This photo was snapped around 1910, and to the right is where the Big Rock Tavern is located today.

By Charlie Hutson

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – Today’s feature photo is the Lafollette Coal, Iron and Railway Co train coming out of the Big Creek Gap near the Big Rock headed toward the Lafollette Blast Furnace.

The train was loaded with coal from Rex 1 or Rex 2 mines at Ivydell. While enroute to the blast furnace, Harvey Lafollette, the owner of the company, can step out on his front porch at his home Glenn Oaks and watch the train go by. Glenn Oaks or the Lafollette House, as most people around here know it, sets on South Indiana Avenue facing Big Creek. The train ran on tracks that were between Indiana Avenue and Big Creek. The blast furnace set on the most southern end of Indiana Avenue, where the Indiana Avenue Baptist Church and the Sharp’s Circle of the Lafollette Housing Authority are today. This image is from around 1910. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 10/07/2021-6AM)

One Reply to “Lafollette history from about 1910”

  1. I read somewhere that in 1917 La Follette was the second leading producer of iron ore in the country. The source was not local, but I’ve never verified the info. Anyone know?

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