Category: History
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The First Steamboat at Kingsport
Transcribed by AI from the 1847 Knoxville Register (14 years prior to the Civil War) “To the CASSANDRA, owned by the Messrs. Deerys & Churchwell, and commanded by Capt. Chapman, belongs the honor of having first succeeded in reaching Kingsport, the highest point on the Holston by many miles to which a steamboat has ever…
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Kingsport’s Potential Noted…in 1876
Today we think of Kingsport as the Model City incorporated in 1917. But there was a previous town incorporated in 1822 that we often overlook in history. It’s interesting to see newspaper articles published two generations before Northern industrialists arrived on the scene to build the city we know today. The time period was 1876–slightly…
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1902 – Centenarian’s View of Living in Kingsport Since 1822
From the 1902 Knoxville Journal… History is typically read in textbooks, but this is a unique, personal point of view of someone who lived it. She lived in Kingsport before, during, and after the Civil War! Keep in mind when she says ‘downtown district’ that it doesn’t mean the one we know, it means the…
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A Rosy Future for Kingsport
That’s a headline from the 1906 Chattanooga News. I’m fascinated with the period of history between the first Kingsport (1822) and the second one (1917). It started as a riverport but was left behind as commerce moved to railroads, and it had none. It’s often referenced as one of Tennessee’s “ancient” towns, but we only…
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Kingsport Came Near Being State’s Capitol
I didn’t write that headline. It came from an article published in the Knoxville Sentinel on September 14, 1901. The “Tavern” it describes is what we know today as the Netherland Inn, a landmark that reminds us Kingsport’s history stretches back much farther than the commonly cited 1917 incorporation date. In fact, 1917 marks the…
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Loose Ends
Last week, I had the opportunity to hear Ben Harris’ presentation to the Kingsport Historical Society entitled “Loose Ends”-and it really cleared up some loose ends for me. 2025 is the 250th anniversary of the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail, which came right through Kingsport. Ben did a great job peeling back the layers and explaining…
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Remembering Kingsberry: Kingsport’s Prefab Legacy
Did you know that one of Kingsport’s most desirable neighborhoods is made up of prefabricated homes? Don’t let the word prefabricated fool you. It simply means the home’s components were precision-cut in regional Boise Cascade factories and then shipped to the building site. From there, local builders assembled the houses on-site. Think of it like…
Kingsport Spirit 