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22 Jul Historic Leadvale Coaling Station
Standing as a sentinel along the East Tennessee Crossing Byway is the Leadvale Coaling Station Tower in Rankin Bottoms. Often mistaken as a barn silo, this historic structure is a reminder of the history of railroad transportation in East Tennessee. Railroads were instrumental to connecting larger cities of the South to cities in the Midwest and to the markets of the East. For rural communities, the railroads provided opportunities to ship farm goods to markets and for travel over the mountains.
Investments in railroads reshaped many of the communities along the East Tennessee Crossing Byway. The City of Newport moved from “old port” along the French Broad River to “new port” when Southern Railway began expanding track in East Tennessee. The Town of White Pine was founded in 1915 when the railroad crossing was completed. Prior to the railroad, this farming community was called Dandridge Crossroads.
The Southern Railway served the South between 1894 and 1982. The railroad was the product of over a hundred plus predecessor lines that were combined, reorganized and recombined beginning in the 1830s, formally becoming the Southern Railway in 1894. In 1982, Southern Railway merged with Norfolk and Western to form Norfolk and Southern.
The 1,000 ton concrete coaling tower was operational form 1925 until 1942, when the Southern Railway abandoned the line and switched to diesel engines. When TVA built Douglas Dam and flooded the area, this structure was one of the rare structures that the TVA did not dismantle. The Leadvale Coaling Station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.