Island Home Park
Encyclopedia
Island Home Park is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee
, USA, located in the southeastern part of the city along the Tennessee River
. Developed as a streetcar suburb in the early 1900s, the neighborhood retains most of its original houses and streetscapes, and is home to the city's largest concentration of Bungalow
-style houses. In 1994, several dozen houses in Island Home Park were added to the National Register of Historic Places
as the Island Home Park Historic District.
What is now Island Home Park was originally part of a farm, named "Island Home," established by Knoxville businessman and philanthropist Perez Dickinson (1813–1901) in the 1870s. The completion of the Gay Street Bridge
in 1898 led to the commercial and residential development of the South Knoxville
area, and the Island Home Park neighborhood was established the following year. For much of its early existence, Island Home Park was home to a number of professionals and managers involved in Knoxville's wholesaling trade and other industries.
The campus of the Tennessee School for the Deaf
developed adjacent to Island Home Park in the 1920s, and the Knoxville Downtown Island Airport
developed on Dickinson's Island adjacent to the neighborhood during the 1930s.
Island Home Boulevard, a true boulevard
with the right and left lanes divided by a grassy median, bisects the center of the Island Home Park neighborhood. Along with adjacent Spence Place and Fisher Place, it contains the neighborhood's oldest houses. Newer areas have developed to the south and west.
, cofounded the successful wholesaling firm, Cowan and Dickinson, in 1831, and helped establish the firm, Cowan, McClung and Company
, just before the Civil War
. Dickinson built a large Italianate
house (now part of the TSD campus) on the property in 1875, and in subsequent years developed the land into a cattle farm. Dickinson named the farm "Island Home" after the island in the adjacent stretch of the Tennessee River (this island is now known as Dickinson's Island).
Dickinson's Island Home farm covered 600 acres (242.8 ha), with 200 acres (80.9 ha) criss-crossed by white picket fences. What is now Island Home Boulevard was initially the main approach road to the Dickinson house. Along with a summer home, Dickinson used the farm as a model stock farm. An 1879 issue of the Knoxville Republican described a McCormick
reaper and binder demonstration at Island Home, which was probably the first use of the latter in the general region. Island Home also served as a gathering place for various clubs and societies.
The development of the Island Home Park neighborhood began with the completion of the "new" Gay Street Bridge in 1898. This new bridge was equipped with trolley tracks, connecting for the first time Knoxville and South Knoxville via trolley. The Island Home Park Company was founded in 1899 for the purpose of establishing a suburb on land acquired from Dickinson. Colonel Cary Spence (1869–1943), a World War I
veteran and president of the Spence Trunk and Leather Company, was the Island Home Park company's president. Trolley tracks were extended along the length of the Island Home Boulevard median, and housing construction began sometime around 1910. Island Home Park was annexed by Knoxville in 1917.
Like most of Knoxville's early streetcar suburbs, such as Old North Knoxville
and Fourth and Gill, Island Home Park's original residents consisted of middle and upper middle class medical and financial professionals, factory and retail managers, and Tennessee Valley Authority
engineers and specialists. One notable early resident was actor John Cullum
, who has spoken fondly of the neighborhood.
The Tennessee School for the Deaf moved to its present campus immediately east of Island Home Park in 1924, after selling its original school building on Western Avenue to the City of Knoxville for use as a city hall. The Downtown Island Airport is rooted in a charter flight service established by early Knoxville aviator Tom Kesterson on Dickinson's Island in 1930.
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, USA, located in the southeastern part of the city along the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
. Developed as a streetcar suburb in the early 1900s, the neighborhood retains most of its original houses and streetscapes, and is home to the city's largest concentration of Bungalow
Bungalow
A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...
-style houses. In 1994, several dozen houses in Island Home Park were added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as the Island Home Park Historic District.
What is now Island Home Park was originally part of a farm, named "Island Home," established by Knoxville businessman and philanthropist Perez Dickinson (1813–1901) in the 1870s. The completion of the Gay Street Bridge
Gay Street Bridge
The Gay Street Bridge is a vehicle bridge that crosses the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tennessee. Completed in 1898, the bridge is the oldest of four vehicle bridges connecting Downtown Knoxville with South Knoxville, the other three being the Henley Street Bridge, the Buck Karnes Bridge , and...
in 1898 led to the commercial and residential development of the South Knoxville
South Knoxville
South Knoxville is the section of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that lies south of the Tennessee River. It is concentrated along Chapman Highway , Alcoa Highway , Maryville Pike , Sevierville Pike, and adjacent roads, and includes the neighborhoods of Lindbergh Forest, Island Home Park, Old Sevier,...
area, and the Island Home Park neighborhood was established the following year. For much of its early existence, Island Home Park was home to a number of professionals and managers involved in Knoxville's wholesaling trade and other industries.
