established in 1884
One of St. Elmo's oldest historic Victorian homes, Sissons House is situated at the base of Lookout Mountain and was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed F. Sisson and their four children. Mr. Sisson spent 52 years employed in the railroad industry, beginning in 1858; during his vast career he worked for numerous historic railway lines, including the Hannibal & St. Joseph, Cincinnati New Orleans & Texas Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. He also experienced esteemed prominence as a famous auctioneer.
Built in 1884, the home was part of the early fabric of the city, erected just six years before the completion of the landmark Walnut Street Bridge in 1890--the first non-military highway bridge across the Tennessee River and still one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world--which connects downtown Chattanooga to the city's eclectic North Shore neighborhood.
The history of the American Civil War, which ended nearly two decades before the construction of Sissons House, looms large in Chattanooga. In 1863, following their victory at Chickamauga Creek, the Confederate Army pursued the Union Army to Chattanooga, perching atop Lookout Mountain--just above Sissons House--to observe Union troops below. On November 24, 1863, Union troops dominated Confederate troops on the northern slopes of Lookout Mountain in what became known as the "Battle of Lookout Mountain," assuring control of the Tennessee River and the railroad into Chattanooga. Union Army Brig. General Montgomery Meigs, observing the fog-shrouded engagement, was the first writer to poetically name this encounter the "Battle Above the Clouds," due to the elevation and foggy weather conditions during the conflict.
After winning this strategic battle and opening a gateway to the south, Union forces occupied the city and used it as a supply centre for the Atlanta campaign of General William Tecumseh Sherman. For the remainder of the Civil War, Lookout Mountain became a tourist destination for Union soldiers and civilians. Today, portions of the Lookout Mountain battlefield are preserved by the National Park Service as part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
The neighborhood of St. Elmo was founded in 1885, just a year after the completion of Sissons House. Nestled on the eastern side of the foot of Lookout Mountain, St. Elmo is situated in the southernmost part of Hamilton County and is considered Chattanooga's first suburb. Town founders Abraham Malone Johnson and his wife Thankful Whiteside Johnson developed St. Elmo by subdividing an extensive parcel of land (which they inherited from Thankful's industrialist father Colonel James Whiteside's estate) into residential and commercial lots. They started the town's first book club and Sunday school and helped found the St. Elmo Bank & Trust and Forest Hills Cemetery; roads and buildings around town still bear their names.
The name St. Elmo was taken from the the title of an immensely popular novel of the same name, written in 1866 by the staunch Southern patriot Augusta Jane Evans (later Augusta Evans Wilson). Close friends with Thankful Whiteside Johnson, Evans visited the Johnsons' Lookout Mountain home numerous times before the War Between the States and used the stunning landscape as the setting for her book. The story of its heroine, Edna Earl, in fact begins at the foot of Lookout Mountain. Margaret Mitchell, the author of the 1936 bestseller Gone with the Wind, claimed in her biography that she modeled the character Rhett Butler after the titular character St. Elmo Murray in Evans' story.
Evans chose the title St. Elmo after noticing that the view from Lookout Mountain of the valley below reminded her of the view from St. Elmo Castle in Naples, Italy (the medieval Castel Sant'Elmo). Publishers claimed St. Elmo was read by a million people within four months of being published and soon became one of the most popular novels of the nineteenth century, leading Evans to became the first woman to earn $100,000 from her writing--a record unsurpassed until Edith Wharton. Many consider the story to be the exemplary precursor to the modern romance novel. Due to the popularity of the book and their connection to the author, the Johnsons named their new town St. Elmo.
St. Elmo remained an independent municipality for many years before being incorporated into the city of Chattanooga in 1929. In 1982 St. Elmo was listed on the National Register as a Local Historic District and many of its original buildings from the 19th century--Sissons House among them--have been lovingly preserved and restored. Today St. Elmo is the largest historic district in the state of Tennessee.
We look forward to your stay.