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BY MAEGAN COLLINS, MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
From Parcels…to Power…to Enlightenment
United States Post Office & Customs House 1898–1939
A movement began in the early 1890s to construct a post office and public building in Clarksville to accommodate the city’sbooming tobacco trade. Throughout the summer of 1896, a team of architects in the Department of Treasury drafted a set of preliminary plans.
The architectural design of this building caused a stir. The Department of Treasury immediately rejected the preliminary plans. William Aiken, supervising architect of the Treasury, subsequently approved a second set of plans, and a ceremonial groundbreaking took place on September 1, 1897. When Aiken released the approved designs to the people of Clarksville, they abhorred the blend of Italianate, Romanesque, Flemish and Gothic styles. They called the building an “architectural absurdity and a public laughing stock.” Aiken designed new plans, but once again, the community rejected them. Finally, construction based on the original plans resumed, and the new Federal Post Office opened to the public in November 1898.
Horse and buggy on Second Street
Group of postmen ready for deliveries in what is now the Museum Courtyard
Laying of the Cornerstone, December 10, 1897 Right: Post Office and Customs House Construction, 1898
Clarksville Department of Electricity 1940–1983
By the early 1930s, the Clarksville Department of Electricity was making strides with technological advancements. Demand for electricity grew as more of the community gained access to low-cost electricity, and new innovations such as streetlights made their way to town. Commercial enterprises were attracted by the newly-formed Tennessee Valley Authority’s low energy rates.
In 1939, the Federal Government sold the post office building to the City of Clarksville for $50,000. The young Clarksville Department of Electricity found a new home and occupied the building until 1983. Further electrical enhancements included the installation of the city’s first fluorescent light fixtures. Now converted to energy-efficient LED light bulbs, these fixtures continue to illuminate the front lobby of the 1898 building. In 1972, the National Register of Historic Places added the building to its list of protected sites.
Clarksville’s first fluorescent light fixtures in the Clarksville Department of Electricity lobby
Courtesy of Library of Congress
In 1940, the building became the new home of the Clarksville Department of Electricity
Courtesy of Gary Norris
A parade marches past the building when it was home to the Clarksville Department of Electricity, 1961
Courtesy of Gary Norris
Courtesy of Gary Norris
Customs House Museum & Cultural Center 1984–Present
In 1983, the City of Clarksville leased the building to the newly formed Clarksville- Montgomery County Historical Museum. With some remodeling, the Museum opened in June 1984 to coincide with the city’s bicentennial celebration. The Museum expanded in 1996, adding 35,000 square feet to displaymore historical, artistic, cultural and scientific artifacts from its collections.
On January 22, 1999, destruction found Clarksville in the form of an F3 tornado. Five blocks of the downtown area were seriously damaged; over 100 buildings were destroyed, and another 560 were damaged. Fortunately, the Museum survived, but incurred nearly two million dollars in damage and closed for ten months. Upon reopening, the scope of the Museum expanded and the name shifted to the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center.
Damage from the F3 tornado that devastated Downtown Clarksville during the early morning hours of January 22, 1999
Damage from the F3 tornado that devastated Downtown Clarksville during the early morning hours of January 22, 1999
1996 opening of the Museum expansion
1984 ribbon-cutting for the opening of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Historical Museum
Embellished with terracotta, slate, copper and marble, the Museum is one of the most photographed buildings in Tennessee. With the addition of full-spectrum LEDlights lining the perimeter of the roofline, the illuminated structure can be viewed from many vantage points in Downtown Clarksville.
The magnificent edifice stands today as a beacon of enlightenment for the community.
The building becomes the talk of the town once again when illuminated for the first time in 122 years, October 3, 2020
The Museum’s Greatest Artifact
BY ANNA WOTEN, CURATOR OF COLLECTIONS & REGISTRAR
“The building is unusually flamboyant in style for its size. Its highly pitched roof with large eagles on the four corners, its steep gabled windows and elaborate terracotta ornamentation combine to give importance to a relatively small building.”
- National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form, June 1972
When museums decide to bring in objects for our collections, we do so with the understanding that we will preserve them for future generations. We have a number of tools and strategies at our disposal, but sometimes the objects are too large to sit safely within our carefully controlled Collections Storage. One such object is the Customs House itself!
Buildings bring their own set of challenges to preservation. Our collections are normally kept within environmentallycontrolled spaces, but the Customs House is constantly exposed to elements like weather and pollution. All of these factors slowly wear down and damage the historic structure, and it takes special care and attention to keep the building safe.
And although the building’s history is vital to Clarksville’s story, it is significant for another reason, too. The architecture of the Customs House is quite unique to the state of Tennessee. A mixture of Queen Anne and Stick styles, the Victorian structure is unlike anything else you will find in the state. It has been called “unusual” and “flamboyant” by historians in the past, but we are quite fond of it here at the Museum!