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A 200-page illustrated guide including Downtown, Historic Homes, Neighborhoods, Parks, Cemeteries, University of Tennessee, and more!
In its time, Bearden has seen a motley assortment of pioneers, some of them immigrants, some of them rare African American landowners, spread alongside the toll road into the western wilderness; the first railroad ever built through East Tennessee; Knoxville's first eighteen-hole golf course; the dawn of aviation in East Tennessee, and Knoxville's first municipal airport; a major brick factory, a landmark hat factory, and the biggest rose-production plant in the South; the junction of two of America's first national automobile routes, spawning half a century of tourist camps, motor courts, and motels; jazz nightclubs and slot-machine speakeasies; drive-in restaurants, movie theaters, and bootlegging joints; Knoxville's first cinema multiplex; and too many interesting residents to count, including some cutting-edge musicians, a Pulitzer-winning novelist, and a groundbreaking inventor. This narrative attempts to tell it all as one story, the story of Bearden.
This third edition of Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City in the New South includes a new preface and a valuable new chapter covering the period from the death of Cas Walker to the end of the administration of Madeline Rogero, Knoxville's first female mayor. Wheeler argues that, until very recently, like Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1925), Knoxvillians had fabricated for themselves a false history, portraying themselves and their city as the almost impotent victims of historical forces that they could neither alter nor control. The result of this myth has been a collective mentality of near-helplessness against the powerful forces of isolation, poverty, and even change itself. But Knoxville's past is far more complicated than that, for the city contained abundant material goods and human talent that could have been used to propel Knoxville into the ranks of the premier cities of the New South--if those assets had not slipped through the fingers of both the leaders and the populace. In all, Knoxville's history is the story of colliding forces--country and city, North and South, the poor and the elites as well as the story of colorful figures, including Perez Dickenson, Edward Sanford, George Dempster, Carlene Malone, Bill Haslam, and Madeline Rogero, among many, many more. While challenges related to public health, income inequality, racism, and the environment remain, Wheeler detects the possibility that the myth Knoxvillians have clung to may finally be fading. Downtown development by vibrant local entrepreneurs, a government more responsive than ever before, and an economy that endured a severe economic downturn only to turn out brighter than expected are all symptoms of a Knoxville that may be ready to take its place in the rising urbanism of twenty-first-century America.
Park City's tree-shaded streets frame a neighborhood with an identity all its own. The distinctive homes designed by famed architect George Barber lend Park City its unique visual appeal and local flavor. Yet behind the well-preserved, innovative architectural designs is a history that stretches back to Knoxville's earliest beginnings. Knox County's first sheriff, Robert Houston, was a Park City resident, establishing the county's first court in the late 1700s. Since then, Park City residents have helped shape Knoxville's history by shaping their community. Longtime Park City resident and local historian Margery W. Bensey tracks the history of its development from village to vibrant residential neighborhood. From stories of the first settlers and community events to the dramatic tale of a neighborhood duel, this is the complete Park City chronicle.
A City with a Violent Past: The predominant hue of the city's colorful past is blood red, and restless souls are rumored to inhabit the night. The streets have echoed with gunfire as Knoxville survived the violence of frontier times, the Civil War, and the shadowy gaslight decades when the elite classes strolled Gay Street while just down the hill in the saloon district known as the Bowery, murderers and thieves played their dark dangerous games. Join writer and history tour guide Laura Still on a journey into her home town's past as she tells the amazing true stories behind the ghostly phantoms and unquiet spirits that haunt Knoxville. Featuring: 75 photos and illustrations; 23 haunted houses and buildings; 10 spooky burial grounds; 81/2 hanged men; 3 tragic love stories; and 40 chapters of untimely death and mysterious phenomena. Storyteller Laura Still, a native Tennessean, is a published poet and playwright as well as storyteller and guide for her tour business, Knoxville Walking Tours. Foreword by columnist and Knoxville history author Jack Neely.
