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.
In 1918, as WWI slowly ground to a halt in Europe and the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic began raging out of the foul trenches of that war, Kingsport was building its first combined school building. The building, much remodeled, still stands at the corner of Watauga Street and East Sevier Avenue.
This post card, probably printed in the early 1920s, is another of the series commissioned by T. J. Stephenson.
This card is postmarked Dec. 7, 1943. Two years to the day after Pearl Harbor. By this time in the war, we were raining death on the cities of Cittavecchia and Pescara, Italy, among other unlucky locations.
Three months later, Mussolini would fall from power as the Italians felt their part of the war was lost.
The card is shown as being published by Asheville Post Card Company, but it was printed by Miller Art Company in Brooklyn…which went out of business in 1941 (1922 – 1941).
Consider: this card may have been printed around the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. <sneak in weird music> Strange, but true, maybe.
C. T. C. was Kingsport’s city bus company.
Bob Lawrence's Kingsport 