Snow flurries were flitting about last evening, no doubt laying down a white blanket up in the mountains. The temperatures finally took a turn last week to let the confused plants in everyone’s yards know that it was time to go to sleep. I’ve had an azalea blooming, and cosmos, daisies and zinnias going well past time for dormancy. I’d wondered if my daffodils and crocuses might go way off course and start emerging again.

But especially the crocus, one of the first harbingers of spring. I have a small plot of them, purchased over a decade ago at a bulb sale at the Ivan Racheff House & Gardens in Lonsdale. I do not know, but have often wondered, if they are the descendants of some planted decades ago by Racheff himself.

Spring is when thoughts usually turn to the beautiful garden legacy he left behind in the midst of industrial might. But my mind got on the Bachelor from Bulgaria since Racheff House is hosting its Green’s Tea this Friday from noon to 3 p.m. with a sale of wreaths and other holiday arrangements as well as a bake sale.

Portrait of Ivan Racheff at Racheff House

Racheff was born in northern Bulgaria in 1892 as the Baltic country was emerging from the centuries long rule of the Ottoman Empire. His well-to-do family wanted their son to study in Rome, but he had other plans, for distant shores. One story says he arrived at Ellis Island when he was 16 while at the same time saying it was in 1905, which is mathematically impossible. Regardless, he made it to New York City where he first found work peeling potatoes and washing dishes meanwhile learning to speak English and gaining his American citizenship.

The Big Apple, however, was not the end all, be all to Racheff. He had Chicago, the City of the Big Shoulders, in his sights. He saved his money and made his way there. By 1917 he’d graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in metallurgy and went to work for Illinois Steel. He founded the Racheff Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago and began consulting with steel companies around the country. Which is how he made his way to Knoxville.

Following a convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1938, Racheff was asked by the Knoxville Iron Company (also known as Knoxville Iron Works) to come down and have look-see and give the business some pointers. The company’s origin dated back to the Civil War, was originally located in Mechanicsville, but by 1903 had moved to Lonsdale along Tennessee Avenue. Racheff’s first impressions were not good ones:

I stood on the west side of the office looking toward the railroad track and saw al the piled-up rubbish and garbage. I picked up an envelope post marked at the turn of the century. I went through the mill. It was very unsafe. The dust must have been three to four inches thick.

He told them, at the very least, to clean the place up. He made a return trip planning to advise them to shut it down, but instead decided to buy the place, or at least a controlling interest in the years following World War II. The short tale on that part of his legacy is he cleaned up the Iron Works and turned the business around.

But his lasting treasure is what he did with the 3.5-acre tract in front of the iron yard that included a craftsman home used for an office. Racheff, who never married and had no children, made himself a bachelor pad upstairs while the downstairs remained office space. He then took to beautifying the grounds, investing in landscaping and planting thousands of bulbs, trees and flowering shrubs. When he sold his controlling interest in what was by then the Knoxville Iron Works of Steel Services in 1968, he cut out the house and gardens for himself.

In 1970, Racheff gifted the property to the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs. Upon his death in 1982, his will provided for the maintenance of the gardens. He also left a $2.3 million bequest to the University of Tennessee. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places and is used as headquarters for the TFGC. Racheff is buried on the grounds.

To learn more about Racheff House go here.

Beth Kinnane writes a history feature for KnoxTNToday.com. It’s published each Tuesday and is one of our best-read features.

Sources: McClung digital collection-Knox County Library, Knoxville Journal digital archives, Ivan Racheff House & Gardens