This postcard is from the early 1960s. It’s a Haynes Distributing card with the photo shot by C. H. Ruth. Ruth and Joyce L. Haynes shot a lot of film in the Kingsport area around 1962.
Note that the visitor center is not there yet. This is nearly 10 years after the dam was finished.
I like the lone tree sticking up on top of that hill.
Calvin Sneed’s posted this 1929 bridge here with all the appropriate descriptions (Calvin knows more about bridges than anyone else I know – given that I don’t actually know a lot of people who have any interest in bridges, but, Calvin, he’s a bridge boffin straight up. At the time this postcard picture was taken (1961 or 62)*, the bridge was two-way. When I got out of the service and got a job, I bought a 1966 Volkswagen. Even with that car, this bridge was a white-knuckler if a truck was coming the opposite way when it was snowing, in the dark.
Anyway, I think this bridge is utilitarian, rather than “magnificent”. This view is looking east. In 1969, they built the wider steel bridge, just to this side of this one. Whew.
Incidentally, this bridge replaced a 1900 Pactolus Ferry bridge, which crossed the Holston River near (my correction to earlier prepositions) where the Ft. Patrick Henry Dam is now. Before the bridge, there actually was a ferry there.
*Haynes Distributing Company in Roanoke had their photographer/agent Joyce L. Haynes in this area in 1961 and 1961. Shooting Kodachrome, probably. This type of postcard is called a “chrome”.
The Trade Winds Motel and Restaurant “New in 62”. It was located about .33 mile west of the railroad bridge over 23 between Weber City and Gate City. The lettering on the building is difficult to read, but the center panel seems to read “Dutch Boy Grill”. I remember a Dutch Boy drive-in restaurant beside Munal Clinic (built in 1951) on what was then known as the Johnson City Highway, but I have no idea if this is associated with that one. I find the motel listed in the 1983 Kingsport telephone directory, but lose it after that.
Charles Dean Dalton ran the business early on, but, by the time this picture was taken, in 1962, Clyde and Garland Smith owned it. If you look closely, you’ll see the telephone number is listed as CA 5-8541. Oops. People, you have to proof read anything that comes from a printer before it goes to press. That should be CI(rcle) 5-8541.
This Haynes Distributing Company postcard shows two aircraft sitting on the tarmac: a Fairchild F-27, which Piedmont flew from 1958 to 1967, on the left; and the tail portion of a DC-3, which Piedmont took out of service in 1963.
Since Joyce L. Haynes, the photographer, was undoubtedly an efficient person, I think she took all four of these photographs around the summer of 1962.
I have a number of cards published by Haynes (and printed by Dexter). I think there were at least two series of cards done: the earlier ones with photos taken by Joyce L. Haynes and a later series with photography by C. H. Ruth.
I also think Ms Haynes had a knack for choosing days with brilliant blue skies and fluffy white clouds (The Orb!).
I have several views of downtown Kingsport taken from Cement Hill. Several years ago, when I was new to postcards and rather dismissive of chromes, I thought this was a recent card and, based on seeing the old City Hall, I dated it to the early 60s. But I didn’t realize until today, when I was looking at it again, that I could date it really accurately. The red arrow points to the old City Hall (and library) and the yellow arrow indicates the Downtowner. The Downtowner opened for business in 1961 and The Kingsport Times-News (November, 1962) reported that the old City Hall was mostly demolished. The photo for this card was taken in summer of 1962.
It was published by Haynes Distributing Company in Roanoke and was printed in West Nyack NY by Dexter Publishing Company. Joyce L. Haynes took the photo. I’m not turning up any information on Haynes Distributing Company, nor of Joyce L. Haynes. She does, however, show up as the photographer for many postcards of this period.
This card is called a GRTS, an abbreviation for Greetings.
The card was published by Blackburn News Agency, but it was printed by Curt Teich in Chicago in 1951 (there’s a list of inventory numbers/years on the web). If you look closely, two of the images shown in the big letters are not even Kingsport. The picture behind the “K” has to be Chickamauga Dam and the bridge behind the “O” looks like one down on Cherokee Lake.
I would guess this is from the 90s. The plastic case is in pretty good condition, not broken, and everything listed as contents is here. It’s 3 -5/8 by 2-7/8″.
Of course, that massive 1920s-era factory has been knocked down and hauled away like Mr. Peabody’s coal. Somewhere, I hope, someone thought ahead and kept the big, black-and-white aerial photo of the plant that hung in the conference room (I think. I’m a little hazy on exactly where I saw it…it was years ago).
A 3.75 x 3.75″ ashtray. Information square is fired on the underside. My mother’s favorite restaurant. Made their own pies with real meringue, browned on top. In my 20s, I thought the place was stodgy, but I’d love to have a meal there now. Food was excellent, waitresses motherly. And I don’t mean that in any derogatory way.
I think the restaurant began in the early 60s. In 1953, Jack May was managing both Jack’s Grill in Sullivan Gardens and the Luncheonette at the new Little Store. Jack and wife Jeanette co-owned Center Street Restaurant and, later, Jack’s Restaurant on Main Street. There’s a complicated history in all this, but I can’t find a source for it right now. I’ll update as I learn more.
05/08/2021: Updated time line:
From the late 1940s to 1960, the building at 504 West Center Street was owned by Cardwell and Alberta Hounchell. The original building was a a block building painted white (in the only picture I’ve seen of it) and known at “Center Street Restaurant and Grill”. (When I was a kid, we lived in the apartments at 315 Cherokee Street. In one of the apartments lived a man named “Happy” Hounchell. He was a barber with a shop behind Bingham Furniture on New Street. I wonder if they were related.) (the man and the family, not the furniture store and the barber shop)
An ad in the June 6, 1951, issue of the Kingsport News touts a “completely remodeled” restaurant with pale green walls and gray leatherette upholstery. The current building, though, is shown in the records as having been built in 1952.
In 1979, the restaurant was owned by Gary and Angie Francisco. It closed in August, 1989.
Let it be clear, right here, right now: I am not a phillumenist. I don’t collect matchbooks. But, if something interesting I spy, I buy. Within reason…
E. Ward King. Whatta guy. Junior Achievement has a concise accounting of this man’s life here.
Their 50th in 1982. In 1986, they’d be in Chapter 11.
This is a 28-match book. Several have been used from this book, but I have two more in an original 2-book plastic pack.
This is a matchbook from Skoby’s World in Kingsport TN:
Skoby’s, on Konnarock Road in Kingsport TN, was a treasure. Started in 1946 as a barbecue joint, the restaurant became the place to take an out-of-town guest or to just enjoy a civilized dinner. Skoby’s World came about when Pal Barger donated Skoby’s to Virginia Intermont College in 2005. The place was demolished in 2010.
Back in the 70s, one time when I had gotten a raise at work, I took mom out for dinner at Skoby’s. Reserved a room and everything. Now, mom was a small little critter (wore a 4B shoe) and I was not a heavy eater. When the waiter brought out the salad and the warm yeast rolls, mom and I tucked in. And when the waiter brought the steaks and baked potatoes, we realized that we didn’t have much appetite left. In true foodie fashion, we offhandedly mentioned to the waiter that we would like a takeaway tray. Instantly provided.
And their crème brûlée was, honestly, just drag in the casket and die for it…
Bob Lawrence's Kingsport 