The Magnificent (?) Hammond Bridge

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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”.

Trade Winds Motel and Restaurant

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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.

Tri-City Airport

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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!).

Downtown Kingsport

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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.

GRTS Kpt

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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.

WQUT Balloon Team

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My buddy came up with this.  He found it a some flea market.  A reliable source tells me it’s from the 80s.  WQUT and a certain fizzy drink maker’s local distributor had this balloon for events around the area.  I was told that, maybe, 250 of these were made, so there’s a whole bunch of them still…wait for it…floating around. (faint laughter off)

It’s got a pin-and-butterfly-clasp on the back. No maker name or mark.

The Old WKPT-TV

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I ran across an old page of slides from the early 70s that had been used on WKPT-TV.  Figure these slides are around 40 years old, so live with the poor quality (highlights blown out, mostly).

My beautiful picture

The Scene at Six.  On the left is anchor Mike Lee, then Frances Eden, who did weather, and Bob Haywood, sports.  I don’t recall the name of the lady on the right.

My beautiful picture

Pat Woodham and her Somebody Special Show

My beautiful picture

And the man himself, Bill Trailer.  He also did TV weather and, yes, he always tied his tie like that.  When Bob Ratcliff, the boss at the time, warned him about letting his hair grow too long, he held firm until Bob paid for the haircut.  I don’t know why this shot doesn’t have a caption…it may have never been used, although it was prepped properly.
I first met Bill when he was doing the Night Sounds show on WKPT-AM, which started off with the quote from Longfellow:

And the night shall be filled with music,
      And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
      And as silently steal away.

I was doing a show down in the FM control room and had to make sure that the door was shut, because, now and again, Bill, irritated at something, would storm out of the studio cursing loudly.

First National Bank

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Grubby, but unbowed.  It’s kind of difficult to date this money bag.  The downtown drive-in branch closed sometime in the 60s, maybe early 70s.  It was on the corner of Clay and New Streets, across from where Chef’s Pizza is now.  You can still see the traffic direction arrows for the drive-in lanes sunk into the concrete (they were originally filled with yellow concrete, but it’s mostly eroded away).
Storied history of this bank: established in 1916, as you can see.  J. Fred Johnson was a VP in ’23 and President by 1931.  In 1963, First NB of Kingsport and First NB of Bristol merged and sometime later the group became First NB of Sullivan County.  In 1981,  it became First Eastern NB; in 1982, it was First American Bank-Eastern and on and on  It might be Regions Bank now.

The bag is 10.5″ x 6″.  It really could do with a good washing, but that’s not going to happen.  HIstoric integrity and all that.

Kingsport Brick Company

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Later, General Shale, of course.  Here’s what the place looked like in the early 20th century:

gsthen
This is a Kingsport Drug Store postcard, printed by Curt Teich (Doubletone) in Chicago, around 1916 (printer’s inventory number/plate number is AD-7661).  I think the picture was taken from the roof of Citizens Supply building, or while dangling from an electrical line, take your pick; although, come to think of it, I’ve seen a reference to some sort of signalling or lighting structure built over the tracks there…I don’t know.) The conical buildings are kilns which were knocked down decades ago. The back buildings served other parts of the brick making process.  They were mostly extant until a few years ago.  The graffitti was dense in and around them.  And the ground was, basically, one big layer of broken bricks.  I took a lot of pictures over there, until, about three years ago, a policeman courteously asked me to leave, since it was private property.
This is what all that looks like as of last month:

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