Tracy City in Grundy County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)

E.L. Hampton House

Town of Tracy City

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, June 18, 2025

1. E.L. Hampton House Marker

Inscription. From Railroad Ticket Agent to Coal Company President

This house was built around 1895 by E.L. Hampton, then a ticket agent for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. In April of 1904, after the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company ("TCI") moved most of its operations to Alabama, Hampton leased TCI's remaining land holdings in this area and organized the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company ("TCC"), which continued to mine coal in the area until the 1990s.

Although the TCC was often involved in major labor disputes with local miners, Hampton, as president of TCC, was an important person in both company and Tracy City civic affairs. Hampton resided in this house until around 1924 when it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Baggenstoss. The period that Hampton resided in the house was both an important and productive period of mining for TCC.

The E.L. Hampton house is a two-story vernacular frame home in the Queen Anne style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

Photo caption: The E.L. Hampton house, circa 1895 (top) and in more recent times, below. Though he rose from being a ticket agent

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for the NC&StL Railroad to become President of the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company, Hampton chose to stay in the house from the time it was built in 1895 until 1924, when it was sold to Mr. & Mrs. Fritz Baggenstoss.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Notable Buildings.

Location. 35° 15.488′ N, 85° 44.466′ W. Marker is in Tracy City, Tennessee, in Grundy County. It is at the intersection of Oak Street and Railroad Ave, on the right when traveling north on Oak Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 20 Oak St, Tracy City TN 37387, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau

and in the Highland Rim.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, June 18, 2025

2. E.L. Hampton House Marker

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Operation Desert Storm (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); For God and Country (about 600 feet away); James Cartwright Warner (approx. 0.2 miles away); Alfred Montgomery Shook (approx. 0.2 miles away); Einar Oswald Nathurst (approx. 0.2 miles away); Arthur St. Clair Colyar (approx. ¼ mile away); William L. Beard (approx. ¼ mile away); The Tidman Hotel (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Tracy City.

Credits. This page was last revised on July 8, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 4, 2025, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 138 times since then and 28 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 5, 2025, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.