Cisco, Cisco, Cisco, part 14 – Cisco, Tennessee

: 1976 USGS Aerial Photo showing the part of McMinn County, TN

I’m trying to build the N scale replica of the town of Cisco, Utah circa 1970. Accordingly, it’s my routine to search “Cisco” on the web, but it goes wrong most of the time bothered by “San Francisco” or “Cisco Systems”. Sometimes, “Cisco, Texas” gets in my way. Thus, I was wondering how many “Cisco”s are there in the United States. My recent research during these Stay Home days revealed some of them. Let me introduce these places named Cisco as a sideshow for my Town of Cisco posts.


Cisco, McMinn, Tennessee: the post office at Cisco, TN is said to be located near the abandoned cemetery called Old Morrison Burial Grounds at Clearwater, north of Rock Creek and west of Niota[1, 2]. However, unfortunately, the exact place of the post office is missing today. The leading role of the region was farming and the nearest rail connection was Southern and L&N at Athens.


The Cisco Post Office was operated for only a year and a half between Sep. 14, 1901, and Feb. 28, 1903[3, 4]. Lewis Webb Wattenbarger(1874 – 1962) was the sole postmaster. According to 1901 Report of Site of Location, the post office was located along the road between Athens and Sewee. However, unfortunately, the change of road alinements makes it difficult to identify the exact site today: Old Mt. Verd Road can go back to at least 1887 according to the USGS map, but nearby Clearwater Road (County Rd 172) is a relatively new road at least from 1936. Accordingly, the Cisco Post Office may have been located along Old Mt. Verd Road.


The Old Morrison Burial Grounds is located at the back of the farm at 1152 County Rd 172 owned by William Bruce Henry Sr.(1884 ｰ 1967), later by Creed Foster Bohannon(1910 ｰ 1996)[5, 6]. Here rest four Stanton family members including Lewis Stanton Jr.(1816 − 1885) who is the great-grandfather of Creed[7].

Lewis Stanton Jr.'s son John Franklin Stanton(1851 − 1930) married Mary Ann Wattenbarger(1859 − 1939). Mary Ann's grandfather Michael Wattenbarger(1804 − 1879) is a great-grandfather of the postmaster Lewis. Accordingly, there is a relationship between the Stanton family, the Wattenbarger family, and the Old Morrison Burial Grounds. Thus, it may not be strange Cisco Post Office is located near the Old Morrison Burial Grounds.

After the closure of the post office, postmaster Lewis moved to the town of Athens and established the L. W. Wattenbarger’s Department Store.


The nearest school from the post office was the Clearwater School at GPS coordinates 35.52174, -84.64910. The school was operated at least from 1898 to circa 1955[8, 9]. Mary Ann Wattenbarger was one of the pupils in 1899[9].

revised, Dec. 23, 2022

[1] Vaughn, Maudie Mae, The Stanton Story, McMinn County Web genealogy project;
[2] Coad, B. R., (1922) Dispersion of the Boll Weevil in 1921, Department Circular 210, United States Department of Agriculture;
[3] Forte, Jim, McMinn County, Tennessee Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History;
[4] List of Communities and Known Post Masters, RootsWeb;
[5] Stanton and Dennis Families of East Tennessee, rootsweb.com;
[6] Creed Bohannon, White pages directory, Confidential Reverse Phone Lookup;
[7] Old Morrison Burial Grounds, findagrave.com;
[8] Monroe, Josh, (2019) Visitor Comments, Vintage Aerial;
[9] Ratledge, Sandra, N., Clearwater's First Old Log School in McMinn County, TN, 1898 - 1899, School Days, Golden Rule Days;

: 1901 Report of Site Location for Cisco Post Office
: Google maps, Cisco, TN

　
筆者がNスケールで復元しようとしているユタ州Ciscoについて調べようとインターネット検索すると、余計なページばかりよく引っ掛かる。最も邪魔なのはSan Francisco、次いで邪魔なのはCisco Systemsに関連するページである。テキサス州にあるCiscoという町に関連するページも結構邪魔だ。一方、お目当てのユタ州Ciscoの町に関連するページなどほとんどない。一体何件の「Cisco」がアメリカにあるのか。古い郵便局一覧を調べてみると、ユタ州Cisco以外に 14カ所ものCisco郵便局があったらしい。どんなところだろう。


Cisco, Tennessee: 四カ所目のCisco郵便局は、テネシー州McMinn郡の北西部、Athens近郊に1901年開局した郵便局である。初代の郵便局長はLewis Webb Wattenbargerというひと。実質一年半しか続かなかった。

さて、この郵便局の正確な位置が分からない。もちろんCiscoという名前の集落があったような様子もない。分かっているのは郵便局が「Old Morrison Burial Groundの近く」にあったということだけである。その「Old Morrison Burial Ground」は今はある農家の裏山に埋もれているという。検索すると「Morrison Cemetery」というやはり今は忘れられた別の墓地も近くにある。その前を通る道路は1887年の地形図にも載っているから、多分郵便局もこの道路沿いにあったのではないか。なぜ郵便局名をCiscoにしたのかも分からない。ちなみに郵便局長Lewisは閉局後近くの町Athensに移り、L. W. Wattenbarger’s Department Storeを創業し成功を納めたようだ。