From the home of the state's first capitol, to being the home of the Big Orange, Historic Photos of Knoxville is a photographic history collected from the areas top archives. With around 200 photographs, many of which have never been published, this beautiful coffee table book shows the historical growth from the mid 1800's to the late 1900's of ?The Marble City? in stunning black and white photography. The book follows life, government, events and people important to Knoxville history and the building of this unique city. Spanning over two centuries and two hundred photographs, this is a must have for any long-time resident or history lover of Knoxville!
Conceived in 1853 as a canny real-estate scheme by two young investors expecting to get rich off the idea, Market Square came to be Knoxville's most public spot, a marketplace familiar to every man, woman, and child in the area. By the 1860s, it was the busiest place in a burgeoning city. In a town that became bitterly divided by politics, race, and background, Market Square became a rare common ground: a place to buy all sorts of local produce, but also a place to experience new things, including the grandiose Market House itself, considered a model in a progressive era. Beset by urban blight by the mid-1900s, Market Square had become more of a curiosity than a point of municipal pride, and the neighborhood declined. After years of controversy, the city razed the Market House and struggled to modernize the old Square itself. This second edition is packed with more information about the colorful history of this eccentric place, including details about its African American heritage, the surprising origins of a recent international bestseller, and a much fuller account of its present-day resurgence as an example of vigorous urban revival. Through a combination of public and private efforts in the 21st century, Market Square seems to be returning to its original diverse spirit, suggesting why, on a good day, it can resemble--as a reporter described it in 1900--"the most democratic place on earth." Jack Neely is the award-winning "Secret History" columnist for Metro Pulse, Knoxville's weekly newspaper. He is the author of From the Shadow Side and Other Stories about Knoxville, Tennessee, and, with Aaron Jay, of The Marble City: A Photographic Tour of Knoxville's Graveyards.
Businessman, politician, broadcasting personality, and newspaper publisher, Cas Walker (1902–1998) was, by his own estimation, a “living legend” in Knoxville for much of the twentieth century. Renowned for his gravelly voice and country-boy persona, he rose from blue-collar beginnings to make a fortune as a grocer whose chain of supermarkets extended from East Tennessee into Virginia and Kentucky. To promote his stores, he hosted a local variety show, first on radio and then TV, that advanced the careers of many famed country music artists from a young Dolly Parton to Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins, and Bill Monroe. As a member of the Knoxville city council, he championed the “little man” while ceaselessly irritating the people he called the “silk-stocking crowd.” This wonderfully entertaining book brings together selections from interviews with a score of Knoxvillians, various newspaper accounts, Walker’s own autobiography, and other sources to present a colorful mosaic of Walker’s life. The stories range from his flamboyant advertising schemes—as when he buried a man alive outside one of his stores—to memories of his inimitable managerial style—as when he infamously canned the Everly Brothers because he didn’t like it when they began performing rock ’n’ roll. Further recollections call to mind Walker’s peculiar brand of bare-knuckle politics, his generosity to people in need, his stance on civil rights, and his lifelong love of coon hunting (and coon dogs). The book also traces his decline, hastened in part by a successful libel suit brought against his muckraking weekly newspaper, the Watchdog. It’s said that any Knoxvillian born before 1980 has a Cas Walker story. In relating many of those stories in the voices of those who still remember him, this book not only offers an engaging portrait of the man himself and his checkered legacy, but also opens a new window into the history and culture of the city in which he lived and thrived.
You may think you know the South for its food, its people, its past, and its stories, but if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that the region tells far more than one tale. It is ever-evolving, open to interpretation, steeped in history and tradition, yet defined differently based on who you ask. This Is My South inspires the reader to explore the Southern States––Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia––like never before. No other guide pulls together these states into one book in quite this way with a fresh perspective on can’t-miss landmarks, off the beaten path gems, tours for every interest, unique places to sleep, and classic restaurants. So come see for yourself and create your own experiences along the way!