Tag: tennessee
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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’s Rising Popularity: 637 New Families in a Year
Over the past year, Kingsport has attracted 637 new families from 45 different states, averaging roughly 2.6 out‐of‐region arrivals per workday. In contrast, May 2025 alone saw 78 families move here from 27 states—an equivalent of about 3.7 families per workday. Of those 78, just 33 were home purchases (accounting for nearly $18 million in…
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Rate vs. Reality: The Real Math of Property Taxes
Explaining how property tax works is difficult at best. Today, in two separate publications from Tennessee and Virginia, I saw articles detailing rate changes. One was in Radford, Virginia, the other in Kingsport/Sullivan County, Tennessee. The articles state that Radford will increase it’s tax rate by almost 20% to $0.92, while Sullivan County’s preliminary certified…
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From Magic to Momentum: Playing the Long Game in Kingsport
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the natural life cycle of a city—of any built environment really. When you are a city manager, the challenges you face are based on when you arrive on the scene during that life cycle. If it’s a brand-new city, you have a clean slate. But there’s no infrastructure. So you…
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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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Both Sides of the Blue Ridge: How Mid-Sized Cities Are Powering the Region’s Housing Market
We looked at recent home sales across all counties in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina—on both sides of the Blue Ridge. Why? Because these areas share many of the same traits. They’re clustered in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, the highest peaks in Eastern North America. The communities in this region are…
Kingsport Spirit 