• U.S. population exceeds 75 million
• U.S. helps put down Boxer Rebellion
• Galveston hurricane
• U.S. presidential election, William McKinley reelected president; Theodore Roosevelt elected vice president

• Population reaches 775

• Another son of Henry and Martha became a community and political leader in Cades Cove. He was Andrew Witt Shields (better known as "Witt"). He owned a large farm, a general store, a flour mill and was a successful grain and cattle farmer. He built a large two story home in 1900 with water piped into the kitchen which was an innovation for Cades Cove.56

• President McKinley begins second term, Theodore Roosevelt becomes Vice President
• President McKinley assassinated, Vice President Roosevelt becomes the 26th President
• U.S. Steel founded by John Pierpont Morgan
• Walt Disney born

• Jan 1 - Nathan Stubblefield, from Murray, KY, makes 1st public demonstration of radio, Pennsylvania
• Jan 1 - First Rose Bowl game played
• Jan 8 - 1st National Bowling Championship held (Chicago, Illinois)
• Jan 28 - Carnegie Institute founded in Washington, D.C.
• Mar 10 - A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera
• Apr 7 - Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms
• Apr 14 - J. C. Penney opens his first store, The Golden Rule Store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming
• Apr 20 - Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride

• Methodist Church, constructed in 1902. Methodists were active in the cove as early as the 1820s, and built their first meeting house in 1840

• This structure served for over 60 years until the present building was constructed in 1902. Very few records exist for the years between 1840 and 1878 but it is known that regular services were held. Despite doctrinal differences, the Methodists and Primitive Baptists were on friendly terms. The Methodists apparently used the Primitive Baptist meeting house from time to time and the two congregations participated in joint revival services. Nevertheless, by 1891, there were only a handful of Methodists in Cades Cove12.

• Great Train Robbery movie opens
• Harley-Davidson Motor Company created
• Ford Motor Company formed
• First World Series
• Big Stick Diplomacy
• Department of Commerce and Labor created
• The Wright brothers make their first powered flight in the Wright Flyer

• Henry Shields married Martha (second daughter of John Oliver) who was most likely the first white child born in Cades Cove.54 Henry and Martha had nine children. One of their sons was George Washington "Carter" Shields (1844 - 1924). This cabin gets its name from him. He was severely wounded and crippled for life in the Battle of Shiloh. Returning to Cades Cove, he married Angeline Gregory in 1865. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Kansas. In 1903, he returned to Cades Cove and, in 1910, bought this cabin and land from John Sparks. He lived here until, in 1921, he moved out of the Cove. He had sold the property to J. G. Gregory in 1919.55

• Panama Canal Zone acquired
• Worlds Fair St. Louis
• U.S. presidential election, Theodore Roosevelt elected president for full term; Charles W. Fairbanks elected vice president

• A Doctor McGill moved to the Cove for a brief period.

• President Roosevelt begins full term, Charles W. Fairbanks becomes Vice President
• Albert Einstein publishes his Theory of Relativity

• Elijah Oliver (1829-1905), the son of John and Lucretia Oliver died.

• San Francisco earthquake

• A native son of the Cove, Granville Dexter Lequire, obtained his degree in 1909 from the Tennessee Medical College; however, he provided medical services in the Cove in 1906 using a temporary license.
• Crawford George Oliver (1906 Cades Cove - 1983 Walland, TN)
  Son of George Drake Oliver and Sarah E. Upton.
  
  Crawford was married twice:
  Rose Johnson [18 Sep 1915 - 16 Aug 2002]
  Martha Oliver [24 May 1913 - 22 Mar 1991] a 1st cousin, who was the daughter of Zacariah A Oliver and Rosa Belle Wilcox.
• 1906-1912 - Justice of the Peace - A. W. Shields

• Coal mine explodes in Monongah, West Virginia, killing at least 361. Worst industrial accident in American history.

• Ford Model "T" appears on market
• Federal Bureau of Investigation established
• U.S. presidential election, William Howard Taft elected president; James S. Sherman vice president. William Jennings Bryan loses for the third and final time.

• The U.S. penny is changed to the Abraham Lincoln design
• William Howard Taft becomes the 27th President, James S. Sherman becomes Vice President
• Robert Peary claims to have reached the North Pole
• NAACP founded by W. E. B. Du Bois

• Jan 2 - 1st junior high schools in US opens (Berkeley California)
• Feb 8 - The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce
• Mar 1 - 118 die when three passenger trains buried at Steven's Pass, WA in Cascade Range by the worst snow slide in US history
• Mar 1 - National Baseball Commission prohibits giving mementos to players on winning World Series teams; decision later reversed, making way for traditional winners' watches, rings, and stickpins
• Mar 2 - Two trains crash in snow storm in Wellington Washington, 118 die
• Mar 10 - Republic of China officailly abolishes slavery
• Mar 16 - Barney Oldfield uses a Benz to break the existing records at Daytona Beach Road Course (131.25mph)
• Mar 26 - US forbid immigration to criminals, anarchists, paupers & the sick
• Apr 14 - President Taft begins tradition of throwing out ball on opening day
• May 3 - Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

