Old North Knoxville
Encyclopedia
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. After a period of decline, perservationists began restoring many of the neighborhood's houses in the 1980s. In 1992, over 400 houses and secondary structures in the neighborhood were added to the National Register of Historic Places
as the Old North Knoxville Historic District.
In the years following the Civil War
, Knoxville experienced an economic boom that brought about a rapid increase in the city's population. The city gradually expanded northward and westward to accommodate the influx of new residents. The housing boom reached what is now Old North Knoxville in the late 1880s, when it was incorporated as the town of North Knoxville, and continued after its annexation by Knoxville in 1897. The neighborhood's earliest residents included doctors, politicians, and business managers, and some its earliest houses were designed by prominent Knoxville architects, such as George Barber
, Charles Barber, and David Getaz. As Knoxville continued expanding northward, most notably with the annexation of Fountain City
in 1962, North Knoxville became "Old" North Knoxville.
), about halfway between downtown Knoxville to the south and Sharp's Ridge
to the north. The neighborhood straddles a hill that gradually rises from First Creek and descends toward Second Creek. East Scott Avenue traverses the hill's crest, with the slopes gradually descending southward to East Baxter Avenue and northward to East Woodland Avenue, leaving the houses along East Scott approximately 20 to 40 feet higher than other houses in the neighborhood.
The Old North Knoxville Historic District is roughly bounded by East Woodland Avenue to the northwest, Bluff Street to the northeast, Armstrong Avenue to the east, and Central Avenue to the south. Several other historic districts lie in the vicinity, namely Mechanicsville
to the southwest, Fourth and Gill to the south, Park City to the east, and North Hills
to the northeast.
. In the years after the Civil War, however, Knoxville's railroad access and an influx of northern capital helped make Knoxville a major warehousing and textile manufacturing center, bringing about an exponential increase in population. By 1886, several houses and several roads (including Armstrong and "Kennion") had been built in what is now Old North Knoxville, and several factories had been built nearby along Second Creek, namely the Brookside Cotton Mill
, the Fantz (Fanz) Sausage Factory, and two marble works
.
Rather than wait for annexation by Knoxville in order to obtain city services, North Knoxville incorporated as a separate city on January 16, 1889. L. A. Gratz was elected as the town's first mayor. The new town secured contracts for water and electric lighting deemed superior to the contracts Knoxville had forged, and North Knoxville School was held in high esteem by parents. At the time of its incorporation, North Knoxville was considered one of the best residential neighborhoods in Knoxville, due in part to its relatively small concentration of lower class residents, and by 1895, the town had a population of 3,200. North Knoxville was annexed by Knoxville in 1897.
By the early 1900s, trolley tracks connected North Knoxville to downtown Knoxville. The neighborhood consisted primarily of upper middle and professional class residents, including business managers, doctors, lawyers, and professors. One section of Glenwood Avenue was known as "Doctors' Hill," since nearly every home on the block was occupied by a physician. Business leaders living in the neighborhood included Brookside Cotton Mill manager William Lang, H. T. Hackney Company president (and later mayor of Knoxville) Benjamin Morton, and several Southern Railway officials. George Dempster
, inventor of the Dempster-Dumpster
and a mayor of Knoxville, lived in Old North Knoxville in the 1920s.
North Knoxville continued to grow until the 1940s, by which time most of the original residents had died or moved away. Knoxville's continued expansion northward and westward, as well as the onset of automobile travel, drew the residents of the city's early suburbs further out to newer neighborhoods along the city's periphery. During the 1950s and 1960s, many of the neighborhood's larger houses were converted into low-rent apartments, causing a decline in housing values. The formation of the Old North Knoxville Neighborhood Association in the 1970s, however, led to the restoration and rehabilitation of most the neighborhood's historic homes.
Houses in Old North Knoxville include designs by three established architects— George F. Barber, his son, Charles Barber, and the Swiss-born David Getaz. Architectural styles represented in the district include Queen Anne
, Eastlake
, Folk Victorian
, Bungalow/Craftsman
, Dutch Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Neoclassical Revival
, American Foursquare
, and Shingle
. The district has one Colonial Revival
home (517 East Oklahoma) and one home designed in the French Eclectic style (518 Glenwood).
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 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. After a period of decline, perservationists began restoring many of the neighborhood's houses in the 1980s. In 1992, over 400 houses and secondary structures in the neighborhood 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 Old North Knoxville Historic District.
In the years following 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...
