History of the Howell Nurseries
By Katie Steinhoff

The year was 1786, the United States had declared its independence from Great Britain 10 years earlier and North Carolina was awarding land west of the Appalachian Mountains to its dedicated soldiers of the Revolutionary War and selling land to cover war debts. David Wessels Howell was one of the individuals who was awarded a piece of land where he established a plant nursery and orchard in the area that would later be known as Knoxville, TN.

In 1786, the area was still controlled by the Indians. It was not until 1791 that William Blount signed a treaty with the Indians at James White Fort to open the area to white settlers. Blount named the area Knoxville after George Washington's secretary of war, General Knox. Land was divided into lots and auctioned off in 1792, and Knoxville was incorporated in 1815.

Meanwhile, the Howell's were establishing a plant nursery. The business began with an emphasis on growing fruit trees and other produce to sell as plants, and for selling the fruit at market. The Howell's had a specialty for growing strawberries. The fruits were described as being as big as large hen's eggs (Jukes).

The railroad reached Knoxville in 1855, and the Civil War (1861-1865) erupted a few years later. These combined events helped open the doors of industry to the South, moving Knoxville from essentially an agrarian society into an industrial one. The first industries of the area included textiles, furniture, marble and agricultural products. During Reconstruction, Knoxville served as a central location for shipping these products throughout the southeast.

By the 1880s, Knoxville began to see major changes in the landscape. People abandoned the farm to take a job in a factory or quarry. Housing developments sprang up in the areas today known as Fort Sanders, Old North Knoxville, and Fourth and Gill. The houses were stacked one after the other with very little yard space. This time frame coincides with what was known as the Victorian Era. It was marked by a renewed interest in beautiful things and nature, hence the explosion of popularity in ornamental plants. Despite the small yards, people wanted to dress-up their new homes with the latest and greatest plants. This was the time when the Howell's switched gears from growing plants for food to growing plants for enjoyment.

By the 1910s, The Howell's had a thriving corporation. Mr. S. R. Howell along with his four brothers, Carroll Sylvania, Bruce, Cole and Fletcher had branch operations in Charleston, S.C.; Charlotte and Hickory, N.C.; Leesburg, FL; Bristol, VA; and Chattanooga, Nashville, Sweetwater, Wolf Creek and Jefferson County in Tennessee. While most of these growing sites were sold to local nurserymen in their respective area, the Sweetwater operation played an integral part to the original Knoxville business (SNA, VII, 15-16). Mr. Bruce Howell was largely responsible for the Sweetwater operation. He had strong horticultural interest and is responsible for introducing Ligustrum sinensis pendula (Weeping Privet) , Cornus florida rubrum ‘Sweetwater' (Red-flowering Dogwood), Cornus florida rubrum ‘Cherokee Chief'' (Red-flowering Dogwood), and Ilex cornuta ‘Burfordi'(Burford's Chinese Holly) to the nursery industry (SNA, VII, 16). The Sweetwater Nursery was 1,100 acres in size and set-up right along the railroad where they could pull the rail car into the loading barn and ship plants all across the U.S. Eventually, the Sweetwater Nursery was sold to another nursery company for $250,000, but they kept the original property in Knoxville (Jukes). When S. R. Howell passed away in 1944, his brother Cole took over the operation in Knoxville. Mr. Cole Howell was later succeeded by Bryan Howell, who is the current owner of the original Howell Nursery (SNA, VII, 15). The original Howell Nursery eventually moved away from the wholesale nursery business and focused more on landscape design (Jukes).

From the 1930s – 1960s the popularity of the personal automobile allowed for housing to continue to move away from the center of city of Knoxville. These suburbs today are known as Holston Hills, North Hills, Island Home and Sequoyah Hills. The lots in these areas are characterized by large lawn spaces with lot sizes ranging from ½ - 2 acres. With all the extra lawn space, people wanted to create a park-like setting around their home.

By 1942 Joe Howell, one of the heirs to the original Howell Nursery recognized the need for landscape designers in Knoxville and started a separate plant nursery/ landscape design business on the east-end of the original Howell Nursery. Joe Howell had an immense interest in exotic and unusual plants, but contended that East Tennessee was the most beautiful place in the world. He never left the country to collect new and exciting plants, but did manage to acquire and propagate some unusual varieties of trees and shrubs (Jukes). One of the most striking features of the Joe Howell Nursery are the stone walls and buildings surrounding the property and partitioning off separate plots of land. The walls were originally built as a selling tool to prospective clients to showcase the variety of stones available in East Tennessee. Some of the stones are Crab Orchard, some from the Lambert Quarry in South Knoxville, some from English Mountain, some from Kentucky and a few other places where stone was available. The Joe N. Howell Nursery was set-up at one time as a ‘Cash and Carry' retail nursery as well as a design firm, with demonstration gardens but eventually decided to devote all assets to the design business (Jukes).

In 2001, Jenny Jukes, Joe Howell's daughter who had been operating the Joe Howell Nursery since his death in 1980, was looking to sell the nursery. There was interest from one of the local churches to purchase the property for a housing development. As word of this got out that the stone walls and mature trees could be leveled for a housing development, Jim McDonough a building contractor with a great interest in history and architecture and Jim Cortese a tree specialist combined efforts to preserve the property. They formed a board of trustees, naming themselves the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboreta (KBGA). The board has managed to raise enough money to purchase the Joe Howell Nursery which includes about 16 acres with a 6 bedroom stone house, 3 greenhouses, a storage building, smaller stone buildings and mature trees.

Ms. Jukes' uncle, Bryan Howell, owns the original Howell Nursery. Bryan has no one in the family to continue the nursery business and is in the process of selling the remaining 28 acre piece of property of the original Howell Nursery to the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboreta. The original Howell Nursery does not have the charm of the stonework at the Joe Howell Nursery, but has several mature specimen trees and space for KBGA to expand.

As of January 2003, KBGA has purchased the entire Joe Howell Nursery and 10 acres of the original Howell Nursery. Money has been raised almost entirely from local foundations, and individual contributions. The city of Knoxville and Knox County have also agreed to support the efforts by donating labor and equipment to clear out the overgrown areas.

The first major building project includes a stone bell tower and entrance garden area. The donor for this project wishes to remain anonymous. While there is currently no director of the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboreta, the mission is to showcase native as well as exotic plant material that perform well in East Tennessee. The board envisions continuous educational programs for all ages especially in arboriculture, and horticulture.

If you have any information of the Howell family or Knoxville Botanical Gardens, please let us know: