Knox County Land Purchase for UT along Cumberland Avenue

In January 1927 UT President Harcourt Morgan, who had successfully petitioned Knox County to issue bonds to purchase the Cherokee Farm for agricultural research in 1915, again proposed that Knox County issue bonds for a land purchase for UT—this time, tracts of land on the north side of Cumberland Avenue extending from Fifteenth Street to Temple Avenue. The land had been purchased by Weston M. Fulton, who, at the request of President Morgan, agreed to transfer it to the university for the price he paid. The county court agreed to issue $300,000 in bonds, but D. M. Chambliss of Knoxville filed suit to block the purchase because there had not been a public referendum on their issuance. On September 22, 1927, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the chancery court decision that county court had the right to issue the bonds. The bonds were issued, and UT bought the property. Three houses (1514, 1515, and 1553 Cumberland) were leased to fraternities (1515 to Sigma Phi Epsilon and 1553 to Phi Gamma Delta) the next year until the university needed them for other purposes.