Category: History
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Black History Month: Kingsport tried.
It was 1917. The fledgling city of Kingsport had been incorporated for two months. “Separate but equal” was the prevailing law, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. The NY-based developers were trying to build a Model City in the rural South. They were heavily influenced by the overcrowded tenements,…
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Lowe’s on Main Street was a low point in Kingsport’s history
That’s just my opinion, but it seems desperate to allow a modern blue & white striped metal building to be built partially obstructing the historic Train Station. That’s what it looked like in 1970 when I was growing up. Come to think of it, we didn’t go to Main Street much. I remember my mom…
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Of Dentists, Indian Highland, & Silver Lake
My daughter is about to complete her periodontics residency. She recently asked if she should buy a starter property, then keep it as a rental once she grows out of it. My first thought (perhaps unfairly) was that “dentists don’t do that.” They’re more conservative, predictable, compliant, and to some degree risk averse. Then I…
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First Cousins
On the eve of Black History Month, here’s a glimpse inside the mind of J. Fred Johnson, the father of Kingsport who coined the term “Kingsport Spirit”. This quote is from his memorial service in 1944—twenty years before the Civil Rights Act was passed. He was an early champion of equity and inclusion in gender,…
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Whatever happened to Richmond Road and “the South’s largest development”?
In 1947 (after World War II), there was a high demand for new housing in Kingsport. Enter King Construction Corporation (sometimes called King Development) headed by Glen Bruce. They developed Greenfields around six streets: Kings Road, Greenfield Avenue, Greenfield Place, Fairfield Avenue, Newbern Road, and Richmond Road. Wait, “Richmond Road”? But there isn’t a Richmond…
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Soul of a City Found in its People.
A newcomer contacted the Chamber of Commerce asking about the original owner of their recently purchased historic home in Park Hill (The Fifties). They’re the Tudor homes on the hill opposite Town Park Lofts on West Sullivan Street. Wanting to help, but not really knowing how; I started with a street address. I used Google…
Kingsport Spirit 