This information was originally published in local newspapers under the title, “A Glimpse of the Past”, written by Snyder E. Roberts. He later compiled many of the articles into four volumes of books. His daughter has excerpted from: Oliver Springs, TN, And Its People, Vol. II (pub. 1983)
Photo from Harvey Archives
NIGHBERT HOTEL’S PLACE IN OLIVER SPRINGS HISTORY
When the Oliver Springs business activities began to concentrate around the Southern Railway Depot shortly after 1900, Nighbert’s Hotel in 1905 was one of the first business buildings to be erected. It was situated adjoining the Depot lot on a triangular two-acre plot bounded by the Southern Railway, Third Street, and Indian Creek. When Nighbert purchased the lot in 1904 from Poplar Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company, it was paw paw thicket on a natural knoll, and required complete development. The plot was a part of Poplar Creek Mining and Manufacturing Company Addition to the town, which included all lots and streets between Roane, or First Street, and Sixth Avenue at the foot of Walden Ridge.
Nighbert’s Hotel facing the Southern Railway, was a well-built structure, and was immaculately maintained. The open porch was well situated to receive the cooling breezes that resulted from the air drainage down the slopes from the peaks in the Cumberland Mountains, and funneled through the two gaps in Walden Ridge opposite the Hotel. The observatory atop the roof would have provided an excellent view of the Cumberland Mountains. The concrete steps were located for the convenience of passengers unloading from the six passenger trains that stopped at the Southern Depot daily. The L&N Railway Depot with a more limited passenger service was located only two blocks away.
The large landscaped lawn was well kept. A row of magnolia trees, no more than a foot high, may be seen along the crest of the bank. Now [ca 1980], seventy years later, these magnolia trees are sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter and forty to fifty feet in height. The rows of small maple trees then were two or three inches in diameter and have reached diameters of two and one-half to three feet, and provide cooling shade.
Rufe Nighbert planted an orchard between the Hotel and Indian Creek of predominately plum, pear and a variety of apple trees. The fertile banks of Indian Creek also produced vast quantities of vegetables.
Rufe Nighbert (1867-1946) as a young man, and his father, William Nighbert, were contractors in the construction of certain sections of railroads in the area. In the late 1880’s, the Nighberts contracted to excavate the long railroad cut east of Oliver Springs which became known as “Nighbert’s Cut” in the Southern Railroad. There is a family tradition to the effect that when Rufe first saw Lydia Ruffner she was only a young teenage girl, but he thought she was so pretty and lovely that he vowed to wait for her to grow up so he could marry her. Later in 1894-5, when the Nighberts were working on the construction of the railroad through Ruffner’s Switch (now Coalfield), he fulfilled his vow and married Lydia Ruffner. Rufe was engaged in railroad construction as late as 1904 when he worked on the Dossett tunnel of the Cow Creek branch of the L&N Railroad.
Lydia Ruffner was the daughter of Peter A. Ruffner who, at the age of seven years, was brought by his father, Christian Ruffenr from Mainfeld, Switzerland, in 1846 and settled in the German-Swiss Colony of Wartburg in Morgan County.
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Rufe Nighbert was a man of good manners and taste. He believed in class and quality products. He was usually well groomed, and dressed in business suits while conducting his business affairs. The Nighbert Hotel proved to be a prosperous and profitable business from the time it was built in 1905 until it burned circa 1912 or 1913. The Hotel was patronized by traveling businessmen and others who demanded quality accommodations. After the Hotel burned, the Nighberts bought the Pickel Hotel across Winters gap Avenue from the Southern Depot. The old Pickel Hotel was refurbished, and a large addition was made to the building. This Hotel also proved to be a successful business operation.
In 1918, the Nighberts sold their Hotel to Ed Taylor. They retained possession of the large brick home while he operated a coal mine in Dark Hollow after World War I. Around 1920 or 1921, they bought the Aqua Hotel in Dayton, TN, which they owned until the time of their deaths. This hotel in Dayton was very profitable, and served many nationally known distinguished guests during the Scopes Trial in 1925.
In the meantime, the Nighberts entered into a sale-lease agreement with an Indian doctor named P. Medekle for the brick bungalow in Oliver Springs. Dr. P. Medekle established a sanitarium in the large brick house, which attained a considerable reputation. He used medicines mainly extracted from native herbs and plants, and particularly attracted cancer patients from a wide area. Jerry Bass, who was alleged to be half-Indian, worked with Dr. P. Medekle, and apparently learned the treatments for cancers because he continued the treatments on an itinerant basis for many years. Dr. P. Medekle had a son, Olie, and a daughter, Zona, who were active in town affairs. His widow, Verna Medekle (1879-1949) continued to live in Oliver Springs until her death.
The large brick bungalow burned in the late 1920’s (possibly from spontaneous combustion of dry herbs stored in the basement) which brought an end to the operation of the sanitarium. Dr. P. Medekle was reported to have died in KY. Title to the sanitarium site reverted to the Nighberts. The property was sold to Lydia Nighbert’s sister and brother-in-law, who sold it to their daughter and son-in-law, Snyder and Pauline H. Roberts. The Roberts’ built the present house in 1933 on the former site of the old Nighbert Hotel. The smaller house just below was built later as rental property. Some of the garden property adjoining Indian Creek was bought after a big flood in 1967, and other homes built. This property is across the street from the present Depot Museum and Library.