A Unique Map of Kingsport in 1916

When George L. Carter send out his emissaries – his lawyer, his secretary, his employees – in 1905 to buy land options on all the farms in the Kingsport area, not all the property owners were interested in selling. The most important holdout was George Childress, whose farm covered much of what would later be called Gibsontown.

He did eventually sell but not to Carter’s company, Kingsport Improvement, but to Globe Realty & Auction Company of Roanoke, Virginia.

Globe thought it was sitting on a goldmine, a large tract of land near downtown Kingsport, the largest piece that wasn’t owned by Kingsport Improvement.

In 1916 Globe began trying to sell lots in this tract, which it had named Spring Park Heights.

In a full-page ad in the Johnson City Staff, Globe explained the name.

“First because there is a very large spring on the property. Second because we will donate a piece of land surrounding this spring for a park for the use of the purchasers of these lots.  Third because it is well elevated, being a gradual slope on a small ridge and running up to the highest point in the residential section of this Southern metropolis.”

No one locally had ever called it that. It was known as the Childress place.

Accompanying the ad was a large “sketch” of downtown Kingsport in 1916.

The map was not drawn by a surveyor or an engineer but, apparently, by a commercial artist, perhaps an employee of Knoxville Engraving, which had made the newspaper plate for the ad.

It’s not to scale – its purpose was to sell lots. But it is a unique view of Kingsport as it was beginning to boom.

The ad called Kingsport “the Wonder City” which is “destined to be one of the largest cities in the South, as there are five more manufacturing plants under construction.”

It’s not even called a map in the ad but a “sketch” showing the location of Spring Park Heights, which, the ad promised, would have 200 full-size lots, “with broad streets and alleys…making it in every respect a high-class proposition.”

I think we all know how that turned out.

About ten years ago Kevin Jones, who grew up in Spring Park Heights, told me the modern boundaries:

"It runs from Watauga Street, Campbell, Elizabeth to Globe Street.”

Here is that unique “sketch” of 1916 Kingsport:

Here is the complete ad for Spring Park Heights:

Take Me Out To The…Oh Never Mind

Baseball returns tonight, if you consider an abbreviated 60-game season with no fans in the stands a return. The Yankees play the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m.

While the Nationals may be direct descendants of the old Montreal Expos, they are the legacy of the long-gone Washington Senators. Yes, those Senators, famously known for an ineptitude that was celebrated by baseball writer Charley Dryden in 1904:  “Washington, first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.”

The Senators were always pitiful in my lifetime. But once upon a time, which is the way fairy tales begin, they were good, very good – they won the World Series in 1924 and almost won again the next year when they were led by one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Walter “Big Train” Johnson.

In 1935 the Big Train came to Kingsport. He was the manager of the Cleveland Indians who passed through town on their way north from spring training in Florida. On Tuesday April 9, 1935 they stopped in Kingsport to play an exhibition game against the New York Giants at what was called D-B field, now the athletic field next to Sevier Middle School.

Walter Johnson wasn’t the only future Hall of Famer on the field that day.

The Giants were managed by “Memphis Bill” Terry, who also played first base. Also on that Giants squad were pitcher Carl Hubbell, outfielder Mel Ott, and shortstop Travis Jackson.They also featured a very young Tony Cuccinello, well known to fans of Dizzy Dean’s baseball broadcasts for his nickname, “Poosh ‘Em Up Tony.” And Mark Koenig, who played on those great Yankees teams of the twenties with Babe Ruth.

The Indians roster included future Hall of Famer Earl Averill and perennial All-Star Hal Trotsky.

Thanks to my friend – and bowling partner when we finished second in the Warpath Lanes Christmas Tournament in 1960 - David Good, I have a copy of that program. David got it from an elderly gentleman who had attended the game as a boy and wanted to pass it along to another baseball fan. And David had a copy made for me.

The program is interesting for more than just the baseball photos and factoids that are chocked into its 36 pages, but also for all the ads for local Kingsport businesses. It’s like a snapshot of the city in 1935, when the town wasn’t yet 20 years old.

