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County Officials
A distinguished visitor in Chattanooga, in 1870, was Jefferson Davis, late President of the Confederate States. He was the guest of Judge and Mrs. Robert M. Hooke, and although not received officially, he was honored by a large part of the population. Many veterans of the Federal Army called upon him, as well as many Confederate veterans.
In 1871 a serious fire on Market Street destroyed several business houses and awakened the people to danger. A Fire Department was organized, through the active interest of Colonel Tomlinson Fort who planned all details of the organization.
The Crutchfield House, which had been rebuilt after the fire as an office building, was leased in May, 1871, before it was opened, to Dr. and Mrs. John T. Read, of Jasper, who remodeled it, and opened it as the Read House on January 1,1872.
In the fall of 1871 General Wilder was elected mayor to serve for the usual term of one year; the aldermen chosen to serve were:
Moses Wells
Thomas Dailey
J. J. Bryan
A. C. Burns
T. J. Carlisle
R. P. McCrocklin
Willard Abbott
C. H. Mills
Harry Wilcox
and John Weaver
General Wilder was deeply engaged in his own affairs, and unable to give his time to the city. At each meeting for several months the clerk recorded the Mayor's absence and the fact that the Mayor pro tern, Bryan, presided. At the May meeting General Wilder sent in his resignation, and Alderman Josiah Jackson Bryan, who had served as mayor pro tern, was elected mayor. He served until October 15, 1872, when
History
of Hamilton County
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