• Flint Gap School Closed

Another important issue occurred around 1910. A national theological dispute over the age of accountability for church membership became internalized within the Cades Cove church. One group, led by Elder William H. Oliver, believed that an individual could only consent to baptism and join the church after age twelve. The opposing group, led by Elder Andy Gregory, thought that younger children could be saved. This issue became so divisive throughout the region that afterward individuals from many other Primitive Baptist Churches were referred to as “Oliver” Baptists or “Gregory” Baptists.8

Henry Shields married Martha (second daughter of John Oliver) who was most likely the first white child born in Cades Cove.54 Henry and Martha had nine children. One of their sons was George Washington "Carter" Shields (1844 - 1924). This cabin gets its name from him. He was severely wounded and crippled for life in the Battle of Shiloh. Returning to Cades Cove, he married Angeline Gregory in 1865. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Kansas. In 1903, he returned to Cades Cove and, in 1910, bought this cabin and land from John Sparks. He lived here until, in 1921, he moved out of the Cove. He had sold the property to J. G. Gregory in 1919.55

• First Indianapolis 500 is staged; Ray Harroun is the first winner

• RMS Titanic sinks
• Theodore Roosevelt shot, but not killed, while campaigning for the bull Moose Party
• Vice President Sherman dies
• U.S. presidential election, 1912: Woodrow Wilson elected president, Thomas R. Marshall, vice president. Roosevelt becomes the only third party candidate to come in second for well over a century.

• Laurel Springs School Built - Used until 1926
• 1912-1918 - Justice of the Peace - George D. Roberts

At some point, probably about 1912, a kitchen was added to the north side of the original building. It was of frame construction. john oliver cabin

• Wilson becomes the 28th President and Marshall, Vice President
• 16th Amendment, establishing an income tax
• 17th Amendment, establishing direct election of U.S. Senators
• Henry Ford develops the modern assembly line

• Mother's Day established as a national holiday
• Federal Trade Commission created

• RMS Lusitania sunk

• Consolidated School Built - Used until 1936
• Lower and Upper Schools closed

• U.S. presidential election, Wilson and Marshall reelected by only 3,773 votes in California

• Missionary Baptist Church, current building constructed in 1915-1916. The church was formed from a small faction of Cades Cove Baptists in 1839 who had broken off from the main church due to the debate over missions, which the Cades Cove Baptists didn't consider authorized by scripture

• The movement to establish a conservation area in the Great Smoky Mountains began in the late 1890’s. There was no National Park Service at the time. Many interested parties leaned toward designation of the Smokies as a national forest. When the National Park Service Act became law in 1916, groups of businessmen in Knoxville, TN and Asheville, NC began pushing for a national park. There also was a great deal of controversy about where it should be, but finally, the Tennessee group won Congressional designation of the Smokies as the site of a National Park in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

• President Wilson and Vice President Marshall begin second terms
• U.S. enters World War I
• National Hockey League formed

• Crip Gap School operated from 1890 to 1917 when it was closed and the material moved to a site in what is now the Cades Cove Picnic Area. It was renamed the Spruce Flats School.
• .Spruce Flats School Built - Used until 1930

• Armistice agreement ends World War I

• 1918-1924 - Justice of the Peace - Albert Hill and A.W. Shields Jr.

• Treaty of Versailles agreed to by victorious powers.
• President Wilson has massive stroke. First Lady Edith Wilson takes over in a "silent coup".
• United States Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations
• 18th Amendment, establishing Prohibition
• Black Sox Scandal during the year's World Series, with the fallout lasting for decades

• When John Winston Oliver was born on August 30, 1919, in Blount, Tennessee, his father, John, was 40 and his mother, Nancy, was 41. He had three brothers and five sisters. He died on July 27, 1966, in his hometown at the age of 46, and was buried in Cades Cove, Tennessee.

• Henry Shields married Martha (second daughter of John Oliver) who was most likely the first white child born in Cades Cove.54 Henry and Martha had nine children. One of their sons was George Washington "Carter" Shields (1844 - 1924). This cabin gets its name from him. He was severely wounded and crippled for life in the Battle of Shiloh. Returning to Cades Cove, he married Angeline Gregory in 1865. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Kansas. In 1903, he returned to Cades Cove and, in 1910, bought this cabin and land from John Sparks. He lived here until, in 1921, he moved out of the Cove. He had sold the property to J. G. Gregory in 1919.55

• 19th Amendment, grants women the right to vote
• First radio broadcasts, in Pittsburgh and Detroit
• Volstead Act [National Prohibition Act]
• Economy collapses. Depression of 1920–21 begins.
• National Football League is formed
• U.S. presidential election, 1920: Warren G. Harding elected president, and Calvin Coolidge vice president.

