Kingsport Spirit

The house was built in 1920, just three years after Kingsport’s incorporation. The town developers were starting from scratch and needed to build all the necessities of life — churches, banks, housing, schools, etc. Virtually everyone was a newcomer looking for an opportunity. The flat, open fields that are now downtown Kingsport were often wet and muddy as they were being developed. As passengers arrived at the Train Station, they sought the higher ground north of Sullivan Street. Park Hill was an ideal building spot.

In 1919, R. Thomas Beaty of Lancaster, SC (26 years old) discovered his new hometown. For the next 43 years until his death and burial at Oak Hill, the newspaper captured beautiful stories of his life, love, and service to our community. No street or building may be named in his honor, but he is a perfect example of how a bunch of newcomers decided to eke a town out of nothing. Their optimism, altruism, and infectious enthusiasm are exactly how we became known for “The Kingsport Spirit.”

As First Presbyterian Church was getting organized, he was asked to oversee the music program. Ordained in 1920 he was a mainstay and ruling elder for the remainder of his life. Although he had no formal training, he was a gifted musician with a beautiful baritone voice. His new home on West Wanola was only 2 blocks from the church. He was also a banker and became the cashier for the newly formed Bank of Kingsport at Broad & Main Streets (now Abingdon Olive Oil). Sometime after the stock market crash and the shake-up in banking, he moved to Eastman where he ultimately retired from the human resources department.

He was an active member of the Kiwanis Club, which met at the now-gone Kingsport Inn (present-day City Hall). There are numerous references to him alongside Kingsport’s earliest movers and shakers—names like Stone, Wilcox, Dobyns, Bennett, J Fred Johnson, C.P. Edwards, etc. Newspaper accounts tell stories of him singing at weddings, funerals, church cantatas, and special events (often alongside Allen Dryden).  He was a passionate member of the American Legion, made Christmas boxes for the poor, championed a flagpole for Glen Bruce Park, advocated for the placement of a German field gun in honor of veterans, oversaw the high school’s patriotic programming at the special request of principal C.K. Koffman, chaired the west ward for the Sullivan County Election Commission (alongside F.J. Brownell), served as an officer of the industrial baseball league, received a “good pedestrian” award with two theater tickets, and was an early advocate for the Senior Center. 

After 23 years in the multi-level house on Park Hill, he moved to the newly constructed flats in Cherokee Village in 1943 where his widow, Sudie, lived until 1989.

The raised one daughter, Margaret. She married Dale Austin, who owned a Gulf service station at the corner of E. Center and Sullivan for 40 years. They lived their lives in Kingsport. Her children were scattered from Texas to East and Southern Africa. Two of her children served as missionaries for over 30 years and another was a pastor in Texas.

It occurred to me that Kingsport isn’t just a collection of buildings & architecture. What matters most are the souls who occupied those buildings and the impact they made on developing this wonderful community we inherited from them.

In 2019, Jeff Fleming retired as city manager after 35 years of service. He is a board member of Friends of the Archives.  If you want to support future historic preservation efforts, please consider joining the mailing list, donating memorabilia, and attending the biannual lecture series. Individual memberships start at $15 per year. For more information contact Jeff.Fleming.Kingsport@gmail.com