Greetings Chattanooga!
Hamilton Bush, your history hound is here once more, offering tantalizing tidbits of local lore to chase away the doldrums of winter and conjure up images of a springtime which is just around the corner. With that said, Old Hamilton would like to remind you, dear readers, of a late winter blast which occurred but 15 years ago. It is an anniversary worth remembering.
During the weekend of March 12-14, 1993, and those of you who were here at the time will remember it well, the great blizzard struck our city with incredible force. Thoughts of an early spring vanished as meteorologists stared at their radar screens and forecasting models in disbelief. Your scribe recalls gazing upward into a clear sky filled with twinkling stars just about 11 p.m. on Friday. Well, yours truly must admit that he had begun to doubt – once again – the veracity of the warnings issued by our local prognosticators. Needless to say, those concerns were put to flight rapidly the following morning.
On Saturday, temperatures in Chattanooga reached a record low for the date of March 13, at a bone chilling 11 degrees Fahrenheit. The dreaded wind chill factor was well below zero. An official total of 20 inches of snow fell during those early morning hours, blowing into gigantic drifts up to five feet high. Just up the road, an estimated 56 inches of the white stuff were recorded atop Mount Leconte, Tennessee. Looking at the big picture, the storm was described as massive, affecting 26 states and closing airports all the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Atlanta.
Closer to home, electrical power was out for much of the area for several days. Folks gathered with family and neighbors and warmed themselves as best they could, cooking on backyard grills fueled by propane gas. The city was paralyzed for nearly a week, and during that time our citizens did what they could to help one another get by. This, of course, was the good that came out of a potentially catastrophic situation. Oh yes, one other phenomenon did follow. Those of you who now are the parents of 14-year-old sons and daughters may count back to that weekend and remember.
By the way, Old Hamilton learned a lesson. When it comes to weather forecasts, listen to the professionals. It never hurts to pick up that gallon of milk and loaf of bread.
Dear Hamilton Bush,
I am a racing and antique car enthusiast, who has lived in the Chattanooga area all my life. It has come to my attention that years ago this city was actually the home of an automobile manufacturing facility which produced a vehicle called the Nyberg. Could you shed some light on this topic?
Regards,
Notable Nyberg
Dear Notable,
Back in the early days of the 20th century, when enthusiasm for the automobile was just picking up steam, our fair city was indeed the home of such an enterprise. Sometime around 1911, Mr. Henry Nyberg, a native of Sweden, established a facility in the Ridgedale area to produce the automobile which bears his name today – hence it was known as the “Nyberg”. Now, Old Hamilton has no idea what the cost of a gallon of gasoline was back nearly a century ago – no doubt it was somewhat more expensive than the bale of hay which could feed the most reliable transportation ever on the road -- a sturdy horse. One thing is for sure. In those days, the machining and assembly of parts was much more of a hands-on process, and the construction of a single vehicle must have consumed hours of labor.
Well, Henry Nyberg was able to get his venture off the ground with the financial support of a local businessman named Charles E. James, and the company actually churned out several hundred cars. One model was known as the Dixie Special, which carried the hefty price tag of $2,400. Alas, the Nyberg was a short-lived venture, and the company filed bankruptcy, ceasing operation about 1914 prior to being sold to another automobile manufacturer, A.C. Barley of Streator, Illinois.
Henry Nyberg was one of those great entrepreneurs of a bygone era. Born on the Swedish island of Gotland in 1872, he emigrated to the United States at the age of 24 and produced his first automobile in 1898. He lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and then moved on to Chicago, where he reportedly introduced the city to the concept of the gasoline-powered car in 1903. By 1911, Nyberg had relocated once again, this time to Anderson, Indiana, near Indianapolis. He produced a variety of vehicles there, including trucks and fire engines, and his Anderson facility became known as the northern factory while the Chattanooga plant was the southern factory. The Nyberg name lives on to this day with a group known as the Henry Nyberg Society.
One example of a Nyberg automobile exists in Chattanooga. Corky Coker of Coker Tire and co-driver Greg Cunningham have entered the 1910 Nyberg Indy race car in the 2008 Great Race. Cunningham is a former Great Race Grand Champion. The 100th anniversary of the original New York to Paris race, this year’s event begins in New York City on May 30 and ends at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on August 2, covering nearly 22,000 miles in 65 days. Another Nyberg is housed at the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver.
Dear Hamilton Bush,
I have been a jazz enthusiast for many years and recently was enjoying some old recordings by Louis Armstrong and other such musical legends. One of these included a performance by a lady named Valaida Snow. The notes to the album mention briefly that Ms. Snow was born in Chattanooga. I must admit that I have not previously heard of her. What do you know about this talented performer?
Sincerely,
All That Jazz
Dear Jazz,
The story of Valaida Snow is certainly one of triumph and tragedy. Although the exact date of her birth seems something of a mystery, records place the event sometime around 1905 right here in Chattanooga. Valaida, her sisters Alvaida and Hattie, and her brother, Arthur Bush, were each taught a variety of musical skills by their mother. Valaida is said to have played the bass, banjo, mandolin, violin, cello, accordion, harp, clarinet, and saxophone. However, it was the trumpet for which she was best known. In fact, she earned the title “Queen of the Trumpet” during a career which included instrumental and vocal recordings and live performances, as well as stage productions on Broadway and in the capital cities of Europe, and appearances in the films Take It From Me (1937), Irresistible You, L’Alibi and Pieges (1939).
A beautiful and talented young lady, Valaida was an accomplished performer while in her teens. She traveled the globe with her own band and also with other groups such as Jack Carter’s octet. During the 1920s she toured the United States in a review called “The Chocolate Dandies”. She performed with such luminaries as Eubie Blake, Count Basie, Teddy Weatherford, Willie Lewis, and Fletcher Henderson. Her style of play on the trumpet, similar to that of Louis Armstrong, earned Valaida another nickname – “Little Louis”.
In 1941, while performing with an all-female band in Denmark, Valaida was arrested by German authorities who had occupied the country earlier during World War II. She was imprisoned in a concentration camp for 18 months before being exchanged. According to some chroniclers of her life, she never fully recovered from the trauma of imprisonment; however, others have related that she recovered fully and continued to tour vigorously after the war. Regardless, her career did regain momentum, and in 1951 she recorded Porgy and The More I Know About Love with the Bobby Smith Orchestra for the Apollo record label. During her lifetime, she was married twice, to Ananais Berry, a well known dancer, and then to another performer, Earl Edwards.
Valaida was a lady who is said to have made quite an impression on those with whom she came into contact. She was known to dress quite elegantly and to tour around New York City in an orchid colored Mercedes while her chauffeur and her pet monkey were always dressed in orchid colored clothes. Extremely intelligent, she was said to have spoken seven languages and to have been an accomplished composer. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was quite impressed with her talent and presented her with a trumpet reportedly made of solid gold. Among those who sought the pleasure of her company were acting legend Maurice Chavalier and band leader Earl Hines.
During the mid-1950s, Valaida reprised her role in the successful revival of the musical production Blackbirds. On May 30, 1956, just after the final curtain call of that evening’s performance at the Palace Theater in New York, she collapsed with a cerebral hemorrhage and died at about 50 years of age.
Truly, Valaida Snow may be regarded as one of the great jazz talents of the 20th century. Her story, however, remains relatively obscure due to her untimely death. Recordings of her performances are available on CD, and Old Hamilton has become a big fan.