April 16, 1935 dynamite explosion at Helenwood
The April 16, 1935, dynamite explosion was a blast caused by a fire at a mine supply store, which destroyed much of the town of Helenwood. No one was killed in the explosion, though several people suffered minor injries.
Background
Helenwood was a coal-mining town on the Cincinnati & Southern Railroad. Although the town dates back to the 1850s, when it was called Homestead, it underwent a period of significant growth after the railroad was built in the late 1870s. Coal was discovered at nearby Sulpher Creek, and a railroad spur was built to reach the mines.
Although the mines closed in the 1920s, George T. Webb continued to operate a mine supply store in a warehouse about 200 yards from the railroad depot. According to multiple sources, the storage of explosives in the building was illegal.
Writing for the FNB Chronicle in 1989, Kathleen West Robbins said: “Most of the people living in this small town knew that the above mentioned warehouse was being used for storing ‘bootleg’ powder and dynamite. Some of the townspeople had brought charges against the man, George T. Webb who had been selling this powder and dynamite and he had been ordered to move it out of town on several occasions. But the ones who lived nearby had seen and heard him unloading more of it into the building at night sometime in the early part of the Spring of 1935. They knew it now contained more of this material. They were aware that it was a dangerous situation but they had not gotten around to doing anything about it.”
In the aftermath of the explosion, the Knoxville News Sentinel quoted Ed M. Gillenwaters, a former state fire prevention commissioner, as saying that the explosives were illegally stored because they were supposed to be “a mile or two miles” outside of town.
There were 250 kegs of blasting powder and 20 cases of dynamite stored in the building at the time of the explosion, the newspaper wrote.
Cause of the Explosion
At around 8:30 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, April 16, 1935, a twelve-year-old boy, Anvilee Keeton, alerted Anna O’Connor — the wife of the railroad station agent and the daughter of Helenwood’s postmaster (Patrick Foster, 1869-1939, and Maggie Anna Lee, 1872-1945) — that fire had broken out in his home.
Keeton was home alone with his four siblings. His mother, widow Sally Keeton, had gone to Oneida for work. One of the children had climbed onto a cabinet, causing it to fall onto a wood-burning stove. The stovepipe came loose and set fire to the kitchen of the residence.
Alerting the Townspeople
Anna O’Connor realized that the fire was in danger of spreading from the Keeton home to Webb’s mine supply store, where the explosives were kept. She rushed to the nearby store of Reason Cecil, and told him to fire his gun into the air to warn the townspeople of the impending explosion.
“I yelled to him to get his gun and shoot it, to attract people’s attention,” O’Connor told the Knoxville newspaper. “And took out across the road, shouting to everyone to run for their lives.”
O’Connor’s last stop was her own home, where she rounded up her five children and sent them out of town.
“All that running nearly finished me,” she said. “I don’t know how I did it. I have not been well since January, when I had the flu and pneumonia right after my baby was born. But somehow I kept going, and I’m sure glad I could. These people would have been killed if they hadn’t got out of town before that explosion, and I knew it.”
O’Connor and Cecil were credited with saving the lives of dozens, if not hundreds, of Helenwood residents. Most people had fled town before the blast occurred.
The Explosion
“The debris could be seen in the air for miles around — and such a loud noise and concussion!” Robbins wrote. “After everything had settled down and an inventory taken, it was found that no one was killed, a few were injured but lots of damage was done to surrounding buildings.”
Initial reports were that 200 people were left homeless by the blast. That number was later reported to be as many as 300.
Seven injuries were initially reported. The Knoxville News Sentinel listed the injured as: Mrs. Tom Daniels, Floyd Pemberton, J.Y. Phillips, Mrs. Louise Williams, Mrs. Arthur Cross and her baby, and Mrs. Ella Toomey.
The Knoxville newspaper reported that 22 houses were destroyed, another 25 homes were “wrecked,” and every house in town was damaged.
After alerting the townspeople, Anna O’Connor stopped by her home to collect her five children before fleeing town. Reason Cecil gathered his wife and nine children and sought refuge in a storm cellar. J.Y. Phillips ushered his family out of town before remembering his cow. He returned home to fetch the cow, and both he and the cow were knocked down by the blast. Phillips suffered broken ribs. He was able to escape the flames by grabbing the cow’s tail and letting it drag him to safety, newspapers reported.
“I don’t know what the people are going to do,” O’Connor wrote for the Chattanooga Daily Times. “I have my little child in the car, outside the depot, now. And we may spend the night in it. The town is wrecked.”
Response
Representatives of the Scott County chapter of the Red Cross were on scene within a half-hour of the blast. The explosion was heard in Huntsville, with a number of people speeding to Helenwood in cars along the Monticello Pike. Representatives of the Knoxville chapter of the Red Cross also responded to Helenwood.
