Editing Erwin, Tennessee (section)

==History==
The town of Erwin received its name by a mail mishap. On December 5, 1879, the name of the town was Ervin, in honor of D.J.N. Ervin, who had donated {{convert|15|acre|m2}} of land for the county seat. A typo made by post office officials caused the name to be recorded as Erwin. The mistake was never corrected.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===Railroads===
From 1890 to 2015 [[railroad operations]] contributed greatly to Erwin's economic and cultural identity.

The [[Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad]] (the Triple C) was chartered in 1886 with its headquarters in Johnson City, Tennessee. Trains ran through Erwin in 1890, but by the end of the year, the company disbanded and all construction and operation ceased.

In 1893 the [[Ohio River and Charleston Railway]] (OR&C) purchased the assets of the Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago Railroad in receivership and attempted to complete and operate the line. It too failed and was placed in receivership.

In 1909 the [[Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway]] (CCO) was completed, running from [[Dante, Virginia]] to [[Spartanburg, South Carolina]], with its headquarters situated in Erwin. In 1915, this line was extended to [[Elkhorn City, Kentucky]], to connect with the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] (C&O). In 1924, its ownership and name was officially changed to the [[Clinchfield Railroad]] (CRR).

On Aug. 31, 1987 the C&O railroad merged into [[CSX Transportation]], which continued to maintain the Erwin rail yard. After acquiring 42% of [[Conrail]] in 1999, CSX became one of four major railroad systems in the nation and Erwin continued to host the rail yard, diesel shop, and car repair facility until 2015.

===Southern Potteries plant===
Between 1916 and 1957, the Southern Potteries plant operated in Erwin along Ohio Avenue.  The plant produced a hand-painted dishware known as [[Blue Ridge (dishware)|Blue Ridge]] that became popular nationwide in the late 1930s and 1940s.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}  Blue Ridge pieces are still popular items with collectors of antique dishware.<ref name=newbound>Betty Newbound and Bill Newbound, ''Southern Potteries Incorporated Blue Ridge Dinnerware'' (Collector Books, 1984), pp. 6-9.</ref>

===Elephant execution===
Erwin earned some notoriety in 1916 when the only known public [[execution]] of an [[elephant]] in Tennessee occurred in the community.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 17, 2017 |title=From the Archive: The Day They Hanged an Elephant in East Tennessee |url=http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/mary-the-elephant/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723102500/http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/favorites/mary-the-elephant/ |archive-date=July 23, 2014 |access-date=July 22, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 16, 2016 |title=Murderous Mary, the elephant that was hanged for murder, 1916 - Rare Historical Photos |url=http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/murderous-mary-1916/}}</ref> [[Mary (elephant)|Mary]], an elephant in 'Sparks World Famous Shows' [[traveling circus]], had killed her handler, Walter Eldridge, in nearby [[Kingsport, Tennessee|Kingsport]] after the inexperienced trainer allegedly struck Mary on the head with a hook. News of a killer elephant spread via rumors and [[sensationalist]] news stories, and calls for Mary's execution began. Some towns announced they would turn the circus away if it showed up with the elephant. Mary's owner, Charlie Sparks, executed Mary by [[hanging]] in order to appease the crowds. Erwin was a little more than 35 miles south of Kingsport, and as home to the region's largest [[railway yard]] they happened to have a 100-ton [[crane car]] that could lift the five-ton elephant.<ref name="graveyard">{{Cite web |last=Emma Schkloven |date=November 13, 2019 |title=E.C. Glass brings bizarre true story to the stage in 'Elephant's Graveyard' |url=https://www.newsadvance.com/entertainment/arts/e-c-glass-brings-bizarre-true-story-to-the-stage/article_bca22a21-b00a-5c63-b644-bb23f84a163e.html |website=The News & Advance |language=en}}</ref> An estimated 2,500 people turned out at the local railway yard to see Mary hoisted by a crane to meet her demise. [[Playwright]] [[George Brant]] won the 2008 [[Keene Prize for Literature]] for his a one-act play titled “Elephant’s Graveyard”, depicting this story.<ref name="graveyard" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Elephant's Graveyard (full length version) |url=https://www.samuelfrench.com/p/1939/elephants-graveyard-full-length-version/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115171120/https://www.samuelfrench.com/p/1939/elephants-graveyard-full-length-version/ |archive-date=November 15, 2019 |access-date=November 15, 2019 |website=Samuel French |language=en}}</ref>

