{"id":14374,"date":"2025-04-16T15:53:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/?p=14374"},"modified":"2025-08-05T09:44:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T13:44:24","slug":"special-collections-spotlight-the-alligator-guardians-of-firemans-fountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/library\/2025\/04\/16\/special-collections-spotlight-the-alligator-guardians-of-firemans-fountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Collections Spotlight: The Alligator Guardians of Fireman’s Fountain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blog post was written by Emma Crews ’25, a student assistant in the Library\u2019s Special Collections unit.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Facsimile of Fireman\u2019s Memorial Fountain, undated. Courtesy of the Chattanooga Public Library and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Special Collections.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At one time in the distant past, the Fireman\u2019s Memorial Fountain on Georgia Avenue held alligators. It\u2019s a strange piece of trivia that has been passed around Chattanooga for decades, right alongside the supposed hauntings of Read House Hotel and the bricked-up businesses below the city\u2019s streets that comprise the Chattanooga Underground. Though only a few pictures of the alligators exist, they do<\/em> exist, made all the more tantalizing by the mystery surrounding their origin. Last semester, the photograph shown above was discovered in the depths of the Paul A. Hiener photographs<\/em> collection housed in UTC Library’s Special Collections. The photograph itself contained no explanation for the alligator\u2019s presence. Why were there alligators in the Fireman\u2019s Fountain? When? And how? Using a series of archived newspaper articles, these questions are answered in full for perhaps the first time in over a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before we can talk about the alligators themselves, though, we must examine the circumstances of their origin. In 1898, the Oxley Zoo in East Lake Park opened to great fanfare from the public. The zoo boasted a myriad of animals throughout its existence\u2013from deer, goats, and camels to lions, monkeys, and, yes, alligators. Yet all was not well; according to an interview with Commissioner J. H. Warner (of Warner Park fame!) in 1914, the zoo was operating at a loss of over $2,000 per year. The city had been downsizing the zoo since at least 1913 and elected to demolish it entirely in mid-1915. Yet what was to be done with the remaining animals?<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Oxley Zoo, East Lake Park. Courtesy of the Chattanooga Public Library.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Fireman\u2019s Memorial Fountain, circa 1915. Courtesy of the Chattanooga Public Library.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Enter the Fireman\u2019s Fountain. It was constructed in 1888 as a memorial to two firefighters, William M. Peak and J. Henry Iler, who died in the line of duty. Somehow, it was determined that the small surrounding park (once it had been outfitted with fences and signs that read \u201cDANGEROUS – KEEP OUT\u201d) would be the perfect place for two alligators to make their home. City officials chose to place the alligators\u2013nicknamed \u201cTom\u201d and \u201cJerry\u201d\u2013in Fireman\u2019s Fountain for their supposed ability to eat only once a year, making them very cheap to maintain. (This is untrue.) Around May 1915, custodians transferred the animals to the park alongside a snapping turtle, with whom they got into a fight en route. This was just the beginning of the alligators\u2019 eventful half-year stay in the fountain.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fireman\u2019s Memorial Fountain, circa 1915. Courtesy of the Chattanooga Public Library.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Though I found no articles indicating the alligators ever escaped their enclosure or seriously injured anyone, the animals certainly had more up-close encounters with humanity than is wise. Children, whether they were fascinated by the fountain\u2019s newest occupants or simply wanted to play in the water, purportedly climbed over the short fence often. Whenever the groundskeepers mowed the park, they had to work in pairs\u2013one to trim the grass and one to keep the alligators away with a big metal stick. The city officials breathed a sigh of relief when the weather grew too cold for the alligators to stay outside and summarily moved them to brumate (a state similar to hibernation) in the furnace room of the Market House overwinter, much to the disappointment of Chattanoogan children. The alligators would return to delight the citizenry, the newspapers claimed, once a more palatable climate arrived in 1916.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unfortunately, though, this was not to be. Tom and Jerry died on an unknown date and under mysterious circumstances. \u201cFriends of the corrugated duo will be shocked to learn\u2026[t]he bare, cold, stirring truth,\u201d the Chattanooga News reported, \u201c…that they either froze to death or were eaten by rats\u201d. The brumating alligators, tucked away in a tray of warm water in the corner of the furnace room, had disappeared from the public eye and been forgotten until it was too late. \u201c…[T]he poor alligators were soon the object of neglect, adding another possibility to the causi mortis, being that grief and loneliness gnawed away at their alligators hearts even more savagely than did the huge rats that infest the markethouse during the dark which gnawed away at their unprotected extremities\u201d. Thus came about the end of the municipal alligators. No records resurfaced concerning the snapping turtle, either\u2013but perhaps this was for the best. The city determined that a school of goldfish was more appropriate to populate the fountain basin\u2026and the full story of the Fireman\u2019s Fountain\u2019s alligators faded out of memory.