A team of 94 carpenters volunteering for the Red Cross spent the next two weeks repairing homes in Helenwood. It was written that every dish in the town was broken, and every home was damaged to some degree. The former coal company commissary, which housed a Masonic lodge on the second floor, was destroyed, along with several other buildings. The depot suffered heavy damage, and the post office was also damaged, although the mail was able to be gotten out on time the following day.
Aftermath
The following people were key players in the Helenwood explosion:
Sally Keeton: Born Sally Owens on Sept. 1, 1896, she was the daughter of Willie Owens and Elly Foster. She married Burdett Keeton in 1917, and they had six children: Zora, Leatha, Onvan L. (Anvilee), May, Milford, and Clara. Burdett (sometimes spelled Burdette) died between 1930 and 1935, though it isn’t certain when. According to Robert Bailey’s Cemeteries of Scott County, Tennessee, he was buried at the Fowler Keeton Cemetery in Helenwood. Burdett Keeton was the son of Joseph Fowler Keeton (1866-1909) and Sarah Vianna Thompson (1869-1935). He was first married to Parrilee Mays, but she died in 1915.
On the morning of April 16, 1935, Sally Keeton had gone to Oneida for a “relief job,” according to newspapers, when one of her children accidentally knocked a cabinet onto the wood-burning stove inside the home, setting fire to the kitchen. The fire spread to the nearby mine supply store, triggering the explosion.
Sally later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she died on Oct. 28, 1982, and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery.
Anvilee Keeton: The 9-year-old son of Sally Keeton (his age was reported as 12 at the time of the explosion, but countless public records indicate he was actually born in 1926). He alerted neighbors, including Anna O’Connor, about the fire. His name is often spelled Aunva Lee or Onva Lee. He married Christine Slaven in 1948. She was the daughter of William Slaven and Rosetta Slaven. They later divorced, and Aunva Lee moved to Ohio, where he died at Miami, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 2001. He had three sons: Mark, Delbert, and Jessie. All lived in Ohio.
George T. Webb: Born about 1905, George Thompson Webb was a mine superintendent who later operated a mine supply store that was the source of the Helenwood explosion. He was originally from Glenmary. He married Edith Gibson in 1923. They had one son, George T. Webb Jr., born about 1925. Edith was the daughter of James Phillips Gibson and Ida Daniel Gibson. George was killed in an airplane crash at Glenmary on April 29, 1941, along with W.C. Towle, and was buried at Lynnhurst Cemetery in Knoxville, Tenn. Following George’s death, Edith married Kirby Phillips. She died in Oneida on May 8, 1983, and was buried at Carson Memorial Park. George Jr. served in World War II. He died in Virginia in 2003 and is also buried at Carson Memorial Park.
Anna O’Connor: Born Anna Elizabeth Foster on March 10, 1894, she was the daughter of Patrick Foster and Maggie Anna Foster, who ran the Helenwood post office in the 1930s. She married James Camillus “Jim” O’Connor, who was a telegraph agent on the railroad. Their children included Margaret A. Tompkins (1918-2012), James Patrick O’Connor (1919-2000), and Dorothy V. Sanders (1928-1999). Another child included daughter Cornelia, born about 1922. The couple married in Danville, Ky., in 1915, and moved to Helenwood in early 1934. They later moved to Robbins prior to 1940. She saved many lives by alerting the townspeople to the impending explosion. She died Dec. 4, 1966, in Oneida, of congestive heart failure. She was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Rockwood, Tenn. Jim O’Connor died in Rockwood on Aug. 19, 1978, and is also buried at Oak Grove Cemetery.
Reason Cecil: Born Reason Henderson Cecil on April 11, 1877, he was the son of Reuben Churchwell Cecil (1853-1929) and Louvina Marcum (1851-1934), a well-known Helenwood family. His nephew, Virgil Cecil, and great-nephews, Roger Cecil and Milford Cecil, would later serve as pastors of Helenwood Baptist Church for many years. They were the sons of his brother, William W. Cecil (1875-1943). Reason Cecil first married Genie Pemberton (1886-1917), daughter of another well-known Helenwood resident, Church Pemberton. Their children included Clyde Evans Cecil, Harry Pemberton Cecil, Reuben Churchwell Cecil, William Lee Cecil, Edgar Allen Poe Cecil, and Lola Lee Cecil. Reason later married Josie Ella Justice (1903-1982), and their children included James Henderson Cecil, John Ralph Cecil, Elsie Lee Cecil, Joseph Benton Cecil, Verona Lee Cecil, and Geneva Lee Cecil.
In 1935, Reason Cecil owned a general store in Helenwood. He helped Anna O’Connor alert the townspeople to the impending disaster. He died in Knoxville on Oct. 26, 1947. He was buried at Helenwood Cut Cemetery.
