Shoes were rationed during WWII between 1943 and 1945. But J. Fred’s had Rice-O’Neill clogs in stock! The original is 3.5″ x 6″.
Rice-O’Neill Shoes
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Category Archives: Kingsport TN ephemera
Gone Mill
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.
Tri-City Airport, 1950
This post card was printed in 1950, as shown by the Curt Teich date code. On the apron are DC-3s from American Airlines and Piedmont. American would fly away from the airport two years later, but Piedmont would hang in there for the duration.
Dimes from the Press
Courtesy of Carl Swann
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.
Allandale
This postcard, from the 1970s, was printed by Koppel Post Card Company of Hawthorne NJ. Carl Swann was a local professional photographer.
Warriors’ Path (early)
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
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
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
First Broad Street United Methodist Church, 50 years later.
Olde West
Home of beef tips and noodles and earnest actors on the dinner theater circuit. The inside reads, white letters on red, “Olde West Dinner Theatre Airport Road. Hwy. 75
call: Johnson City.. 928-2121 Kingsport…323-4151
Open Tuesday thru Saturday
Buffet from 7 til 8
Curtain 8:30
My first job after I came back from my Air Force stint was for Joan Hensley at Olde West.
I wanted to design sets. She had no budget. Shortly, I went to work at the Times-News.
Broad Street, 1946
Summer, 1946. Looking toward Church Circle. The movie playing at the State Theatre is “The Enchanted Forest” (Maltin gives it 2-1/2 stars), released in December, 1945.
The war had been over for a year.
This is a real photo postcard (RPP). EKC paper (available from 1939 – 1950).
Bob Lawrence's Kingsport 