Kingsport Spirit

At nearly 3 miles long, Sevier Avenue is one of the most important crosstown connectors in Kingsport. But it wasn’t always so. It was built in three separate sections with three separate names that weren’t merged until 1953.

It’s standard practice that all east-west streets use Broad Street as the break point (i.e., East Center/West Center or East Stone/West Stone), while the railroad determines north-south streets (i.e., North Wilcox/South Wilcox or North Eastman/South Eastman). Originally, Sevier Avenue was only four blocks long – two east and two west – named for the first governor of Tennessee.

“Walnut Street” was in Kingsport’s version of the tree streets–Poplar, Oak, Maple, Cherry, Myrtle, Forest, and Walnut. It extended from Boone Street to Borden Street.

“Woodside Avenue” was the section between Borden Street & Eastman Road (although that name was changed, too, but that’s a story for another day.)

Thanks to Kingsport’s adherence to an address numbering plan, the blocks and house numbers did not duplicate. For example, Sevier Avenue had the 100 & 200 blocks (east and west), Walnut Street ranged from 500-1499, and Woodside Avenue from 1500-1699. After the name change, East Sevier Avenue extended up to the 2100 block as Green Acres was developed.

In 1950, the Planning Commission sought to bring order by tackling the tough task of removing duplicate street names and consolidating others. After three years of work, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen accepted their recommendation in 1953.

And that’s how Sevier Avenue came to be.