Kathleen West Robbins: Frances Kathleen West was born Jan. 25, 1923, the daughter of Lawrence Austin West (1899-1980) and Florence Boshears (1904-1989). Her father was at work at a rock quarry in Glenmary when the explosion occurred. She and her brother were at school, and her mother was home alone when she heard Reason Cecil firing his gun into the air and looked out to see the smoke from the fire. Kathleen later wrote about the explosion for the FNB Chronicle. She married Howard Keeton (1918-1973) in 1942. She later married William Earl Robbins. She worked for the Helenwood post office for 33 years. Her son was Jack Keeton. She died on April 18, 2003, and was buried at Daniel Memorial Cemetery.
J.Y. Phillips: John Young Phillips was injured when he ran back into town to retrieve his cow and the explosion occurred before he could make it back to safety. Born May 4, 1874, he was the son of Pleasant Winford Phillips (1849-1936) and Emily Clemons Cecil (1850-1925). He was a first cousin of Reason Cecil. He married Laura Leona Cecil (1874-1954), who may have been the daughter of Charity Cecil, and granddaughter of James Timothy Cecil and Phariba Reed. Their children included Haron Carol Phillips, John Howard Phillips, and Hazel Lucille Phillips Randolph. She died in 1954 and he died in 1957. Both are buried at the Cecil Cemetery.
Not the cause for the name
It is sometimes said that Helenwood was named because of the 1935 dynamite explosion, which caused “hell in the woods.” However, that is not true. Helenwood may have indeed came from the phrase “hell in the woods,” but it was called Helenwood as far back as the early 1880s — more than 50 years before the dynamite blast. The first reference to Helenwood in a newspaper came on Dec. 25, 1881, when the Chattanooga Daily Times reported on the opening salvo of the Cecil-West-Smith Feud.
Remembering
The following article was written by Kathleen West Robbins for the FNB Chronicle in Summer 1989.
The coal mines at Helenwood had long since closed down along with their Commissary but in the top story above the Commissary was the Masonic 11811, the meeting place of Helenwood Lodge 570 F & AM. Along side this building was a large warehouse that had also been used by the mining company. Next to this warehouse stood a small dwelling occupied by the BURDETT KEETON family.
Most of the people living in this small town knew that the above mentioned warehouse was being used for storing “bootleg” powder and dynamite. Some of the townspeople had brought charges against the man, GEORGE T. WEBB, who had been selling this powder and dynamite and he had been ordered to move it out of town on several occasions. But the ones who lived nearby had seen and heard him unloading more of it into the building at night sometime in the early part of the Spring of 1935. They knew it now contained more of this material. They were aware that it was a dangerous situation but they had not gotten around to doing anything about it.
I lived with my parents, LAWRENCE and FLORENCE WEST, and my brother KENNETH in a house approximately 150 yards back of this warehouse. On the morning of April 5, 1935, my father left for work at the rock quarry in Glenmary, my brother and I left for school and my mother was home alone. She heard several shots fired from a gun, some loud hollering, etc., and when she went to the window to see what was happening she saw the smoke. She was afraid of what was going to take place. A merchant, REASON CECIL, who had a store upon the corner above us had seen the smoke and had fired the warning shots and was hollering for everyone to get as far out of town as possible. He knew it was impossible to put out the fire because there was no water nearby and of course, no fire department. It was later learned that one of the small KEETON children, who lived in the little house adjacent to the warehouse, had climbed onto a cabinet and pulled it over. It fell onto the wood-burning stove, knocking the pipe down, thus catching the kitchen afire. The children’s mother had left them alone for a short time and they were so excited they didn’t know how to handle the situation. By the time it was noticed by an adult, it was past being “put out.” Fire leaped from the KEETON house to the warehouse.
In the meantime, my mother and other neighbors had gotten as far away as they had time to do. Then it happened! The debris could be seen in the air for miles around — and such a loud noise and concussion! After everything had settled down and an inventory taken, it was found that no one was killed, a few were injured but lots of damage was done to surrounding buildings. The heaviest hit were the buildings within 1/2 miles of the scene. At least eight buildings were beyond repair, including, of course, the Masonic Hall.
The Red Cross was called in to help the people who had lost all their possessions. The house in which we lived was repaired as well as several others in the town. In my bedroom one of the walls had fallen on the head of my bed and completely folded it up to meet the foot. Had it happened in the night and not been discovered in time, I probably wouldn’t have been here to write this story. It was several weeks before everything was cleaned up and the people were settled back into their repaired houses or were located elsewhere. The Red Cross certainly was a blessing to all of us. It has been more than fifty-four years since this happened but the memories are still vivid to some of us that are still living; two large craters that have been slowly filled up by Mother Nature remain as reminders. Down through the years it has been referred to as “The Webb Explosion.”