Etowah Tennessee

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad Depot

The town of Etowah was a creation of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, thus, in the truest sense, it was, and indeed remains, a railroad town. In 1902 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad upgraded their route between Cincinnati OH and Atlanta GA. As part of this upgrade, the route up the Hiwassee River Gorge, complete with the famous Hiwassee Loop lost its status as a mainline (a truly dastardly deed in the eyes of many fans of mountain railroading), and a new Division Headquarters was established in a field of mud that probably took its name from a nearby watercourse, the Etowah River (note, there is some debate about this version of the origin of the town’s name). What is generally agreed is that the word Etowah is the European way of transcribing a Creek word that means “tribe” or “town.”

The station, and the adjacent yards were constructed in 1906. In order to build the yards and station, the railroad had to drain the land and built it up over 3 feet from the original level in an attempt to surmount the mud that covered the area continually. However, mud remained a part of the station’s existence for many years.

Up through the introduction of steel freight and passenger cars, Etowah, and its shops, remained fairly busy. However, with the introduction of steel cars, the L&N decided to phase out Etowah. The first big reduction occurred in 1928. Up until that time, 14 passenger trains a day stopped at this depot.

One day, April 6, 1927, a very special train stopped at Etowah. On that date, according to a report from the era reprinted in the book Murderers’ Row, by G.H. Fleming, a train traveling north carried the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals (the victors of the 1926 World Series over this same Yankee team). It arrived in Etowah 1 hour late (Amtrak is following in a well-worn tradition). Etowah was, and still is, a crew change stop. Thus, the stop that day was scheduled to be a bit longer than was normal for a town of this size. But this stop turned out to be even longer than scheduled.

The Yankee Team on board was the one destined to be called by many the greatest baseball team ever assembled. And their star was none other than Babe Ruth. According to the report in the book, Ruth and some of his buddies were engaged in a poker game when the train arrived in town. This being a railroad town, everyone in town knew who was on the train. Therefore, it is not surprising that according to the printed account everyone in town was at the station except for 4 individuals. It was pouring the rain that day, and of course, the station area was muddy, and so 3 of the 4 absent individuals were still looking for their overshoes. The only other absentee was home in bed with pneumonia.

The mud was up to the shoe tops of the townspeople, but they stood there in the pouring rain and cheered away. They would not let the train leave until they saw their one true hero, Babe Ruth. And so Ruth left the card game, just as he had raised the stakes owing to his strong hand, and went out onto the platform of the car. He smiled at the people and waved and that was enough. The people responded with a loud cheer. That was it, they had seen their hero, and thus the train could leave.

As noted above, the railroad began to began to “downsize” the Etowah shops (and thus the town) the next year, and all passenger service into this station stopped in 1968. In 1977 the L&N no longer needed the depot for any purpose and eventually sold it to the town. It has now been restored and has, among other things, the offices of the town's Chamber of Commerce, and a Museum dedicated to L&N memorabilia on the first floor.

And while it was dry when we were there a few years ago, I understand, the mud still returns every now and then. And while I am sure they are few and far between by now given the passage of years, it would not surprise me to find that there are still those who remember that muddy day Babe Ruth came to town.