NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — We've got one for the longtime Nashvillians. A tradition disappeared more than 30 years ago, but it was around for a very long time. It's something that brings great memories of a not-so-great smell.
One of the things I really love about the NewsChannel 5 archive is looking through old stories and thinking, what was going on there? I found a story on a tape from 1986. On the tape, the story was only listed as 'sulfur water.' Watching the tape, I had to know the story behind it.
The piece was set on what is today Taylor St. and Rosa L. Parks Blvd. In that piece from 1986, people just kept coming up to a fountain for a drink of sulfur water.
"I walked four miles just to get some of that water there," said one man with a smile.
This was something that went on in Nashville for decades. Diane Christon remembers.
"What'd it smell like?" I asked her.
"Rotten eggs!"
"When you get past the scent, you've got it licked, y'know," said one man in 1986.
"I smell it, but it don't taste like it smells," added another.
What did it taste like?
"There was a thickness to it, almost like castor oil," Christon said.
"That sounds terrible," I told her.
"It was terrible!"
There was something interesting about the sulfur water. It was a unfier. All kinds of people drank from the fountain. There were local attorneys who did.
"All ages, all ethnicities!" Christon said.
So, why were people always there? Christon's dad was one of the many who believed the water was just good for you.
"His name was Joseph Christon, but his friends called him Billy," Christon said. "My daddy was the kind of person that I believed everything he said, so if he said it's good for what ails you, I believed it. I believed it! He was a very healthy man."
A lot of other people believed in that sulfur water too.
"I think it's good for your kidneys," said one man in the 1986 piece.
"You think it's going to make you live longer?" the reporter asked another man.
"That and clean living!"
"It'll purify your blood," said yet another man.
Here's the backstory.
The late author Leland R. Johnson traces this back to the nearby Morgan Park. He said a 2,900-foot well was drilled there in the late 1800s, and people would come to the park to get that sulfur water. Morgan Park has an outdoor art piece tribute to that era on display now.
In 1955, the sulfur water pipes were moved to the Werthan Industries site. The building's still there. It's now loft condos. When NewsChannel 5 caught this moment in 1986, the sulfur water pipes had been here for more than 30 years. What's interesting is, you can still see where all of this happened today. The pipes are still visible at the same location. They were capped in the 90s.
"You could ride by there day or night, and you would see people just walking up and filling up their jugs," said Christon.
Christon's family lived fairly close to this spot. She said it's amazing how much everything's changed since her memories of the 60s and 70s.
Christon's father was an avid reader, a golfer, a licensed taxidermist, and a mechanic for Nashville Electric Service. Remembering that unusual Nashville story, the sulfur water on Taylor Street, is a connection to the past for Christon.
"I'm smiling thinking about my dad," she nodded. "I'm smiling thinking about my daddy."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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