Chatsworth historic sites open during Black Bear Festival, special activities planned

Published 6:49 pm Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Chatsworth has the distinction of being Murray County’s youngest, largest and only “planned” city. The Whitfield-Murray Historical Society invites you to learn Chatsworth’s story by visiting three historic properties in downtown on Saturday and Sunday during the annual Black Bear Festival. The old Chatsworth Depot, the historic Wright Hotel and the Section House will be open at no charge, but donations are encouraged.

When the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was completed in 1905, it passed through several towns in Murray County, but it bypassed the then county seat of Spring Place.

A group of businessmen formed the Chatsworth Land Co., bought land, surveyed the property into town lots, and built the new city at first spelled Chattsworth and probably named for Chatsworth Castle in England.

However, the Chatsworth Depot was already there, in the middle of nowhere, and thus is the oldest building in Chatsworth today. By the 1970s the Chatsworth Depot was not only the last station open, it was the only Murray County depot even in existence. A combined effort by the City of Chatsworth and the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society later resulted in the moving of the structure to a site off the tracks that made restoration possible.

Today, the building houses a large exhibit of railroad memorabilia as well as special displays about early Chatsworth and the talc industry along with a revamped display highlighting Dr. R.H. Bradley, a well-known Chatsworth physician who was also the doctor for railroad personnel. During the Black Bear Festival, visitors can see model trains in operation and also enjoy rides on the “Blue Train” for $1 per person.

The relocated depot is adjacent to the Historic Wright Hotel, a site already listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Also called the Chatsworth Hotel at times, the Wright Hotel owed its existence to the railroad, too. Chatsworth already had a hotel when Tom and Laura Wright began laying the groundwork for their family enterprise in 1908. However, the entrepreneurs knew they would have first shot at all the travelers who decided to stop in Chatsworth since the Wright Hotel was only a block from the train station.

All the material used in constructing this half-acre building was locally produced including the bricks which were made at a new brick plant just down Second Avenue from the construction site. The business, which was also home to the Wrights and their growing family, opened in 1910.

Good food and continued improvements like bathrooms in the 1920s, closets, electricity and steam heat kept the hotel booming until the 1960s. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, their children leased the hotel operation to the Quarles and then the Keeter families. One of the Wright daughters, Kate Raine, retired from her career as a public health nurse to the Native Americans of the Southwest and returned to the hotel in 1969. Raine once again made the hotel her home, but continued to rent rooms until shortly before her death in 1986. She left the amazing structure and its furnishings to the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society with the stipulation that the building be preserved as nearly as possible to its original condition.

For more than three decades now, the Wright Hotel has been a museum of a most unusual type. Two floors show life in an early 20th century hotel while the third floor houses a museum about the Wrights and their lives in Chatsworth as well as in the Southwest.

During the festival openings, the hotel will showcase its collection of locally-made chenille bedspreads. Also on display will be items from the historical society’s archives highlighting the history of Murray County High School which is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year.

Up in City Park the railroad Section House will also be open following a “sprucing up” of its early 20th century furnishings, highlighted by a collection of hand-tufted bedspreads. The foreman of the crew who had the responsibility of maintaining the Chatsworth “section” of the railroad lived in this house with his family from the early 1900s until past mid-century.

For more information, check out the Wright Hotel and the Chatsworth Depot on Facebook or contact director@whitfieldmurray.org.