The campus of the Tennessee School for the Deaf
Tennessee School for the Deaf
The Tennessee School for the Deaf is a state-operated residential and day school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students ranging from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. It is located in Knoxville, Tennessee within the historic Island Home Park neighborhood....
developed adjacent to Island Home Park in the 1920s, and the Knoxville Downtown Island Airport
Knoxville Downtown Island Airport
Knoxville Downtown Island Airport or Knoxville Downtown Island Home Airport , often referred to as Island Home Airport, is a general aviation airport located approximately one-half mile east of downtown Knoxville, in Knox County, Tennessee, United States.Although most U.S...
developed on Dickinson's Island adjacent to the neighborhood during the 1930s.
Location
Island Home Park is located along the south bank of the Tennessee River, just southeast of Knoxville's downtown area. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by the river on the north, the Tennessee School for the Deaf campus to the east, and Island Home Avenue on the west and south. Dickinson's Island, home to the Downtown Island Airport, is located in the middle of the river at River Mile 650.Island Home Boulevard, a true boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
with the right and left lanes divided by a grassy median, bisects the center of the Island Home Park neighborhood. Along with adjacent Spence Place and Fisher Place, it contains the neighborhood's oldest houses. Newer areas have developed to the south and west.
History
Knoxville businessman Perez Dickinson purchased what is now Island Home Park from Colonel Thomas Spence in 1869. Dickinson, originally a professor at East Tennessee CollegeUniversity of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, cofounded the successful wholesaling firm, Cowan and Dickinson, in 1831, and helped establish the firm, Cowan, McClung and Company
Fidelity Building (Knoxville)
The Fidelity Building is an office building in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Initially constructed in 1871 for the wholesale firm Cowan, McClung and Company, the building was home to Fidelity-Bankers Trust Company during the mid-twentieth century, and has since been renovated for use as office space...
, just before the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Dickinson built a large Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
house (now part of the TSD campus) on the property in 1875, and in subsequent years developed the land into a cattle farm. Dickinson named the farm "Island Home" after the island in the adjacent stretch of the Tennessee River (this island is now known as Dickinson's Island).
Dickinson's Island Home farm covered 600 acres (242.8 ha), with 200 acres (80.9 ha) criss-crossed by white picket fences. What is now Island Home Boulevard was initially the main approach road to the Dickinson house. Along with a summer home, Dickinson used the farm as a model stock farm. An 1879 issue of the Knoxville Republican described a McCormick
Cyrus McCormick
Cyrus Hall McCormick, Sr. was an American inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, which became part of International Harvester Company in 1902.He and many members of the McCormick family became prominent Chicagoans....
reaper and binder demonstration at Island Home, which was probably the first use of the latter in the general region. Island Home also served as a gathering place for various clubs and societies.
The development of the Island Home Park neighborhood began with the completion of the "new" Gay Street Bridge in 1898. This new bridge was equipped with trolley tracks, connecting for the first time Knoxville and South Knoxville via trolley. The Island Home Park Company was founded in 1899 for the purpose of establishing a suburb on land acquired from Dickinson. Colonel Cary Spence (1869–1943), a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran and president of the Spence Trunk and Leather Company, was the Island Home Park company's president. Trolley tracks were extended along the length of the Island Home Boulevard median, and housing construction began sometime around 1910. Island Home Park was annexed by Knoxville in 1917.
Like most of Knoxville's early streetcar suburbs, such as Old North Knoxville
Old North Knoxville
Old North Knoxville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just north of the city's downtown area. Initially established as the town of North Knoxville in the late-19th century, the area was a prominent suburb for Knoxville's upper middle and professional classes until the 1950s...
and Fourth and Gill, Island Home Park's original residents consisted of middle and upper middle class medical and financial professionals, factory and retail managers, and Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
engineers and specialists. One notable early resident was actor John Cullum
John Cullum
John Cullum is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including On the Twentieth Century and Shenandoah , winning the Tony Awards for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for each...
, who has spoken fondly of the neighborhood.
