The mystery of the money—and many marriages—of Mrs. Houston

By Jennifer Crutchfield

How did a poor country girl manage to acquire such a priceless art collection—and at least nine husbands?

Whether she married nine men or 10, what isn’t disputed is that during her colorful life, “Antique Annie” amassed what is considered the finest collection of glass and ceramics in the world. Her “pretties,” now housed in a Victorian house in the Bluff View Arts District, are but a fraction of what was a massive collection of collections, hand-picked by a self-taught master in the art of discovering, recognizing and acquiring antiques of all kinds.’
Born in 1876 in Evening Shade, Ark., Anna Safley had to quit school at the sixth grade to care for her nine younger siblings when their mother and newborn brother died. In a life characterized by energy and determination, such personal losses punctuated the spirit of success, but never dimmed her resolve.

A courageous young girl, Anna was a rare breed when she struck out on her own to seek her fortune. Imagine a 15-year-old girl, traveling alone from Arkansas to Chicago, bankrolled by money she had earned teaching children barely older than herself!
That journey lasted a lifetime. In her search for beautiful things, Anna traveled to every state in the Union, toured Canada, and even dodged the bullets of Pancho Villa to buy antiques in war-torn Mexico. No one knows exactly how she managed to fund her valuable acquisitions, which over time grew to the tens of thousands.
She also collected suitors, marrying at least nine times (or more, according to some rumors), her second marriage bringing her to Chattanooga.
But the woman who collected property, husbands, antiques and art cared more for their legacy than for herself or her health. Her only offspring, two daughters from her first marriage, died in infancy, and reports varied about her feelings about children. She often sat, cold and hungry, in a warehouse full of priceless antiques she refused to sell. And while her later years were characterized by poverty, eccentricity, and harrowing escapes from fire, thieves and creditors, her passion for the future of her collection remained steadfast.

The name that stayed

Over the course of her many marriages, several of the divorce proceedings reported incidents of physical abuse, and others described men intent on being supported by this strong woman. But none of those men were able to deter her from the goal which was the beacon of her life—to turn her collection into a museum.
Anna Safley changed her name often, reverting to her family name as each marriage ended. The exception was her eighth marriage, to plumber and handyman James Houston, who remained her friend and correspondent until her death. When her final marriage ended, it was his name to which she reverted and which she honored in her instructions for the museum housing her collection to bear the Houston name.

Zeal and determination

Had the Depression not sunk her business, Anna Safley Houston could have been one of the strongest business owners in Chattanooga. Her hat store, antique shops, and property rental business were all successful examples of her determination, skill and business acumen. At one time she owned many of the buildings on McCallie Avenue, landlord to many McCallie School students.
Mrs. Houston was known for her business acumen, her memory for detail, her fair dealings with banks and her leadership in the Chattanooga business community. Though her appearance and comfort were secondary concerns to her, it was a well-turned out lady whom neighbors saw boarding trains, bound for buying trips—barely recognizable from the poor, dowdy, dirty woman they would later call “Antique Annie.”
In her later years, Mrs. Houston was known for her reluctance to pay bills and for the squalor and poor conditions in which she lived. At age 60, still attractive to men decades younger, she single-handedly built a ramshackle warehouse for “her pretties” in what is now East Ridge. Neighbors would see her walking to the railroad depot to collect the heavy packages that arrived COD; often she would manage heavy loads by moving them down the street half at a time, always pushing steadily toward her goal.
She pursued the goal of her museum and the acquisition of items for its teaching mission with the same determination. Passion and single-mindedness guided her steps as she carried heavy loads, hobo-style, on her frequent 15-mile journeys with her treasures.

“Antiques Annie”

Customer service was not a part of the older Annie’s style. Though she ran a warehouse store, she not only screened people before allowing them in, but she unceremoniously removed offensive customers without explanation, whether they were rich or not.
She would sell an item only to help pay for a higher-quality piece, but was known to give tiny pieces, often chipped, to children in the hopes of inspiring them to appreciate antique art. And when she died, she bequeathed her entire beloved collection to her adopted hometown.
Sharing her treasures and their history with the children of Chattanooga was a dream that motivated Anna Safley Houston through most of her life, and her collection, fabled for its amazing worth, is testament to the determination of a woman with a goal. That dream did not become reality until nearly a decade after her death in 1951, but now the Houston Museum is a regular Mecca, drawing people from around the world to rooms that dance with light reflected from one of the finest glass collections in the world.