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCity Alligators Eaten Up by Rats.\u201d Chattanooga News (Chattanooga, TN), Feb. 26, 1916.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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American alligator. Courtesy of Tennessee Aquarium.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yet for those enterprising Chattanoogans who still wish to see alligators (especially those in far more appropriate habitats with adequate diets!), all is not lost! There are only two extant species of alligator and Chattanooga contains both of them. The Chattanooga Zoo has housed two Chinese alligators\u2013nicknamed Finn and Rey\u2013since 2010. Though Rey unfortunately died from cancer in 2023, the zoo has plans to acquire another alligator to try and create a breeding program for these critically endangered animals. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Aquarium\u2019s Delta Country Alligator Bayou exhibit houses several American alligators alongside birds, turtles, and fish. The eldest alligator, Jos\u00e9, lived a solitary life until 2015 when a dozen younglings were added, bringing the total to thirteen. Though Tom and Jerry are long gone, their legacy lives on, both in the lives of their distant relatives and in the hearts and minds of the city of Chattanooga.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cFive-Foot Alligators Approve of New Home.\u201d Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), May 2, 1915.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCity Alligators Eaten Up by Rats.\u201d Chattanooga News<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Feb. 26, 1916.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cogswell, R. A. \u201cPublic Parks for the People of Chattanooga.\u201d Chattanooga News <\/em>(Chattanooga, TN), Mar. 26, 1910.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFive-Foot Alligators Approve of New Home.\u201d Chattanooga Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), May 2, 1915.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGlad Rats Ate Up Municipal Alligators.\u201d Chattanooga News<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Feb. 29, 1916.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gore, Kate (Animal Care Supervisor at Chattanooga Zoo). Email message to the author, Nov. 20, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Winter Quarters.\u201d Chattanooga Daily Times <\/em>(Chattanooga, TN), Dec. 4, 1915.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLid is on Tight at Oxley Zoo.\u201d Chattanooga News<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Jan. 9, 1906.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOblivious to Hard Times.\u201d Chattanooga Daily Times<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), May 7, 1915. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOxley Zoo Now Being Reduced.\u201d Chattanooga News<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Oct. 18, 1913.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rainwater, Kendi A. \u201cTennessee Aquarium opens alligator exhibit in Chattanooga.\u201d Chattanooga Times Free Press<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Mar. 8, 2015. https:\/\/www.timesfreepress.com\/news\/2015\/mar\/08\/down-bayou-without-leaving-chattanooga-tennessee-a\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo Tear Down Zoo in East Lake Park.\u201d Chattanooga News<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Jun. 10, 1915.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUntrue, Says Maj. Warner.\u201d Chattanooga Daily Times<\/em> (Chattanooga, TN), Sep. 24, 1914.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog post was written by Emma Crews ’25, a student assistant in the Library\u2019s Special Collections unit. At one time in the distant past, the Fireman\u2019s Memorial Fountain on Georgia Avenue held alligators. It\u2019s a strange piece of trivia that has been passed around Chattanooga for decades, right alongside the supposed hauntings of Read… <\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1994,"featured_media":14395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4922],"tags":[95550,28942,28945],"class_list":{"0":"post-14374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-special-collections","8":"tag-chattanooga-history","9":"tag-chattanooga-history-collections","10":"tag-intern-perspectives","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nSpecial Collections Spotlight: The Alligator Guardians of Fireman's Fountain - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special Collections Spotlight: The Alligator Guardians of Fireman's Fountain - UTC Library Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This blog post was written by Emma Crews ’25, a student assistant in the Library\u2019s Special Collections unit. 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