TENNESSEE FIRSTS

Hi Ya'll,

There were a lot of “FIRSTS” that happened in Tennessee. Let’s talk about some of them.

Are you familiar with the Ocoee River in Polk County Tennessee? The Ocoee was the FIRST natural river used for Olympic whitewater competition. It was used in July 1996 during the summer Olympics which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. saw first hand how course designers had to re-channel the riverbed to create an Olympic course one-third the width of the original riverbed. This whitewater competition attracted over 15,000 visitors and more than 1,000 volunteers and staff.

Here's another one............
Did you know that the song “In Perfect Harmony” was originated for Coca-Cola? Yep, and Coca-Cola was FIRST bottled in 1899 at a plant on Patten Parkway in downtown Chattanooga after two local attorneys purchased the bottling rights to the drink for $l.00.

Do you remember actress and singer Polly Bergen?

She was from Knoxville and she was the FIRST woman

to serve on the Board of Directors of the Singer Sewing

Machine Company.

I wonder how many people know the name of the person who is remembered for his famous rally cry "Damn the Torpedoes”? Yes, it was Admiral David Farragut from Knoxville. David Glasgow Farragut was born in 1801 and became an Admiral in the Navy on July 16, 1862....the FIRST Admiral ever in American History.

You know how you remember certain things from

when you were young? I remember learning about

these two things in history class in school. John Sevier

was the FIRST Governor of Tennessee and the FIRST

Constitution of the state of Tennessee was written in

Knoxville during the winter of 1796.

I bet most people don’t know that Tennessee was the FIRST state created out of federal lands. And that The Statehood Proclamation was signed by President George Washington in 1796 and is now on display in the Museum of Tennessee history.

Here are a couple of things that aren’t in the history books.

The Alex Haley home in Henning, TN was the FIRST state-owned historic site devoted to African Americans. And Robert R. Church, Sr. of Memphis is reported to be the South's FIRST African-American millionaire.

I would be surprised if anyone knows this one. A submarine, built by Sumner county native Horace Lawson Hunley, was the FIRST in history to sink an enemy ship, the USS Housatonic, Unfortunately Hunley did not live to see this happen. He died earlier when a submarine he was in sunk.

Knoxville is undoubtedly proud of one of their own.

William Henry Hastie, from Knoxville was the FIRST

Black Federal Judge in U.S. History. He was appointed

by President Franklin D. Roosevelt following his term

as the FIRST Black Governor of the Virgin Islands.

And how about Hattie Caraway. She was born in Bakersville, Tennessee in 1878 and became the FIRST woman United States Senator. Wouldn’t she be proud of what women have accomplished today with so many women in government and a woman who ran for President? She paved the way for other women after her.

YOUR FAVORITE TENNESSEAN

EUNICE