Centenary Avenue Historic District (Additional Documentation)

About this property

The Centenary Avenue is one of the oldest historic districts in Cleveland, Tennessee. It is bounded by Eighteenth, Harle, Thirteenth and Ocoee Streets, is located adjacent to the Ocoee Street Historic District, and is regarded as one of the widest streets in Cleveland. The homes there were built from 1850 to 1949. Added to the city's historic registry in 1993, the private residences on Centenary Avenue are built in Tudor Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman and Colonial Revival architectural styles. The Centenary district received national attention from 1980 to 1998 when a house owned by businessman Allan Jones located at 150 Centenary Avenue NW became the site of Halloween appearances by the famous Tall Betsy goblin that stands more than 7 feet, 6 inches tall. Centenary Avenue is mentioned in a famous poem about Tall Betsy and in a state resolution adopted on May 24, 1989, honoring Tall Betsy as the “official Halloween Goblin of Bradley County.” The historic district was also featured in a 2011 documentary about Tall Betsy that aired on PBS and NBC and won a prestigious Telly Award in 2013. It was narrated by Lynn Hoffman, host of A&E’s popular “Private Sessions.” The residential areas within the district achieved their maturity before 1900, though Sycamore has grown considerably from the 3,330 or so that lived there from about 1900 until the 1970s most of the historic district remains intact as it was organized in 1978. Tall Betsy was started in 1980 by Jones, who at the time was a single parent raising his daughter Courtney and living at the Centenary residence. Jones had heard his mother, Gincy Slaughter Jones, tell stories of Tall Betsy as he was a child growing up at 480 21st Street NW in Cleveland, TN. According to Jones, who later became known as “Mr. Halloween,” the real Tall Betsy was a very tall woman who walked the streets of Cleveland, TN in the early 1920s. She always wore black and was referred to by the townspeople as Tall Betsy, Black Betsy, and the Lady in Black. Tall Betsy first appeared in Cleveland's Johnston Park downtown for an afternoon event on Halloween day, 1980. Jones' mother was hosting a party for Courtney at the Centenary Avenue home before the kids went out trick-or-treating. Jones left Johnston Park and got a friend in a pickup truck to allow him to lay in the back and deliver him to the party at 150 Centenary Avenue. Jones appeared in the backyard and scared the kids, who were the first to see Tall Betsy. As they left to go down the street trick-or-treating, Tall Betsy walked in front of the Jones house and stood waiting for young trick-or-treaters.

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Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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