During that period, the future site of the Cal Johnson building was probably in deep right field.

By 1867, perhaps earlier, it was known as the “Base Ball Grounds.” East Tennessee’s first baseball games were played here in the 1860s and ’70s, when Knoxville fielded a couple of semi-pro teams, making some income based on gambling. It was being used as a dump before the Civil War, but was occasionally cleared to host traveling circuses and other spectacles. Because of the steep declivity from Gay Street, it was difficult to build on, by the resources of the day. This long block from Union Avenue to Commerce had an interesting heritage even before there was much architecture on it. Perhaps because it was in the vicinity of the McClung family property, land with which they were familiar, the Johnsons acquired a lot of acreage along State Street, much of it in separate parcels purchased in 1886. The Johnson brothers and their mother, Harriet, used the money to invest in real estate and business. He died before the Civil War, but with emancipation, Cal Johnson and his older brother, John, as well as an Italian-immigrant friend, Alex Biagotti, a bond servant who had also worked for the McClung family before the war, found unusual work after the war exhuming corpses of soldiers killed on the battlefield and delivering them to the National Cemetery in Knoxville for reburial. Johnson’s father, Cupid, was well-known as an expert horseman. Cal Johnson (1844-1925) became a wealthy man. Born a slave to one of Knoxville’s oldest families, the McClungs. Its builder was one of the most remarkable businessmen in Knoxville’s history, with a career that may have no parallel in America. As is sometimes the case, the date inscribed may have indicated when the building was commenced, rather than when it was completed. The Cal Johnson building shows the date 1898 high on its facade, and that’s a reasonable estimate of when it was built, based on its style and occupancy records. Cal Johnson and History of the Cal Johnson Building on State Street

City on fire antony dapiran