Legends galore surround the enigmatic life of the red-haired country girl who came to Chattanooga in 1904 and proceeded to put together what is considered one of the world’s finest collections of antique glass, furniture and much more.Legends galore surround the enigmatic life of the red-haired country girl who came to Chattanooga in 1904 and proceeded to put together what is considered one of the world’s finest collections of antique glass, furniture and much more.
Anna Safley Houston (1876-1951) was an eccentric antiques dealer, considered a “town character” and called “Antique Annie.” But in time she became a nationally recognized authority on antique glass and dedicated her life to her collections. During the 15 years prior to her death she lived in virtual poverty in a huge ramshackle structure she had built with her own hands on the outskirts of the city, saving her choicest antiques for a “museum” and refusing to sell them even to buy food, medicine or other essentials.
She left all her possessions in trust to the people of Chattanooga, but her “museum” did not become a reality until a decade after her death, and then only through the efforts of dedicated volunteers who recognized the true value of her legacy. Today her collections are valued at so many millions of dollars that the Board of Trustees which oversees them will not even discuss a figure for publication.
And her collections -- including some hundreds of antique pitchers (the largest collection of its kind in the world) as well as many other kinds of antiques numbering tens of thousands of individual items -- attest to her uncanny ability to find and acquire rare pieces, many of which are now considered priceless.
The remarkable life story of Mrs. Houston, including her “collection” of at least nine husbands, is told in a biography, “Always Paddle Your Own Canoe,” published in 1995 and available at the Houston Museum Gift Shop.