Tag Archives: Cement Hill

Downtown Kingsport

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downtwonfront  dwntwnback

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.

Downtown Kingsport

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dwntownkpt

This Duotone card’s picture was taken, I think, around 1915 or 16 from about halfway up Cement Hill.  The street to the left is Shelby, with the Big Store on the left.  The bank, the building with the columns, is on the corner of Broad and Main. Note there’s no Church Circle, but there is the old school and the old Presbyterian Church just to the right of where Shelby ends at Sullivan.
It looks as if someone at the publishing company (CT – Curt Teich –  in Chicago) inked in some of the fainter lines of the buildings in the background, which makes it harder to identify them.  However, I think the building I live in is there.
This card was “published by Kingsport Drug Store”.  Standard double-back for the time.  Typical penny postcard.

Train Station, Kingsport TN

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Dating this card is difficult.  It’s an early divided back card popular between 1907 and 1915, but the designs varied widely depending upon what company was printing them.  This train station was not completed until 1916 and the title of the card is “C C. & 0 PASSENGER STATION, KINGSPORT, TENN.  Photo by Bachelder’s Studio”.
On the back, as shown, is written “Form Minnie Fletcher Kingsport”, then “Miss Mae Cooper Keokee VA,”  There is some very, very faint writing in the lower left quadrant of the card, but, despite running it through a bunch of filters, I found it to be unreadable.
In 1916, Bachelder’s Studio (actually Bachelder & McLean Studios) was located on the second floor of what is now “Pappy’s” on the corner of Main and Cherokee in downtown Kingsport.
Note that you can see the beginnings of the neighborhood that existed on Cement Hill.
There are also at least two bicycles in the picture and a gang of people standing to the left of the building.  Behind them is one of the two-story homes that ran along the base of Cement Hill.
cc&otrainstation
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