The Tennessee School for the Deaf moved to its present campus immediately east of Island Home Park in 1924, after selling its original school building on Western Avenue to the City of Knoxville for use as a city hall. The Downtown Island Airport is rooted in a charter flight service established by early Knoxville aviator Tom Kesterson on Dickinson's Island in 1930.
Island Home Park Historic District
The Island Home Park Historic District consists of 91 contributing houses situated along Island Home Boulevard, Spence Place, Fisher Place, and Maplewood. The two stone gateposts at the neighborhood's western entrance are listed as contributing objects, and the trolley turnaround just inside the gateposts and the median along Island Home Boulevard are listed as contributing sites. Bungalow, Craftsman, and Tudor Revival are the most common architectural styles.Notable houses
- 1900 Maplewood Drive, a one-story Bungalow-style house built between 1900 and 1910, apparently predating the general establishment of the Island Home Park neighborhood. This house is listed on the Register as 1900 Spence Place.
- 1936 Maplewood Drive, a one-story Craftsman-style house built circa 1915 to 1920. This house is listed on the Register as 1936 Spence Place.
- 2004 Spence Place, a two-story brick Colonial Revival-style house with French tile roof covering, built circa 1920. This was the home of Dual-Use Company president and Knoxville mayor Ernest Neal during the late 1920s.
- 2036 Spence Place, a two-story Craftsman-style house built circa 1916. This house was the home of Knoxville judge and businessman John L. Greer, best known as the owner of 1975 Kentucky DerbyKentucky DerbyThe Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
winner Foolish PleasureFoolish PleasureFoolish Pleasure is an American bay thoroughbred race horse who was born in Williston, Florida. He was one of the top three three-year-old colts of his time....
. - 2100 Spence Place, a two-story brick Tudor Revival house built circa 1927. During the 1930s, this house was home to TVA engineer Carl Bock, who helped design NorrisNorris DamNorris Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control structure located on the Clinch River in Anderson County and Campbell County, Tennessee, USA. Its construction in the mid-1930s was the first major project for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which had been created in 1933 to bring economic...
, WheelerWheeler DamWheeler Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Lawrence County in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the mid-1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative...
, PickwickPickwick Landing DamPickwick Landing Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Hardin County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The dam is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to create a...
, HiwasseeHiwassee DamHiwassee Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is one of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s to bring flood control and electricity to the region. ...
, and KentuckyKentucky DamKentucky Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River on the county line between Livingston County and Marshall County in the U.S. state of Kentucky...
dams.
- 2000 Island Home Boulevard, a Craftsman-style house with a Neoclassical-style front porch, built circa 1915.
- 2103 Island Home Boulevard, a one-story Craftsman-style house built circa 1915. The house was originally home to Holt Engineering Company founder and GatlinburgGatlinburg, TennesseeGatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Gatlinburg had a population of 3,828. The city is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S...
city manager Herbert Holt. - 2200 Island Home Boulevard, a one-story Tudor Revival house built circa 1926. This house was originally home to Flenniken Construction Company president and Knoxville city commissioner John Flenniken and his wife, Laura. Country music pioneer Archie CampbellArchie CampbellArchie Campbell was an American writer and star of Hee Haw, a popular long-running country-flavored network television variety show...
may have lived in a guest house on the property in 1936. - 2221 Island Home Boulevard (Platt House), a two-story American FoursquareAmerican FoursquareThe American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...
house built circa 1915. The Platt family, which moved into the house in 1928, consisted of Southern Railway roadmaster Joseph Platt, his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Samuel. Samuel Platt, who continued to reside in the house until the 1960s, grew up to become a prominent local physician, and served as president of the Knoxville Academy of Medicine. - 2222 Island Home Boulevard, a one-story Craftsman-style house built circa 1917. This house was initially the home of Knoxville office supply entrepreneur William A. McCallie.
- 2227 Island Home Boulevard, a one-story Tudor Revival house built circa 1932.
- 2237 Island Home Boulevard, a two-story Craftsman-style house with Prairie SchoolPrairie SchoolPrairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
influence, built circa 1912. During the 1930s and 1940s, this was the home of C. M. McClung and Company manager George A. Mary. - 2245 Island Home Boulevard, a two-story Tudor Revival house built in 1927.
- 2316 Island Home Boulevard, a one-story Craftsman-style house built circa 1927. This house was originally home to long-time Knoxville Electric Company owner Lewis P. Self.
- 2321 Island Home Boulevard ("Jeweland"), a two-story Bungalow-style house with massive cobblestone pillars, built circa 1910.