If you come intoOliverSpringstoday and ask for directions to the town library you will be directed towards one of the town’s crown jewels when it comes to its history. Anyone in town will tell you head down to the old train depot which now houses the Oliver Springs Public Library and the Oliver Springs Historical Society’s Museum and Preservation rooms.

It is noteworthy that the Oliver Springs Depot as it exists today is remarkably well preserved, down to the original siding and ‘split shake’ shingles in the gables. The Depot was saved from destruction in the latter part of the 20^th century, being moved back off the Southern right of way to its present location in town and undergoing a renovation.

Thanks to the Oliver Springs Historical Society this Depot remains as one of the more pristine examples of 19^th century railroad architecture to be found anywhere.

The Southern Depot holds a very prominent place in OliverSprings’ history. Built in 1896 to accommodate a burgeoning freight and passenger traffic after Southern Railway took over the defunct E.T.V. &G. Railway Line, the Southern Depot was a dropping off point for goods and tourists coming into OliverSpringsand the outside world. From Cincinnatiand beyond to points North, Chattanoogaand points beyond to the South; The Southern Depot represented commerce and prosperity to the little hamlet of OliverSpringsin the latter part of the 19^th century.

Any history ofOliverSpringswould be woefully incomplete without a discussion on the railroads and their importance to the town. The railroads quickly became a life link to and from the young enclave being craved out of the recent wilderness. Helped along by the foresight of men like Joseph Richards, Sr., who in December of 1887 sold the right of way to the Walden Ridge Railroad Company for the sum of one dollar, the railroad soon provided rapid transportation for goods, raw materials and public transportation in and out of the Oliver Springs area.

It is also fair to mention the importance the railroad played in the success of the Oliver Springs Hotel and the tourist town it was quickly evolving to become at the end of the 19^th century. The railroad made daily stops at the hotel, as well as, two trains fromKnoxville on Saturday’s. Without the railway tourist would not have been able to reach such a remote location at the time.

The year is 1895 and Oliver Springs has become a growing boomtown. The old 35 room Oliver Springs Hotel, or ‘Richards House’ as it was known had been torn down in 1894 to make way for the new hotel, which promised to surpass anything that the town had yet seen. And as first the mansions, then the carpenters did their magic, what came into being was indeed a magnificent edifice which promised grander times to come.

So it was official the old hotel had been torn down. Ripped apart and hauled away in the Fall of 1894. What had once been rumored as an addition to the Richards House soon became a much larger expansion then anyone had dreamed. And here the new hotel was in late Spring of 1895, almost finished and ready for the Summer tourist season.

Who would have thought it could have done, erecting such a proud and bold structure in only a few short months time. Yet here it was, with workers scurrying up and down scaffolds, installing soffit, hoisting up planking for the whimsical cupola that rose to the lofty height of nearly 80 feet. What a grand show place it promised to be!

Soon the trains would be coming whistling into the resort, bringing all manners of guests lured by the legend of the mineral springs and their reputed healing powers. Guests could choose their diversions from everyday life with a quick trip to the bowling alley, or play tennis on the new grass courts, or spend their time in a well equipped billiard’s room. And for those less physically inclined, a lazy stroll through the shady grove might be in order.

The new hotel promised the most modern of conveniences to its wealth guests. With 150 large, airy, quite chambers with purified hot airs heaters, foul air ducts, elevator, electric lights, call bells, hot and cold water, with or without baths, with every room being carpeted well furnished and with a view outside. The hotel stood to be a beacon of light and promise as the new century approached.

Looking back on that era, it must have been an amazing time to have lived here inOliverSprings. The Oliver Springs Historical Society continues its efforts to raise the funds needed to preserve the history of the Oliver Springs Hotel, as well as, the rich 190 year history of the town.

The city of OliverSprings is a beautiful hamlet located in East Tennessee. Settled in 1821, we have a 190 year tradition based around the famed mineral springs in the area which led to part of our name. Thanks to an early settler Richard Oliver, of which the town gets the rest of its name, the town of OliverSprings began to develop around tourism to the mineral springs.

The land aroundOliverSprings had been used for centuries as an Indian hunting ground, but it was the springs that encouraged them to stay. The springs, whose reputation for miraculous medicinal properties lasted until the 20th century, were known as

“Tah-hah-lehaha” to the Cherokee, a name meaning ‘healing waters’. The land remained unexplored until 1761, when Elisha Walden traveled through the Clinch and PowellRiverValleys. Settlement in the area did not begin in earnest until the 1790′s.

The town of Oliver Springs was originally known as Winter’s Gap in honor on Maj. Moses Winter, the first settler. Growth remained slow, but by 1826, Richard Oliver became the town’s first postmaster. The town was re-named Oliver’s in his honor, then briefly Popular Springs, and then to Oliver Springs. Oliver had built a 35 room inn in the 1830′s and began the first promotion of the mineral springs. The inn was used as a hospital but both sides during the Civil War.

Joseph Richards bought Oliver’s land in 1873. He built the first resort hotel, which was replaced in 1895 by a 150 room hotel. From 1895 until it burned in 1905, the Oliver Springs Hotel was a nationally known destination. The railroad, which came toOliverSprings in 1888, brought thousands of visitors to the springs. Due to being improperly insured, the Hotel was not rebuilt. The town decided to cover the springs in later years. Evidence of water conduits and reservoirs can still be seen on the site.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the area became dependent on the coal industry. According to historian Keith Glass, the Windrock Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of the Bessemer Coal, Iron and Land Company of Birmingham,Alabama began operating a coal mine nearOliverSpringsin approximately 1904.

In 1942, during World War II, theU.S.government bought up the neighboring communities of Robertsville, Edgemoor, East Fork, Elza,Bethel,Scarborough, and Wheat and built the secret city of Oak Ridge as part of the Manhattan Project. During this period, one of the most prominent buildings inOliverSprings— the Dr. Fred Stone, Sr. Hospital— was built by Dr. Fred Stone, who worked as a physician and examiner for new Manhattan Project employees. Eventually, the economy ofOliverSpringsbecame dependent on government employment inOak Ridge, and suffered when employment levels declined at the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

In the years following the end of the Cold War,OliverSpringsand its neighbors have struggled to re-establish a solid foundation on which to base their economies.OliverSpringshas experimented with several industries. In the late 1990s, the movie October Sky was filmed in nearby coal mining areas as well as the city’s downtown area. Currently, the local economy is beginning to take advantage of the mountains, which are very popular among all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders with the largest privately owned off-road facility in the Untied States called Coal Creek OHV located on Windrock Mountain.