In 2015 the town implemented a yearly festival and Elephant Art Auction; whereby, artists paint fiberglass elephant sculptures displayed around town that are then auctioned, with all proceeds donated exclusively to [[The Elephant Sanctuary (Hohenwald)|The Elephant Sanctuary]] in [[Hohenwald]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cory Turner & Clare Lombardo |date=May 15, 2019 |title=The Town That Hanged An Elephant Is Now Working To Save Them |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/722236763/the-town-that-hanged-an-elephant-is-now-working-to-save-them |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114225425/https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/722236763/the-town-that-hanged-an-elephant-is-now-working-to-save-them |archive-date=November 14, 2019 |access-date=November 15, 2019 |website=All Things Considered / NPR |language=en |format=Audio with transcript and photos}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Big Mary the Elephant |url=https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2985 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302042713/https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2985 |archive-date=March 2, 2024 |access-date=January 3, 2024 |website=Roadside America |language=en}}</ref>

===Erwin Expulsion of 1918===
On May 19, 1918, four of Erwin's white citizens attacked a Black man named Tom DeVert during a poker game. He fled and they pursued, shooting. In the chaos, a teenage white girl named Georgia Lee Collins, who was passing by, was hit by a bullet. Devert was murdered and posthumously accused of having assaulted Collins. A group of white men dragged his body to the rail yard powerhouse, where they forced the entire Black population of Erwin to stand and witness DeVert's body being burned on a pyre of railroad cross-ties. According to the ''[[Bristol Herald]]'' of May 21, 1918, "Men with pistols, shotguns, and clubs stood before the lined up negroes to prevent their running away, and as the last cross tie and the last dash of oil was thrown on the heap one of the men is reported to have turned to the cowering crowd and said, ‘Watch what we are going to do here. If any of you are left in town by tomorrow night, you will meet the same fate.'” At the height of this atrocity, the mob leaders planned to burn the homes of all of Erwin's Black citizens, but the local rail yard manager convinced them to forcibly evict them from the town instead. These residents, numbering 131 men, women, and children, were intimidated into abandoning their homes and goods and leaving at once.<ref name="tougaloo1">{{Cite web |last=Loewen |first=James |title=Erwin, TN |url=https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundowntown/erwin-tn/ |access-date=October 24, 2024 |website=Sundown Towns in the United States}}</ref>
 
Throughout the 20th century, Erwin was considered a [[sundown town]]. The "Erwin Expulsion of 1918," as it has been called, led to the town becoming known as "the place where Blacks dare not go," according to an article in the ''Johnson City Press-Chronicle'' of June 17, 1979.<ref name="russell">{{Cite web |last=Russell |first=Carrie Archie |date=August 5, 2010 |title=Reckoning with a Violent and Lawless Past: A Study of Race, Violence and Reconciliation in Tennessee |url=https://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07262010-142217/unrestricted/CarrieRussellDissertation.pdf}}</ref>{{Refn|"The Negro population, which was very small, was located in two areas in Unicoi County: Sam’s Gap, descended from slaves owned by Josiah Sams, and Erwin, where they were railroad laborers. In 1918, unrestrained, ghoulish, mob violence eradicated the Negro population in Unicoi County." Charles Edward Price Papers, Box 1, Folder 6, Blacks in Unicoi County, TN. Cited at <ref name=tougaloo1 />}}

===Rail yard closure===
In October 2015 CSX closed all operations in Erwin, and more than 300 people in the town were left without jobs. Town leaders attempted to fill the void by emphasizing a new identity for Erwin as an Appalachian tourist destination. This was the year that the Elephant Art Auction festivities began.

===Hurricane Helene flooding===
In September 2024, Erwin's riverside areas were heavily damaged by flooding as a result of [[Hurricane Helene]]. 58 people had to be rescued via helicopters from the roof of [[Unicoi County, Tennessee|Unicoi County]] Hospital in Erwin, with units from the [[Virginia State Police]] assisting, after the hospital was almost entirely submerged.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 27, 2024 |title=More than 50 people stranded on roof of Unicoi County Hospital |url=https://wcyb.com/news/local/patients-and-staff-stranded-on-roof-of-unicoi-county-hospital |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240927190701/https://wcyb.com/news/local/patients-and-staff-stranded-on-roof-of-unicoi-county-hospital |archive-date=September 27, 2024 |access-date=September 27, 2024 |website=WCYB}}</ref>

Part of a set of bridges on [[U.S. Route 23 in Tennessee|Interstate 26]] spanning the [[Nolichucky River]] in Erwin were completely washed away.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Jim |date=September 28, 2024 |title=Interstates 26, 40 Shut By Flood Waters |url=https://wgrv.com/2024/09/28/interstates-26-40-shut-by-flood-waters/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240929074914/https://wgrv.com/2024/09/28/interstates-26-40-shut-by-flood-waters/ |archive-date=September 29, 2024 |access-date=September 28, 2024 |work=[[WGRV (AM)|WGRV]] |location=Greeneville, Tennessee}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Murry |date=September 27, 2024 |title=TDOT: I-26 closed in Unicoi County due to flooding |url=https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/tdot-state-routes-in-northeast-tennessee-closed-due-to-trees-flooding/ |access-date=September 28, 2024 |work=WJHL-TV |location=Johnson City, Tennessee}}</ref>