• Myers Barn, constructed in 1920. The Myers Barn is a more modern-looking hay barn located along the trail to the Elijah Oliver Place.
• Hyatt Lane crosses the Cove and joins the Cades Cove Road (now known as the Rich Mountain Road). The state built the present road.

• Harding becomes the 29th President and Coolidge Vice President

• In 1921, Josiah Gregory's still was raided by the Blount County sheriff. Although it was later revealed that the sheriff was tipped off by a surveyor in the area, the Gregory blamed the Oliver's. On the night following the raid, the barns of both William and John W. Oliver were burned, destroying a large portion of the family's livestock and tools.[40] Shortly thereafter, Gregory's son was assaulted by Asa and John Sparks after a prank-gone-wrong. In response, Gregory and his brother, Dana, hunted down and shot the Sparks brothers on Christmas night in 1921. Both of the Gregory's were convicted of barn burning and later convicted of felonious assault. After serving only six months, however, they were pardoned and personally escorted home by Governor Austin Peay.

  On one occasion, in 1821, after the sheriff's deputies raided an illicit still, John W. Oliver and his father, William H. Oliver suffered a major loss. It seems that the officers raided the still operated by Joe "Banty" Gregory. One of the deputies borrowed a team of mules and a wagon from William H. Oliver to haul the confiscated materials to the nearest railroad station in Townsend. The Gregorys figured that the Olivers had reported them. The next night the barns of both Olivers burned to the ground. It was later determined that a third party had actually reported the location of the still to the sheriff.

• Henry Shields married Martha (second daughter of John Oliver) who was most likely the first white child born in Cades Cove.54 Henry and Martha had nine children. One of their sons was George Washington "Carter" Shields (1844 - 1924). This cabin gets its name from him. He was severely wounded and crippled for life in the Battle of Shiloh. Returning to Cades Cove, he married Angeline Gregory in 1865. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Kansas. In 1903, he returned to Cades Cove and, in 1910, bought this cabin and land from John Sparks. He lived here until, in 1921, he moved out of the Cove. He had sold the property to J. G. Gregory in 1919.55

• Jan 11 - Insulin first used on humans to treat diabetes,
• Jan 19 - Geological survey says US oil supply would be depleted in 20 years
• Jan 24 - Eskimo Pie patented
• Feb 5 - Reader's Digest magazine 1st published
• Feb 27 - US Supreme Court unanimously upholds 19th amendment to the US Constuituent - women's right to vote
• Mar 6 - Babe Ruth signs 3 year contract with NY Yankees at $52,000 a year

• President Harding dies; Vice President Coolidge becomes the 30th President
• Teapot Dome bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding

• J. Edgar Hoover is appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation — predecessor to the FBI.
• U.S. presidential election, Calvin Coolidge elected president for a full term, Charles G. Dawes elected vice president

• John W. Oliver welcomed tourists to Cades Cove, renting cabins to them as early as 1924 and offering his services as a guide for hikers.

• President Coolidge begins full term, Charles G. Dawes becomes Vice President
• WSM broadcasts the Grand Ole Opry for the first time.

• NBC founded as the U.S.'s first major broadcast network

• Laurel Springs School Closed and the building material was used to build the Cable School,
• Cable School Built - Used until 1944
  

• Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight
•  “The Jazz Singer”, the first motion picture with sound, is released
• Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS) becomes second national radio network in the U.S.

• In 1927, Tennessee created the Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission. This commission was granted authority to use the Right of Eminent Domain to condemn and acquire lands for use as a National Park. Unfortunately, the Commission representatives did not always deal honestly with the people of the Great Smoky Mountains. Explaining, in many cases, that if they sold to the state they could remain and live out their lives on the land, the Park Commission gained title to the land. Then, unexpectedly, the Commission issued eviction notices in 1929. This action was fought in court but to no avail.

• Disney's “Steamboat Willie” opens, the first animated picture to feature Mickey Mouse
• U.S. presidential election, Herbert C. Hoover elected president and Charles Curtis vice president

• In 1928, John W. Oliver constructed a "large and commodious lodge" ~ This lodge was located on the low hill to the right of the access trail to the Elijah Oliver Place just after leaving the parking area along the Loop Road. Nothing of the lodge except a few foundation remnants remains today.

