Tag Archives: Kingsport TN

Hello, Bank!

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oldbank

Construction work brings to light the facade of a structure built in 1927 at 209 Broad Street.  The date is in the escutcheon above the remains of the front door. Originally, there were white columns on either side of the building, in front of the facade.

There was a building boom on Broad Street in 1927 and both Kingsport National Bank and this, The Farmers and Merchants Bank, opened up around June of that year.  In 1945, it became Sullivan County Bank. At some later date, it was home to Harris & Graves Insurance.  By 1959, it was the Moore & Walker Insurance building.

Garrett & Garrett Attorneys, as you can see, had the upper floor.

First Baptist Church

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firstbapfront
This was how First Baptist Church looked in the mid-40s.  There’s a color shot of this around, but it’s a commercial card that has been pretty heavily retouched.  This card was produced by the church.
firstbapverso

upper left:  Picture of L.B. Cobb, the pastor at the time.
First Baptist Church

“Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” – Matt. 20:28

First Baptist Church, Kingsport, Tennessee, organized 1916, membership 1600, S.S. En. 1180, value of church property $150,000.00.  Annual budget approaches $30,000.00.  Radio ministry: Sundays, 11:00 – 12:00 A. M.; Saturdays, 8:45 – 9:00 A. M., Station WKPT.  L.B. Cobb is the pastor.

(below)

“In the Heart of Kingsport, for the Hearts of Kingsport.”

Community Y

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communityy

COMMUNITY “Y,” CENTER AND SHELBY STREETS, KINGSPORT, TENN.

On the back:

Pub. by T. J. Stephenson, Kingsport, Tenn.

(Plate number) 121036

Printed by Tichnor Quality Views (Boston Mass.)  (here’s a link to their Tennessee issues)

Notes: This is the Shelby Street side.  I remember the open porch.  That part of the building was the Public Library in 1957.  The rest of the building housed City Hall offices.

Earliest confirmed postmark date I have for this series is 1926.  I also have post dates into the ’40s, so they hung around for quite a while.

 

At The Inn

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kingsportinn
This rather well-produced post card, from the 1940s, appears to show a recreation room at the Kingsport Inn.  There are a doughty fireplace,  a radio set, a piano, game boards and chairs, an American flag and ashtrays everywhere. You can just see into the next room through the door.  The door to that room is open and there looks to be a window beyond the door.
I had dinner once at the Inn.  I was competing in the Optimist Oratorical Contest.  I didn’t win, but I had a good meal…roast beef, I think, and mashed potatoes.  That I remember, but as to what vegetable or dessert was served or what the interior of the Inn actually looked like, I have no clue.
Five or six years ago, while working on some project or another, I ran into the man who had been our coach for the contest.  He vaguely remembered me.  “I didn’t think you’d come to be anything,” he remarked.  I was a bit stung at first, then I thought, “Well, up yours, dude.  I did just fine, thank you.”
This card had been mounted in a scrap book, held in place by paper corners.  When the card was removed, some of the paper remained on the corners of the card.
On the back upper left is: KINGSPORT INN Kingsport, Tennessee.
It was printed by the Albertype Company in Brooklyn.

Supermarket Row

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Those of you who used to travel West Sullivan Street know that a major widening of this venerable artery is underway.  This echo of the path of the South Fork of the Holston River will become a grand boulevard to lead traffic down to where they’re hoping to get all that development going.
Anyway, my point in all this is that wall you can just see a bit of at the lower right hand corner.  That wall was on the boundary of the leveled parking lot for The Little Store Supermarket built here in 1952-53 (Grand Opening was January 15, 1953).  It was the second Little Store in Kingsport.  The first opened in 1939 at 311 East Sullivan Street (for years afterward that building was Brown’s Custom Shop).  Kermit Young started the first Little Store in Bristol in 1934.  He learned the business working at his father’s grocery operation in Johnson City.  Thank you, Kingsport Times-News, January 14, 1953.  Note: this building was razed in 2009.
From The Little Store to Oakwood Market, all on Canal Street: this was Supermarket Row.

 

Greenwood Motel

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greenwoodmotel

The photo for this postcard was taken in the mid-50s, as far as I can tell.
It’s still there, more or less, but it’s for sale as of the date of this posting.  In the 1959 City Directory, this motel is listed as being owned by Esther D. and Pratt A. Hegler.

On the front: (in a cursive typeface) Greenwood Motel
(sanserif) 1840 Ft. Henry Drive KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE

On the back:

(the first part is the same as on the front)

Phone CI 6-6187
On U. S. 11W – 23 Hwys.
-Kingsport’s Most Luxurious Motel –
Beautyrest Mattresses – Ceramic Tile Baths with Tubs and Showers –
Air Conditioned – Room Phones – Free 21″ TV – Wall to Wall Carpet –
Electric Heat- Room Thermostats – Shaded Grounds – Children’s Swings – Picnic Table

The card is a TichnorGloss QUALITY VIEWS. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. MADE ONLY BY TICHNOR BROS. INC. BOSTON 15 MASS.

 

Plate number is G89859

Early Air Conditioner

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earlyac

Back before the now ubiquitous air conditioning units became common on business rooftops, these structures dominated.  This unit, which used to be on top of the Variety Printing building (formerly one of two downtown locations of Mack Ray Cafeteria…the other was on Commerce Street in the old Harry Mills Motors, across from WKPT), cooled the inside air by evaporation. Inside this louvered, wooden structure was a coiled pipe through which air was pumped.  Water was sprayed over the coil, thus cooling the air by evaporation.  Something akin to the effect you’d get from a wet t-shirt, if the only reason you were wearing a wet t-shirt was to cool off. And if you had a breeze of some sort.
At any rate, I would often get lightly sprinkled with water walking down the alley, if the breeze (mentioned before) was blowing the right direction.
Why was I in the alley?  Going around to Wallace News, of course.
Note the (ha!) stabilizing wires.  Such strength.