Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
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| Andrew Johnson National Historic Site | |
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| (U.S. Registered Historic District) | |
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| Location: | Greeneville, Tennessee |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Built/Founded: | 1830 |
| Architect: | War Department |
| Architectural style(s): | Colonial Revival |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000073 |
| Governing body: | National Park Service |
Andrew Johnson National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in Greeneville, Tennessee maintained by the National Park Service. It was established to honor Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States, who became president after Abraham Lincoln's death, and was the first president to be impeached. The site includes two of his homes, his tailor shop, and his grave site within Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. The cemetery also has the interments of his wife, Eliza McCardle Johnson, and son Brigadier General Robert Johnson, as well as the grave of David T. Patterson, a United States Senator from Tennessee, and his son Andrew J. Patterson, who was instrumental in the Greeneville properties associated with Andrew Johnson becoming an historic site.
The site was designated a U.S. National Monument in 1935 and redesignated as a National Historic Site on December 11, 1963.
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[edit] History
Andrew Johnson first arrived in Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1826. In 1830 Johnson acquired a building at the corner of College and Depot Street, and established his tailor shop there. It quickly became the center for which the under class of Greeneville, Tennessee, to discuss current events and politics.[2][3]
In 1831 his family moved into a house located across the street from his tailor shop. His family lived in the domicile until 1851. The two-story brick building had four rooms in total.[4]
Ownership of the tailor shop remained in the heirs of Johnson until 1921, when the state of Tennessee purchased it.[5]
The National Park Service gained control of the property in 1942. At time of acquiral, it contained five buildings: the Homestead, Tailor Shop, the headquarters of the National Cemetery's supervisor, the marble shaft over President Johnson and his wife's grave, and the concrete wall around the National Cemetery.[6]
[edit] Today
Today the site totals sixteen total acres in area, and has three separate units. These units are the Andrew Johnson Visitor Complex, the Andrew Johnson Homestead, and the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. Visitors receive a copy of the admission ticket to Johnson's impeachment hearings; every year on May 26 visitors vote on whether or not Johnson should have been removed from office.[7][8]
The Andrew Johnson Visitor Complex consists of the visitor's center, the museum, and Andrew Johnson's tailor shop. The visitor center shows a 13.5 minute film about Johnson and his time in Greeneville. The one-story/one room tailor shop remains much as it looked in Andrew Johnson's day. It is surrounded by a memorial building built by the state of Tennessee in 1923 to prevent wear and tear upon the tailor shop.[9][10]
The Andrew Johnson Homestead is maintained to look as it did when Andrew Johnson and his wife lived in the domicile from 1869 to 1875. Johnson had purchased the home in 1851. During the war years, the house was occupied by soldiers and required renovations when the family returned to the house following Johnson leaving the presidency in 1869. It is a Greek Revival two-story brick house.[11][12]
The Andrew Johnson National Cemetery was established in 1906. Andrew Johnson owned twenty-three acres outside Greeneville on "Signal Hill", and upon his death was buried on the property in 1875. On June 5, 1878, a 28-foot-tall marble statue was placed by Johnson's grave. The monument was considered so dominant that the hill's name was changed to "Monument Hill". His daughter Martha Johnson Patterson willed on September 2, 1898 that the land become a park. She further pushed in 1900 to make the site a national cemetery, so that instead of the Johnson family maintaining it, the federal government would. The United States Congress chose to make the site a National Cemetery in 1906, and by 1908 the United States War Department took control of it. On May 23, 1942 control of the cemetery went to the National Park Service.[13]
[edit] References
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2008-04-15).
- ^ Andrew Johnson National Historic Site NRHP form, pg.2
- ^ http://www.nps.gov/anjo/historyculture/timeline.htm
- ^ NRHP form pg.9
- ^ http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=J017
- ^ NRHP form pg.2
- ^ NRHP form pg.2
- ^ http://www.nps.gov/anjo/historyculture/visitor-tally.htm
- ^ NRHP form pg.2,3
- ^ http://www.nps.gov/anjo/
- ^ NRHP form pg.37
- ^ http://www.nps.gov/anjo/planyourvisit/index.htm
- ^ NRHP form pg.24,31
[edit] External links
- National Park Service: Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
- A secondary NPS site on the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site
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