• St. Valentine's Day Massacre
• Herbert C. Hoover becomes the 31st President, Charles Curtis becomes the Vice President
• Immigration Act
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets a record 68 points over a two-day period, setting off the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and triggering the Great Depression
• The Great Depression starts

• As the movement toward the creation of a National Park progressed, John W. Oliver opposed it. This was a difficult time in Cades Cove as people were told differing things about their future. In July 1929, the Tennessee Park Commission began condemnation of John W. Oliver's property. In September 1929, he challenged the right of the state to seize his holdings. Ultimately, he took the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court where he lost. While the Park Commission prevailed in the end, all other condemnation proceedings in Cades Cove were delayed pending the outcome of John W. Oliver's case. He wrote letters to the Governor and Legislators of Tennessee protesting the condemnation of property in Cades Cove to make as he put it, "... a playground for the rich"

• In 1927, Tennessee created the Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission. This commission was granted authority to use the Right of Eminent Domain to condemn and acquire lands for use as a National Park. Unfortunately, the Commission representatives did not always deal honestly with the people of the Great Smoky Mountains. Explaining, in many cases, that if they sold to the state they could remain and live out their lives on the land, the Park Commission gained title to the land. Then, unexpectedly, the Commission issued eviction notices in 1929. This action was fought in court but to no avail.

• Frozen vegetables, packaged by Clarence Birdseye, become the first frozen food to go on sale

• Spruce Flats School, Closed

• Empire State Building opens in New York.
• Japanese invasion of Manchuria, start of World War II in the Pacific

• Ford introduces the Model B, the first low-priced car to have a V-8 engine
• U.S. presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president, John N. Garner elected vice president

• Chicago Mayor killed during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Roosevelt
• 20th Amendment, establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices on January 20.
• Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President and Garner Vice President.
• President Roosevelt establishes the New Deal, a response to the Great Depression, and focusing on what historians call the "3 Rs": relief, recovery and reform
• Sweeping new programs proposed under President Roosevelt take effect: the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and several more.
• 21st Amendment, ending Prohibition

• Dust Bowl begins, causing major ecological and agricultural damage to the Great Plains states; severe drought, heat waves and other factors were contributors.
• Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
• John Dillinger killed
• Indian Reorganization Act [too little, too late]
• Share the Wealth society founded by Huey Long

• Huey Long assassinated
• The F.B.I. is established with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director.
• Social Security Act
• Alcoholics Anonymous founded
• Revenue Act of 1935 [known as the "Wealth Tax", or  the "Soak the Rich" tax]

• Life magazine publishes first issue
• U.S. presidential election, 1936: Franklin D. Roosevelt reelected president, John N. Garner reelected vice president

• Consolidated School Closed

• Look magazine publishes first issue
• President Roosevelt and Vice President Garner begin second terms
• Hindenburg disaster, killing 35 people and marking an end to airship travel
• Golden Gate Bridge completed in San Francisco

• Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds broadcast

• Hatch Act, aimed at corrupt political practices and prevented federal civil servants from campaigning
• Nazi Germany invades Poland; World War II begins
• President Roosevelt, appearing at the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair, becomes the first President to give a speech that is broadcast on television. Semi-regular broadcasts air during the next two years

• Selective Service Act, establishing the first peacetime draft in U.S. history
• Oldsmobile becomes the first car maker to offer a fully automatic transmission
• Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry make their cartoon debuts
• U.S. presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected president to a record third term, Henry A. Wallace is elected vice president

• Regular commercial television broadcasting begins; NBC television launched.
• President Roosevelt begins third term; Wallace becomes Vice President
• Attack on Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters World War II by declaring war on Japan the next day on December 8; and three days later against Germany and Italy.

• Dec 7: Golman Myers transplanted the "Pearl Harbor tree" in Cades Cove. The 1941 attack resonated in every nook in the nation, including the Myers farm deep in the Smokies. Bernard Myers shows how his father marked the mournful moment by planting a sapling that is now a towering tree in the national park.
  
  Watch the video...
  Watch

• Japanese American internment begins, per executive order by President Roosevelt; the order also authorizes the seizure of their property.
• 1942–1945 – Automobile production in the United States for private consumers halted.
• Cocoanut Grove fire kills 492 people, leads to vast reforms in fire codes and safety standards
• Revenue Act of 1942 [increased individual income tax rates]

• Allied invasion of Sicily
• Allied invasion of Italy
• Tehran Conference [meeting between the leaders of USSR, UK, and US to discuss D-day]

• G.I. Bill
• D-Day [also known as Operation Overlord]
• Battle of the Bulge
• U.S. presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt reelection for a fourth term, becomes the only U.S. president elected four times. Harry S. Truman is elected vice president

• Cable School, the last school in the Cove Closed.

• President Roosevelt begins fourth term; Truman becomes Vice President
• President Roosevelt dies, Vice President Truman becomes the 33rd President
• April 12 - Vice president Truman takes over after being Roosevelt's VP for only 88 days.
• Germany surrenders, end of World War II in Europe
• Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Days later, Japan surrenders, ending World War II

• Vice President Garret A. Hobart dies