Tennessee, Lewis County, near Hohenwald
![]()
Site and ruins of the Grinder House, in which Meriwether Lewis met his death on the night of Oct. 11, 1809.
(Notable Places) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Site and ruins of the Grinder House, in which Meriwether Lewis met his death on the night of Oct. 11, 1809.(Notable Places) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
In 1809, renowned explorer Meriwether Lewis traveled up the Old Natchez Trace on his way to Washington, D.C. He stopped here at an inn called Grinder’s Stand, and died during the night.
English:
Established by Franciscan missionaries in 1749 with the hope of civilizing and christianizing the Coco, Mayeye, Orcoquiza, Karankawa, and other tribes of Indians. The martyrdom of Padre Jose Ganzabal and the circumstances connected therewith caused the departure of the Indians and the friars and the removal of this mission to the San Marcos River in 1755. Reestablished in 1762 on the Sabinal River for the conversion of the Lipan Apaches with the same name of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria.
The Natchez Trace, a very old trail, was traveled by many early Americans. Captain Meriwether Lewis, leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and governor of the Upper Louisiana Territory, died near this point in 1809 while traveling the Natchez Trace to Washington, DC with his expedition journals and accounts. In 1843 the State of Tennessee created Lewis County in his honor, and in 1848 erected a monument over his grave.
On November 25, 1882, the Vulcan Street Hydroelectric Central Station began operation. The Vulcan Street Plant featured a direct-current Edison “K”-type dynamo and lit the homes of A. L. and H. D. Smith, five or six mills, a blast furnace, and other nearby homes with Edison bulbs. The Vulcan Street Plant represents and early use of hydro-power to generate electricity and perhaps one of the earliest examples of a hydroelectric plant that sold electricity commercially and provided incandescent lighting service to the public. In 1932, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original plant opening, this replica was constructed by the Wisconsin-Michigan Power Company. Like the original, it houses an Edison “K” dynamo. In 1987, the building was moved here from (now Olde) South Oneida Street.
English:
Korea
Here, about 1820, stood a charcoal-burning furnace used to manufacture pig iron. All that remain of this pioneer enterprise are a slag pile and the evidence of a mill race, used to bring water from Buffalo River to operate the furnace’s air blasting machinery.
This Victorian structure built in the early 1890s houses the Detroit chapter of the first national Greek letter fraternity established at a Negro University. Omega Psi Phi was founded in 1911 at Howard University in Washington D.C. The Greek letters symbolize the motto "Friendship is essential to the soul." DeWitt T. Burton, Francis Dent and O.T. Davis formed Nu Omega, the local chapter in 1923. Fifteen years later Nu Sigma, the undergraduate chapter, began at Wayne State University. Purchased in 1942 by Nu Omega, this house fulfilled the fraternity's initial purpose by creating an association of college men with similar ideals of manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift. Many members of this chapter achieved local or national prominence.
This Colonial Revival structure was built in 1910 for James F. Murphy, Treasurer of the Murphy Chair Company and a future director of the Murphy-Potter Company. In 1941 it became the office of the Lewis College of Business. Violet T. Lewis had established the college in Indianapolis in 1929 to train black women for business careers. Ten years later the Detroit Chamber of Commerce invited her to open a school here. The college was located at this site from 1941 to 1976, when its expansion required more spacious quarters. In its first fifty years, it educated over 20,000 students. The United States Department of Education designated the Lewis College of Business a "Historically Black College" in 1987. It was the first college in the state to receive this designation.
The Detroit Association of Colored Women's Clubs was organized on April 8, 1921, with eight clubs. This association reached its peak membership in 1945 with 73 clubs and 3,000 members. Affiliated with the Michigan and National Associations of Colored Women's Clubs, the Detroit association fosters educational, philanthropic and social programs. The association was incorporated in 1941. That same year, supported by a mortgage on its president's home, the association purchased its present clubhouse, a handsome Colonial Revival style structure. The club members completely paid for the clubhouse in less than five years. The association sponsors girls' clubs, scholarships, annual clothing drives for needy school children and charitable programs for seniors and the dispossessed. Its motto is "Lifting As We Climb."
Founded in 1907, the Scarab Club is one of Michigan's oldest arts organizations. Originally called the Hopkin Club after Detroit marine painter Robert Hopkin, it was renamed in 1913. The scarab, an Egyptian symbol of rebirth, represents the clubs commitment to the perpetual renewal of the arts in Detroit. Lancelot Sukert of Detroit designed the clubhouse, which opened on October 5, 1928. The exterior exhibits a Northern Renaissance Revival influence and features the club logo in Pewabic tile. The interior which houses studios, galleries and classrooms, reflects the Arts and Crafts style. The lounge ceiling beams bear autographs of prominent artists including John Sloan, Diego Rivera, Marcel Duchamp and Norman Rockwell.
Robert Pauli Scherer (1906-1960) was a native of Detroit and a graduate of Detroit's public schools. In 1930, at the age of twenty-four, he invented the rotary die encapsulation machine in a workshop located in the basement of this structure. The building was then the home of his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Otto Scherer. R.P. Scherer's invention transformed the production of soft gelatin capsules used in the pharmaceutical industry into a commercial process that helped raise worldwide health and nutritional standards. In 1933, he founded the present-day R.P. Scherer Corporation. With eighteen plants in twelve countries, the firm was the world's largest manufacturer of soft gelatin capsules in 1984. An ingenious inventor, Scherer received fifty-two patents during his lifetime. His experimental machine was placed in the Smithsonian Institution in 1955.
This mansion was once described as "an American palace enjoying the distinction of being the most pretentious modern home in the state and one of the most elaborate houses in the west." David Whitney, Jr. (1830-1900), its owner, was one of the wealthiest lumber barons in the Midwest. Begun in 1890, the house took four years to construct. Its exterior is made of pink jasper, mined in South Dakota. The luxurious interior is reminiscent of residences of Napoleonic Paris. Its features include silk-covered walls and ceilings, tapestries, extensive woodwork, leaded crystal and Tiffany windows.
