Freed House

Friendship Lodge No. 22, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, founded the Odd Fellows Female Collegiate Institute here in 1852. During the Civil War, Federal troops occupied the building, a two-story brick structure, and used it as a hospital. An accidental fire destroyed it. After the war, the Odd Fellows lodge filed a claim for the damage. The school was not rebuilt. Although Trenton survived military attacks and occupation by both sides during the war, like many towns it recovered slowly from the conflict.

Julius Freed, a German-Jewish merchant who moved to Trenton after the war, constructed this house in the institute site, helped the town recover. Freed served in the 15th Tennessee Infantry of the Army of the Tennessee and was wounded in the battles at Perryville and Chickamauga and during the Atlanta campaign. Captured during Hood's attack on Nashville in December 1864, Freed became a prisoner of war until his release in May 1865. Although he had been in business in Memphis and Jackson before the conflict, Freed settled in Trenton and established a dry-goods store in partnership with another Jewish merchant, Julius Ebert. In 1871, Freed married Henrietta Cohn and constructed this Italianate-style house. Their sons became important local bankers and politicians, and the family made many civic contributions, including a fountain and baseball park. Dr. Frederick Freed gave the city a unique and valuable set of Veilleuse-Theieres (night-light teapots), and this collection housed at City Hall, has become a city symbol for Trenton.

(captions)
(lower left) Advertisement for J. Freed Clothing store Courtesy Fred M. Culp
(upper center) Julius Freed Courtesy Tennessee State Library & Archives
(upper right) J. Freed and Son Clothing store - Courtesy Fred M. Culp

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Show me all markers in:  Trenton, TN  |  Gibson County  |  38382  |  Tennessee  |  United States of America

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