1920s when the railroad provided passenger rail connections to the site. The railroad ended service in 1928 and the lines were either demolished or washed out following the inundation of the Holston River by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1942.TVA and community displacement
Initial plans for the construction of Cherokee Dam by the Tennessee Valley Authority several miles downstream along the Holston River included the impounding of the site of Bean Station. In 1941, because of its historical significance, size, and potential relocation problems, officials from the TVA, the Government of Tennessee, historians, and concerned community members gathered in public forums to discuss the town's future and relocation efforts before the valley was flooded the following year.In early 1941, a commission consisting of state planning and TVA personnel hosted town-hall meetings in Bean Station to develop plans for the town to relocate as a planned village, which was similar to the 1930s planning process for Norris for the TVA's earlier Norris Project. Controversy arose following failed negotiations with unwilling property owners for the relocation sites and reluctance from most residents to relocate; the community relocation project was abandoned and most citizens relocated on their own terms. Following the Cherokee Project's completion, the TVA's project report cited opposition from Bean Station residents as the project's biggest difficulty.
Of the estimated 200 families who lived at the original site of Bean Station, nearly 150 were mandated to move via eminent domain. Many houses, 20 businesses, and Clinchdale, the estate of Senator John K. Shields, were demolished or moved, and at least one historical structure had to be relocated. Bean Station Tavern was deconstructed but after the relocation project was canceled, the parts remained in long-term storage.
Mid-to-late 20th and early 21st centuries
Following the 1942 inundation of the original site of Bean Station and the failed relocation plans, Bean Station unofficially shifted to the relocated intersection of US 25E and US 11W near the Grainger-Hawkins County border. During the mid-20th century, Bean Station saw a renewed growth in population and economic progress. The community's access to the road network via US 11W and US 25E facilitated the nationwide trucking industry, and new truck stops and motels serving truckers were built. During early planning for the nationwide freeway network that became the Interstate Highway System, the corridor that became Interstate 81 was planned to follow US 11W between Knoxville and Bristol through Bean Station. By the 1940s, plans for the route had its alignment shifted south of Morristown. Farmers in the town and surrounding area opposed the route through Bean Station, and roadway planners and engineers were also reportedly swooned by officials in Greene and Hamblen counties.In 1961, following efforts led by a Morristown historical group, the TVA proposed a historical park near the western interchange between US 11W and US 25E, and plans to rebuild the Bean Station Tavern on-site. These plans were scrapped when it was discovered the lengthy storage period had caused the original tavern materials to deteriorate beyond repair, and the TVA-owned land reserved for the park was used for a public baseball park on behalf of Grainger County officials. As the region's economy began to diversify, manufacturing overtook agriculture as the area's main source of income. By the mid 20th century, development along Highways 25E and 11W, and the construction of manufacturing facilities increased, and in 1964, the community attempted to incorporate into a city. Residents rejected incorporartion in a referendum by a margin of 153 votes to 94. In 1967, residents organized and chartered the Bean Station Volunteer Fire Department, and in 1975, the Bean Station Volunteer Rescue Squad was established.
In 1977, residents of Bean Station again petitioned to incorporate into a city, whose new boundaries would include portions of the neighboring community Mooresburg across the Hawkins County line. The proposal was rejected in a 291-to-160 vote. In the mid-1990s, rumors portions of southern Bean Station may be annexed into Morristown spread throughout the community, leading residents to petition a third incorporation election in 1994. In 1996, the town's residents voted to incorporate Bean Station into a city with a population of 2,171. The vote was carried with 627 in favor of incorporation and 142 against.