Category Archives: Kingsport TN ephemera

Launch of a Vessel at Belfast

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Interesting postcard.  Printed in Germany, published in London.  It’s pre-WWI.  Addressed to a party in Gate City from “Guess Who” in Kingsport, but never mailed.

The “London E.C.” stands for London’s East Central Postal District.

B & D, Pictorial Post Card Pioneers, (Blum & Degan) operated in London from 1885 to 1908, when they went bankrupt.

Gone Mill

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There has been discussion about whether this was Rice or Hord Mill, but, make no mistake, it’s Gone Mill now.  My buddy and I carefully walked around this mill in 2014 and were surprised at how well it had survived.

No more. I’ve heard what happened to it, but I can’t verify the story.

Cherokee Post Card Company in Jefferson City appears to have been doing chromes of East Tennessee sometime in the 1960s.

Volunteer State Printing Company, assumed from the monogram, yields no citations.

Dimes from the Press

Courtesy of Carl Swann

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Difficult to date this. Since there’s no ZIP code and “Tenn.” is used instead of “TN”, I’d guess pre-1963.

The “Kingsport Press, Inc.” is stamped on.

The Abbott Coin Counting Company made coin sorting machines from about 1917 or so.  It’s now in Connecticut.

If you find a $3 dime coin wrapper, grab it.  They’re rare.

Warriors’ Path (early)

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It’s actually 950 acres, according to current information.  This is mid- to late-60s.

Tennessee acquired the land for the park in 1952. Fort Patrick Henry Lake was fully impounded in 1953.

Looking over old maps of this area, I found that Duck Island didn’t exist, as an island, before the impounding of the lake.  It was just the eastern shore of the South Fork of the Holston River above Wexler Bend.  And somewhere in there, it got ducks.

Kingsport Oil Specialty

 

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Kingsport Oil Company, the area Shell gasoline distributor, was founded in 1946 by, I think, A. R. Brashear, Jr.  In the 50s, he traveled in the rarified air of bank directors and committee chairmen.  And judging from a quick scan of newspaper archives, the company was a ball of fire when it came to giveaways and contests.  At one point, in the early 50s, they gave away a new car.  This 2.5 x 4″ handy (it’s been used!) little sewing kit was probably thrust at you when you filled up the tank in your merry Oldsmobile.

The Brabant Needle Company, Ltd., of Redditch, England, is long gone.  There was a Duchy in Germany held by the Duke of Brabant, fwiw.

The generous-hearted Carl Swann gave this to me.  And it was much appreciated, since it’s getting harder and harder finding Kingsport stuff lying in the open.

Methodist Church

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This postcard, copyright 1964, was published by the Colorcraft Studios in New York.  I can’t find any information about this company, but it was credited with a lot of 1964/1965 World’s Fair postcards.   On the back: BROAD STREET METHODIST CHURCH P.O. Box 907 Kingsport, Tennessee 37662

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First Broad Street United Methodist Church, 50 years later.