Harry Lee Rowland was the third son and fourth child of John Woods Rowland and Anna Lou Whitus. He was born in 1900 in Oliver Springs, Roane County, Tennessee, and died 55 years later in nearby Harriman. (1) His life was marked by financial setbacks, many caused by the Great Depression, and frequent moves from town to town.
Harry’s birthplace of Oliver Springs was (and still is) tiny, with fewer than 700 residents in 1900. (2) At the time the Rowlands lived there, wealthy visitors came to the area and stayed at the town’s resort hotel, built on top of mineral springs, in order to bathe and drink the waters. After the hotel burned in 1905, its owner chose not to rebuild as the structure had been under-insured. Over time, Oliver Springs and the area around it became dependent on the coal industry for jobs, with the first mine opening in 1904. (3)
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