This is from a 1946 telephone book. Note you can get war training here, plus fountain and lunch room service.
Vrooom!
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Tag Archives: Kingsport TN
New Car Dealers – 1964
This is from a pamphlet for the Dobyns-Bennett Band. Check out the imports: Vauxhall (it’s misspelled), Opel, Renault (which we pronounced re-nalt, not re-no). Pretty good for ’64!
Books on Kingsport
Four books and a pamphlet about Kingsport: (l to r) Kingsport: A Romance of Industry, by Howard Long. 1928 (Sevier Press); the Rotary Club 1937 green book of Kingsport with forward by J. Fred Johnson; the Rotary Club 1946 blue book of Kingsport with forward by C.P. Edwards, Jr.; the Rotary Club 1951 beige book of Kingsport with forward by William F. Freehoff, Jr.; and The Early Years on Bays Mountain, by Muriel Millar Clark Spoden. 1975 (privately printed). Except for the pamphlet on Bays Mountain history, these books are quite similar, most taking their lead from the Long book.
In my opinion, the best book about modern Kingsport’s history is Margaret Ripley Wolfe’s “Kingsport Tennessee A Planned American City” (1987, University of Kentucky Press), which I’ve commented on before.
Cherokee Rod & Gun
A cap and a pin from a yard sale (actually an estate sale, but these were out in the yard).
Cherokee Rod & Gun Club is very much alive to this date; I used to hear them banging away as I hiked up at Bays Mountain Park. The pin is 3/4″ enamel on a pin clasp.
Watauga Street
Here we are looking east down the 900 block of Watauga. It’s around 1934 or so. This is a T.J. Stephenson commissioned card printed by Tichnor Brothers. It appears a little faded, but it’s not. This was done before Tichnor introduced the embossing (linen pattern) roller into the printing process which supported more vivid colors.
Kingsport Federal
In 1930, as the Nation slowly eased into the Great Depression, a group of Kingsport rainmakers gathered to form a new institution: Kingsport Federal Building and Savings Association (Wolfe, Margaret Ripley. Kingsport Tennessee A Planned American City. University of Kentucky Press 1987). The bank became Heritage Federal late in 1978 and folded its tents in 1995.
B. F. Goodrich
This was the location of Kingsport’s B. F. Goodrich store in the 1940s (it’s now Anchor Antiques). B. F. Goodrich was a very early company to put rubber on the road.
When I was a kid, B. F. Goodrich was on the corner of New and Cherokee Streets, 324 Cherokee, the former home of Kroger. I bought my Schwinn bike there after my second-hand English bike rattled its last transmission.
Photo Paperweight
This is a solid glass paperweight 2.75 x 4.25 x .75. It is recessed on the back so a photo or other flat memorabilia can be pressed in. In this case, it is a black and white photo, taken from the train station clock tower, of a festive, patriotic event in the 1920s in downtown Kingsport. My guess is some July 4th celebration. Btw, these molded glass paperweights may still be purchased. Check Behrenberg Glass website.
McNeer Apartments
This building, at 519 Holston Street, housed one of the first clinics in Kingsport. It was also the home of Charlie Deming, the man who helmed “The Gloomchaser” morning show on WKPT-AM from the early 1940s to 1973. This was taken in 1991. The building has long since been demolished.
Lotsa pens
If you can’t find a pen when you need one, don’t blame the advertising specialty companies!
Bob Lawrence's Kingsport 