Photo by Kristen Luther The home of Helen and Jim Wilson, located on Riverside Drive, is one of the homes that will be protected by the Planning Commission’s historic zoning amendment. The house was built by the late Dr. E.E. Hunter, a prominent citizen of Elizabethton before and after the turn of the last century.

These two homes located on Hattie Avenue are among the oldest homes in the city. The house on the right was built by W.P. Dungan, while the brick was built by his brother-inlaw, Capt. L.H. Rhudy.

  By Rozella Hardin
star staff
rhardin@starhq.com

  Some of the city's most historic homes are located on Hattie Avenue and South Riverside Drive, one of the areas first settled when the town moved west of the Doe River. However, long before there was a town on the west banks of the Doe River and long before the Dungans and Rhudys decided to build their gingerbread mansions, there was a Hattie Avenue -- named for Hattie Jobe Taylor Harris, whose father, Dr. Abraham Jobe, was one of the most respected citizens of the town.
  Recognizing the historical importance of some of the homes in that neighborhood and with some urging from homeowners and neighbors in that area, steps are being taken by the city of Elizabethton to protect the town's most treasured neighborhoods with a historic ordinance.
  The Planning Commission at a meeting earlier this month directed State Planner Charles Alley and the city's Director of Planning David Ornduff to write an amendment to the city code creating an historic zone.
  Hattie Avenue and South Riverside Drive still boasts several late 19th century homes, which indicate the neighborhood was one of Elizabethton's most prosperous. The homes were owned by some of Elizabethton's earliest citizens, among them Dr. Jobe, Dr. E.E. Hunter, W.P. Dungan and L.H.Rhudy.
  The neighborhood is located right on the edge of Elizabethton's Historic District, which includes the Covered Bridge, the Alfred Moore Carter Home (now Carter on Main Restaurant) near the Courthouse, the Folsom House, and the site where the historic Sycamore tree stood on Riverside Drive.
  It is apparent that the Hattie Avenue neighborhood has filled a prominent spot not only in the history of Carter County and Elizabethton, but the state of Tennessee.
  Dr. Abraham Jobe, according to court records, is the earliest known landowner of acreage in the vicinity of what is now Hattie Avenue. He was one of the first doctors in Carter County. He built his home on Hattie Avenue circa 1900 or a decade or so before. The house is located at the corner of Hattie Avenue and Riverside Drive, and most recently was purchased by Helen and Jim Wilson to ensure its preservation. In later years the house was known as the Range House. A deed recorded at the Carter County Courthouse also shows that Robert Love Taylor (governor of Tennessee) and his wife, Sarah, at one time owned the two-story frame house.
  Dr. Jobe subdivided his land among his children; some had been sold earlier to the Cooperative Town Company.
  Land adjacent to Dr. Jobe's house was deeded to his daughter, Mollie, who was married to Dr. E.E. Hunter. Dr. Hunter built a home on Riverside Drive, which was later known as the Dr. Bowers house. The home, which was built around 1906, is now the home of Helen and Jim Wilson.
  Across the street from the Jobe home on Hattie Avenue are the houses built by W.P. Dungan and his brother-in-law, Captain L.H. Rhudy.
  The Dungan house, now owned by Al and Celia Ceffalo (the purple house), was built in 1892 and was one of the first houses west of the Doe River on Hattie Avenue.
  From about 1890 to about 1920, Judge Dungan was a leader in every progressive movement that contributed to the development of Elizabethton. He was a real pioneer. Dungan established the first bank in Elizabethton (People's Bank), had the first electric lights, first telephone, and the first private water system.
  Dungan purchased the tract of land in what was then called the "Old Taylor Addition" from Hattie Jobe Taylor and her husband, Nat Taylor.
  One of the more elaborate homes built in Elizabethton in the 1890s, the Dungan House reflected the success, the prosperity, and status of its owners, who was a town leader for more than 30 years.
  At a time when Elizabethton was experiencing its first growing pains, W.P. Dungan was grasping at opportunities to reach into a new century with new ideas and a vision that would completely change the town people's way of life.
  According to the earliest deeded, the Dungan home had a fenced-in yard as it does now. The tract of land on which the house was built originally stretched east to Riverside Drive and north to the alley behind the house and included an orchard and garden on the back lot.
  On the west side of the Dungan home was the handsome brick dwelling of Captain L.H. Rhudy, who was married to Dungan's sister, Carrie. Another sister, Mattie Vanhoy, and her husband, N.H. Vanhoy, built a frame dwelling on property adjoining the Rhudys around 1898.
  The house which Dungan built on Hattie Avenue remained in the family until 1935 when it was sold to satisfy a debt and taxes.