Tag Archives: Kingsport TN

Kingsport Chamber handout

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chamberbooklet

 

This is a 10-page (plus cover & back), Kingsport Chamber of Commerce (A. B. Coleman, Executive Vice-President) piece from 1957.  Its cover matches a 1948 one I have in all but color: the 1948 one has a green fill.  And the 1948 one was published by the Kingsport Rotary Club, this one was done by the Chamber.  Ellis Binkley worked on both of them.  Both printed by Franklin Printing Company (up on Main Street…it always smelled great, of paper, of ink…the same smell a newspaper building should have).  Quite a few black-and-white photos in both of these…some duplicated, but others showing the passage of nine years.

The 1948 issue has a map on the back cover.  I never knew that Highway 11 (now the Robert E. Lee Highway)(Stone Drive, of course) was known as the “Broadway of America Highway”.  Wikipedia neglects to mention this.

Both pieces, though, are pretty much textbook promotion handouts for that post-war period.
Remember, it’s said that Chicago isn’t called “The Windy City” because of its weather, but for its indefatigable promoters.

Kingsport TN from Cement Hill

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“A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF KINGSPORT, TENN., FROM “THE CEMENT HILL”
This postcard is interesting for several reasons, the first being that it was actually used, so there’s a postmark on the back.  It was mailed in 1931 from Kingsport by a couple passing through on the way to Knoxville and addressed to a lady in Reidsville North Carolina, R.F.D. #6.
It’s also a reasonably scarce issue by T.J. Stephenson of Kingsport (he took the picture) and printed by Tichenor Dual Views (Tichenor Brothers of Cambridge MA), plate #121031.  You don’t have to look very carefully to see that it is a black & white photograph that’s been rather crudely colored in by the publisher.  Stephenson had a whole line of postcards with pictures of Kingsport taken in the mid- to late-20s.  I love these cards and don’t have all in the series.  I saw one of Catawba Street that I so badly wanted to snatch out of the owner’s hand and sprint off with, but, sadly, I didn’t.

Last House on Cement Hill

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I had a paper route in the late 50s that included the homes on Cement Hill.  It was a difficult bike ride up, but a thrill going down (I misjudged one time and ended up in a pile of gravel).  The homes were quite nice, with the ones on the Industry Drive side having mysterious (to me) back yards that went down the side of the hill to the woods.  This home was on the curve of the road on the Kingsport side.
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The old Rialto

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I’m standing on Cherokee Street, the crane is sitting on New Street.  Around 1980 or so, somebody, maybe the city, decided to tear down the old Rialto Theater building.  When I was a kid, it was referred to as “The Rathole” and mom wouldn’t let me go there.  By the time of this picture, it had been AY’s Restaurant for a number of years and I think there had been a billiards parlor (pool hall) in that side door.  Upstairs were apartments.
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Joseph Everett Stone Tavern, Kingsport TN

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Another divided back card.  These were in common use starting in 1907, and stayed in use long after that.  There is an inscription on the lower front, in an odd, italic type face: “Ruins of Tavern on Old Stage Road, Kingsport, Tenn.”
According to a map of the Boatyard District in “Kingsport Heritage: The Early Years 1700 to 1900” by Muriel Spoden, this was the 1813 Joseph Everett Stone Tavern located on Lot 2, next to the Netherland Inn, where that gas company is now located.
I assume this picture dates from sometime in the 1930s.  The Spoden book indicates that this tavern was derelict in the late ’20s.
The card has a blue cast, which I’ve seen before in later cards.

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Three old Kingsport restaurants

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This is the Far East Restaurant. There’s a vacuum cleaner place there currently.  On the back: “FAR-EAST RESTAURANT, The only smartest Chinese-American Restaurant in the Tri-City area is located at 1120 Bristol Highway in Kingsport, Tennessee. Featuring finest Chinese and American food.  Specializing in Chinese family dinners. Live Maine Lobster.  Choice steaks and Take-Home orders. Catering to parties.  Pub. by Fred W. Stanley, Johnson City, Tenn.” The card was published by Dexter Press, Inc. West Nyack, New York.

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The Martinique Restaurant.  On the back: “THE MARTINIQUE RESTAURANT Located at Junction of U.S. 11W and U.S. 23 Highways at circle, Kingsport, Tenn.  Near Nice Motels. ‘Serving fine food.’ Telephone Circle 5-9612.”
Elvis is said to have eaten here.

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And here’s the United Nations Restaurant.  On back: (graphic of various country flags) THE UNITED NATIONS RESTAURANT 209 E. New Street – Telephone 933 KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE”
The card was published by Howard-Duckett Co., Printers Kingsport, Tenn.
This restaurant was not in business by 1959.

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Nick’s Western Shop

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I checked my 1959 Kingsport City Directory and saw that this location, on the corner of East Market and Cherokee Streets (245 East Market Street) , was then W.B. Greene’s Bargain Annex (used furniture). Nick’s Western Shop, which also specialized in square dancing regalia, was owned by Nick Drakos.  I can anecdotally  track the business back to around 1960 or so, but I don’t have a firm opening date.  I think I took this in the mid-90s, when I learned that Nick’s was going out of business.  Corrections and additions appreciated!

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Dayton’s Grill

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I’m told that this was a popular gathering place for maybe 30 years in Lovedale.  It was located right about where Bloomingdale Pike wyes off West Sullivan.  Note the concrete post in front.  I’m pretty sure that held a U.S. Postal Service mailbox.  Lovedale was once called Peltier, a transitional commerce area before new Kingsport came into being.
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