There are ads for J. Fred Johnson & Co. Department Store and Freels Drug; Bennett & Edwards Insurance Service and Blue Gem Coal.

You don’t have to love baseball to love this program.

Here are a few pages from what the Kingsport Times called “the premier baseball event of the history of this entire section.” 

Six-thousand fans turned out.

Ah, but the historic event was a bit of a letdown; played under “threatening skies and a biting wind,” the game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Front cover

Here's how the Kingsport Times covered the historic event:

I Love a Parade...

And So Did Mack Riddle

1959 Kingsport Fourth of July Parade

Mack Riddle loved the Kingsport Fourth of July Parade so much that eventually they named it for him. The parade was cancelled this year for the first time since Riddle restarted it in 1954. 
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Mack Riddle Fourth of July parade in 2004, I wrote a column about Mack and his parade: 

John B. Dennis didn’t build the by-pass that bears his name.

J. Fred Johnson didn’t lay the bricks for the stadium named after him.

Mack Riddle built the Fourth of July parade.

There was a Fourth of July parade before Mack Riddle. And there have been four parades since his death in 1999.

But it was Mack Riddle who took a sporadic celebration and turned it into an annual event. An annual event that now bears his name.

The 50^th consecutive Mack Riddle American Legion Fourth of July Parade kicks off Monday on East Center in front of the Renaissance Center and marches to Fort Henry Drive then all the way to Eastman Road. It’s now a two-hour televised celebration that is said to be the largest parade in the state. And that’s because of Mack Riddle.

(Full disclosure: I was in the Parade back in 1967. I played Andrew Johnson, an easy impersonation since no one has any idea how Andrew Johnson acted.)

The City Archives has pictures from a 1917 Fourth of July parade in Kingsport: a mule drawn wagon promoting The Big Store. And there was a big parade in 1926 that included an address by World War I’s most decorated solider, Sergeant Alvin York. But the Fourth of July parade was a sometime thing - some years there’d be one, some years there wouldn’t - until Mack Riddle

Mack Riddle took the old Harold Arlen song “I Love a Parade.” to heart.

Payne Marshall, longtime parade coordinator, recalls, “In 1954 Mack approached the Commander of the American Legion and asked why the American Legion didn’t have an annual parade. He was informed that the American Legion did not have funds to do this or anyone that was willing to take charge of the parade. You know how this works - since he asked the question, he was asked if he wanted the job.”

He accepted without hesitation and on Independence Day 1955 Mack began what would become 45 years of service as the man behind the parade.

Why was Mack so devoted to the parade? His son Tommy says, “A lot of it had to do with Dad’s timing in his life. He was raised in the Depression. He said they’d have popcorn for breakfast, water for lunch and swell up for supper. World War II came along and they knew, ‘We win this or we’re conquered.’ He served at Fort Story. Then he went to Germany and France and saw all that happened. He was in artillery. He saw a lot. He realized the sacrifice Americans had made. And it made him proud to be an American.”

Mack Riddle and Independence Day were a perfect match. Combine his patriotic zeal with his flair for show business - Mack and Frank Taylor were famous for their vaudeville style Frank and Mack Show - and you have the formula. Start with the flag, add marching bands, twirlers, clowns, floats and a cheering crowd.

It was a hit from the start. “Kingsport reacted to the parade,” says Tommy. “You’d see every kind of group, the upper crust, the working class.”

Tommy attributes much of the success of the parade to the folks his dad surrounded himself with. “Dad was a good delegater. Gordon Blessing, Kelly Goad, Payne Marshall, they were always by his side ready to help.”

 But they didn’t name the parade after him because he was good at delegating.

“With Dad it wasn’t a hobby, it was a way of life,” says Tommy. “He started on the next parade before the other one ended. He would be taking a nap after the parade and taking calls from people who wanted in the next year. He said the best asset Kingsport had was its people.”

If you miss Kingsport's Mack Riddle Fourth of July Parade, YouTube can help. 

This first link is a home movie of the 1968 parade taken by my father's Army buddy Worley Lane. 

It includes a few attempts at art but it's still a nice time capsule of that era parade. Click here.

The second link is from 2017. Click here.