This is what your bill from J. Fred’s would have looked like in 1954
J. Fred’s
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Author Archives: Bob Lawrence
Central School Building
In 1918, as WWI slowly ground to a halt in Europe and the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic began raging out of the foul trenches of that war, Kingsport was building its first combined school building. The building, much remodeled, still stands at the corner of Watauga Street and East Sevier Avenue.
This post card, probably printed in the early 1920s, is another of the series commissioned by T. J. Stephenson.
Joe Gong Restaurant
I don’t think I ever ate at this restaurant. We always ended up at the Golden Dragon on the corner of North Wilcox Drive and East Sevier Avenue. However, there are many complimentary remarks on the web about this eatery that opened in 1970 and closed sometime before 2010.
Summer, 1946
This Kingsport Intermountain Telephone Directory was issued in July, 1946. These are two of the three pages of restaurant listings compiled probably in late spring or early summer of ’46. The Center Street Grill building became Center Street Restaurant, then the AAA Office and has been vacant for years.
“Chat & Chew Grill”?!?
Just out of curiosity, I wondered who had the lowest number listing in the directory and it turned out to be Hutchwallen Florists at number 1. Hutchwallen (it’s spelled that way in the directory) was located directly in front of the train station, where that patch of flowers is now.
I couldn’t find a listing for number 2, but Huff Funeral Home and Ambulance Service – at Charlemont and Watuaga – had 3, General Shale Sales Office had 4 and Clinchfield Railroad Company Ticket Agent had 5.
The directory is a fascinating glimpse of the business community in Kingsport as the nation came out of WWII.
The Homestead
This post card, printed by Tichnor in the early 1920s, shows the Homestead Hotel about three or four years after it was constructed. This series, as previously noted, was commissioned by Kingsport businessman T. J. Stephenson.
1963 Lynx Football Roster
I attended Lynn View in the 1959 – 1960 school year. I really liked the school and threw a minor (and unsuccessful) tantrum when the parents announced that they were moving the next summer. Over to Sullivan High School for two years and on to the Air Force.
100 Years Ago
Around 100 years ago, John Ballis built the Ballis Tourist Home at 310 West Sullivan Street, with a grocery store and gas station beside it.
Happy birthday?
According to information in the Kingsport Times-News, the Greek-born Ballis chose that name to avoid being tagged as a “foreigner”.
Two from ’81
February, 1981
The Original Country Club
This post card shows the Kingsport Country Club and Golf Links clubhouse, located near what is now the intersection of Lamont Street and Pineola Avenue. The golf course, designed by the famed Albert Warren Tillinghast (1874 – 1942), opened in 1919 and closed in 1953. Tillinghast, acquired the epithet “Tilly the Terror” for his challenging and frustrating courses. The American Legion apparently used the clubhouse for a period after 1953, but it was eventually torn down when the Greenacres neighborhood was developed. This a one of a series of early Kingsport post cards commissioned by T. J. Stephenson and printed by Tichenor Brothers in Boston. I don’t have an exact date for this card, but the Stephenson cards were generally published in the 1920s.
Puppy Tags
In the early 1950s, cities around the country provided two metal identification tags to all school children. Authorities had considered tattooing, but the threat of severe burns cancelled that. Fingerprinting was out, too, as an invasion of personal privacy. So, it was metal tags, which the kids were supposed to wear around their necks on a metal bead chain. These are two that were issued to children in Jackson School. I’ve covered the information because the people are still alive.
And, while researching these tags, I found out that the “tooth notch” found on authentic military dog tags of the time (and later: when I got my dog tags in 1963, the notch was there…I have no idea of where those tags are now) was actually there to properly orient the metal tag in the Model 70 Addressograph Hand Identification Machine.
I never got tags when I was in school, but, then, we moved around a lot.
