A little-known man by the name of Melville Milton Murrell flew decades before the Wright brothers
I’m old enough to remember being taught in school that Christopher Columbus was the first European to “discover” America. Back then, in the medieval times of the early 1980s, there were inklings, whispers and wild rumors that others had arrived in the Americas before old Christopher Columbus did. But I promise you, when it came time to put the answer down on the test, you wrote Columbus and forgot about Leif Erikson or whoever else the punk-rock historians were touting as the true finders of a continent.
Growing up, for me at least, was learning about the folds, the gaps and the wholes of what we call history. Learning about the parts we’ve chosen to remember and then learning about the parts that are forgotten. One of the blessings of moving around is discovering some of the local history that never makes it to the bigger books.
For most of my life, I believed the Wright Brothers were the first to fly an airplane on the banks of Kitty Hawk. Then I moved to Morristown in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and I learned the story of a man who flew while the Wright Brothers were still wearing short pants.
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Who was Melville Milton Murrell?
The full details Murrell’s life are a little hard to track down. He was born in 1855 in what was Jefferson County but would become Hamblen County 15 years later. His father was a grocer and a farmer. The young Melville was obsessed with flying. Legend has it that by the age of 12, he’d tried his first flight with cabbage leaves strapped to his arms.
But soon he moved on to bigger projects. These included building and testing his machines in the fields of the burned-out remnants of his family home. The home was later rumored to be a haunted house, and portions remain still today. Planes taking off from the Morristown Regional Airport – formerly Moore-Murrell Airport – can see the old house and field where he used to fly.
After receiving his patent, it appears that Murrell moved on. In other words, he did not further pursue flying machine construction, allowing the Wright Brothers to receive fame and glory all those years later. Murrell, instead, served for 45 years as a Circuit Rider for the Methodist Church. As such, he traveled from community to community pastoring small churches that didn’t have a specific pastor. He stayed in the community raising his family and caring for his widowed mother after his father passed. But his legacy is still felt in town. I was acquainted with his grandson and namesake Murrell Weesner, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 83.

What was his American Flying Machine?
It is, in all senses of the word, a contraption. It is the first heavier-than-air aircraft patented in the United States. I am not an aviation expert, of course. But my understanding is that the pilot would sit in the seat well below the large wings populated with what appear to be light wooden panels. The body of the machine is mostly just a lot of piping of some kind. The pilot would work to flap the wings somewhat during the flight. In the process of getting his patent – which he received in 1877 – Murrell reportedly had several witnesses who saw his machine fly.
The Melville family home does sit high up on a hill in the field. But it’s not like there’s a cliff or anything he could have just glided off of. If Murrell did get his machine up in the air, it was through his ingenuity and quite a bit of elbow grease. My understanding is that flying the thing took a heck of a workout. There’s also a fun kid’s book about Murrell and his machine.

Where to see his flying machine today
For years, the remnants of his flying machine were at the Smithsonian in Washington. However, they were returned to Morristown years ago. Today, you can see the wings from the machine as well as pictures, plans and some explanation on display at the Rose Center. The Rose Center is Morristown’s cultural and historic arts venue. If you’re a history buff, they also have the two Medals of Honor belonging to the late residents Edward Talley and Calvin John Ward. Both men earned their medals for their respective and separate actions in World War I. The Rose Center is located at 442 W 2nd N St. in Morristown, Tenn.
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