As we celebrate Women’s History month, we’re shining the spotlight on one woman’s determination to forge her own path, cementing her legacy here in Chattanooga, and another working to preserve and restore its history.
Anna Safley Houston was a woman way ahead of her time. She had an entrepreneurial spirit, and a savvy business acumen during a time when women couldn’t vote, weren’t’ allowed to buy property, or have their own bank accounts.
Yet, somehow, she managed to do all those things.
Today, her vast collection of glass, textiles, furniture, and more make up the 15,000 plus items on display at the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts, located in the Bluff View Arts District.
Houston often traveled across the United States, Mexico and Canada acquiring antiquities and collectable items. Museum Executive Director Pamela Reed said Houston had a great eye for art and merchandise and knew what her clients wanted.
“She was born in 1876 so she liked to collect things like that would have been vintage to her from the mid-1850s, 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s that was kind of her sweet spot,” Reed said. “She did collect things into the early 1900s, 1920s, and even the 1930s, but she was really looking for things that were antique to her.”
Originally from Arkansas, Houston lived in several states, working a variety of jobs, before making her way to Chattanooga in 1904.
“Here she opened a women's boutique on Main Street where she sold big feathered Victorian hats and she sold women's clothing and accessories,” Reed said.
A few years later Houston closed the store and opened an antique shop on McCallie.
“She would take the Chattanooga Choo Choo and travel all over the US and buy antiques and bring them back to Chattanooga and sell them,” Reed said. One of Houston’s husbands worked for the railroad company.
Unfortunately, Houston had to close the antique store due to the Great Depression.
“She moved up to East Ridge and she built a barn where she moved all of her antiques and she ended up living and working out of this barn until her death in 1951,” Reed said.
Prior to her death, Houston recruited 100 people from the community who helped her form her non-profit in 1940 as her vision of opening a museum started to come to fruition.
Alas, Houston died before the museum opened.
“We opened in 1961,” Reed said. “It was all her idea to start a museum with all her things.”
The items were first housed inside a home known as the Chapin House. But that building was knocked down in the mid -1960s as part of the Hunter Museum expansion.
Reed said the community came together to help the organization secure their current building at 201 High Street.
“That’s where we've been since 1967,” Reed said. “She never lived in the house, but it's from her time period. It's a revival. So, it's the perfect setting for her Victorian collection. And it's the oldest house that still stands in the Bluff View district. It’s the only house up here from the 1800s. Everything else is 1900s and after.”
Reed is somewhat of a pioneer herself, moving from New York City to Chattanooga in 2022 after her husband secured a new job amid the COVID pandemic.
Reed said she was unsure about what her next career move would be. She was still trying to adjust to life in a new city.
“I was googling things to do in Chattanooga and trying to get my bearings and I just went to the museum as a visitor,” she said. “I thought maybe I'll volunteer one day a week just to meet like -minded people.”
While she was volunteering, she learned the director of the museum was getting ready to retire.
“My husband and I owned a bar and restaurant in New York City for a long time, so I had run my own business,” she said. “I've been in hospitality and working with people. In my professional background, I was a designer for a bunch of different fashion brands. So, a lot of the historical like art aspects, I was familiar with. My dad was also a collector, my grandparents and I have been going to flea markets since I was a kid. So, I felt like I could relate and then I also just felt like her story was so cool.”
Much like Houston’s drive for success, Reed dove headfirst into her new role by tackling a huge project – a complete restoration of the museum building.
“When I joined the museum, we were sort of at a crossroads because the house is old and it needed extensive repairs and it's overwhelming,” she said.
She said the board discussed the possibility of moving the museum but agreed the building should be restored and renovated.
“It’s such a gem,” Reed said. “We’re near the river, art galleries and all these restaurants. It's like our own little district; we decided to pour back into ourselves.”
Reed said they’ve already completed phase one, fixing all the foundation issues. They are looking at what historic details they can preserve while making the necessary updates to electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, all happening now in phase two. The renovated building will be ADA compliant and have an elevator. They also plan on adding new display rooms, a gallery, storage space in the basement, and an event space.
The cost is roughly $3.5 million with some of the money coming from grants and some from private donors.
Reed said once completed they hope to work with schools and various local artists to host workshops and educational programs in addition to hosting private events and being open to the public.
After the renovations are complete, the museum will once again house the enormous, unique collection of more than 15,000 objects Houston loved so deeply.
“It was probably double,” Reed said about the original collection. “The reason I say that is because when she died in 1951, until they unloaded her house and moved it here, there was a series of yard sales that they hosted at the barn where they sold things over time to raise money for the museum. I've read articles that when she passed away, she had 15,000 pitchers, just pitchers, in all shapes and sizes and materials.”
While the renovations are ongoing, visitors can tour and see a sample of Houston’s collection at the pop-up museum inside the former Back Inn Café at 412 E 2nd Street, Tuesday through Saturday, from noon until 4 p.m.
Houston Museum of Decorative Arts
- Pop-up location 412 E 2nd Street, Chattanooga (in the Bluff View Arts District)
- Admission: Adults 18 and over $10, seniors $9, children under 18, students and military $5, and group tours of 10 or more $9 per person.
- Website: www.thehoustonmuseum.org