George Rappleyea helped to put Dayton on the map

In March 1925, the state of Tennessee passed a law forbidding schools “to teach any theory that denies the story of the Devine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.”

A 24-year-old science teacher soon faced accusations of violating the new law. John Scopes’ crime might have gone unnoticed had it not been for a 31-year-old New Yorker, named George W. Rappleyea. Rappleyea came south looking for coal. Upon discovering coal in Dayton, he became manager of the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company.

Rappleyea had a dislike for religion. The funeral of an eight-year-old crushed between two coal cars intensified his feelings. At the burial, the minister said, “This here boy, cause his pappy and mammy didn’t get him baptized, is now in the flames of hell”. Well, the country preacher could have used a lesson or two on common sense, but those words tragically were enough to launch George Rappleyea’s crusade.

After hearing about the new state law, Rappleyea on May 4, 1925, read in the “Chattanooga Daily Times” that the American Civil Liberties Union had offered to finance a court case to test the new law. Seeing this as potential for ending Dayton’s economic drought, he headed for Robinson’s Drug Store with his newspaper in hand. Frank Earle Robinson, who was called the “Hustling Druggist” was the chairperson of the Rhea County School Board and a man of civic vision and activity. Rappleyea showed Doc Robinson the article and was able to convince him of the potential for Dayton to lift its economic hardships and to put Dayton on the map at the same time. Later, Rappleyea arranged a meeting at Robinson’s Drug Store to discuss the matter. Present were Rappleyea, Doc Robinson, and Superintendent of Schools, Walter White, Attorney Wallace C. Haggard, City Attorneys Herbert Hicks and his brother Sue K. Hicks along with High School teacher John Thomas Scopes. Scopes was the high school football coach and had only substituted teaching biology for a few days. They could persuade Scopes to get himself arrested for violating the new law.

If you follow the media accounts of what happened that summer, you might get the impression that the Scopes Trial was about a group of noble seekers of truth confronting the bigotry of Bible believing Christians. This was not so, they were clearly other motives at work. Besides wanting to embarrass Christians, Rappleyea was also looking for a way to boost the economy of Dayton, and apparently the idea worked.