, Knoxville experienced an economic boom that brought about a rapid increase in the city's population. The city gradually expanded northward and westward to accommodate the influx of new residents. The housing boom reached what is now Old North Knoxville in the late 1880s, when it was incorporated as the town of North Knoxville, and continued after its annexation by Knoxville in 1897. The neighborhood's earliest residents included doctors, politicians, and business managers, and some its earliest houses were designed by prominent Knoxville architects, such as George Barber
George Franklin Barber
George Franklin Barber was an American architect best known for his residential designs, which he marketed worldwide through a series of mail-order catalogs. One of the most successful domestic architects of the late Victorian period in the United States, Barber's plans were used for houses in...
, Charles Barber, and David Getaz. As Knoxville continued expanding northward, most notably with the annexation of Fountain City
Fountain City, Tennessee
Fountain City is a neighborhood in northern Knoxville, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Although not a census-designated place , the populations of the two zip codes that serve Fountain City— 37918 and 37912— were 36,815 and 18,695, respectively, as of the 2000 U.S. census...
in 1962, North Knoxville became "Old" North Knoxville.
Location
Old North Knoxville is located just off Broadway (part of U.S. Route 441U.S. Route 441
U.S. Route 441 is a spur route of U.S. Route 41. It currently runs for 939 miles from U.S. Route 41 in Miami, Florida to U.S. Route 25W in Lake City, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...
), about halfway between downtown Knoxville to the south and Sharp's Ridge
Sharp's Ridge
Sharp's Ridge is a steep limestone ridge in Knoxville, Tennessee, north of the city's downtown. A area of the ridge is maintained as Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park, a city park dedicated to the honor of the area's war dead. The ridge also is the site of a transmitting antenna farm that serves most...
to the north. The neighborhood straddles a hill that gradually rises from First Creek and descends toward Second Creek. East Scott Avenue traverses the hill's crest, with the slopes gradually descending southward to East Baxter Avenue and northward to East Woodland Avenue, leaving the houses along East Scott approximately 20 to 40 feet higher than other houses in the neighborhood.
The Old North Knoxville Historic District is roughly bounded by East Woodland Avenue to the northwest, Bluff Street to the northeast, Armstrong Avenue to the east, and Central Avenue to the south. Several other historic districts lie in the vicinity, namely Mechanicsville
Mechanicsville, Knoxville
Mechanicsville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, located northwest of the city's downtown area. One of the city's oldest neighborhoods, Mechanicsville was established in the late 1860s for skilled laborers working in the many factories that sprang up along Knoxville's periphery...
to the southwest, Fourth and Gill to the south, Park City to the east, and North Hills
North Hills Historic District
The North Hills Historic District is a residential subdivision in north Knoxville, Tennessee, that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 2008 as an historic district. The subdivision was established in 1927 by the North Hills Corporation as a neighborhood of...
to the northeast.
History
North Knoxville remained predominantly rural until the latter half of the 19th century. An 1871 map of Knoxville shows scant development along "Broad Street" (Broadway) north of the Knoxville National CemeteryKnoxville National Cemetery
Knoxville National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Established in 1863, the cemetery currently encompasses , and as of the end of 2007, had 9,006 interments. The Union Soldier monument, which stands in the eastern corner of the...
. In the years after the Civil War, however, Knoxville's railroad access and an influx of northern capital helped make Knoxville a major warehousing and textile manufacturing center, bringing about an exponential increase in population. By 1886, several houses and several roads (including Armstrong and "Kennion") had been built in what is now Old North Knoxville, and several factories had been built nearby along Second Creek, namely the Brookside Cotton Mill
Brookside Mills
Brookside Mills was a textile manufacturing company that operated in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company's Second Creek factory was the city's largest employer in the early 1900s. Brookside Village, a neighborhood in North Knoxville, was originally...
, the Fantz (Fanz) Sausage Factory, and two marble works
Tennessee marble
Tennessee marble is a type of crystalline limestone found primarily in East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Long esteemed by architects and builders for its pinkish-gray color and the ease with which it is polished, this stone has been used in the construction of numerous notable...
.
Rather than wait for annexation by Knoxville in order to obtain city services, North Knoxville incorporated as a separate city on January 16, 1889. L. A. Gratz was elected as the town's first mayor. The new town secured contracts for water and electric lighting deemed superior to the contracts Knoxville had forged, and North Knoxville School was held in high esteem by parents. At the time of its incorporation, North Knoxville was considered one of the best residential neighborhoods in Knoxville, due in part to its relatively small concentration of lower class residents, and by 1895, the town had a population of 3,200. North Knoxville was annexed by Knoxville in 1897.
By the early 1900s, trolley tracks connected North Knoxville to downtown Knoxville. The neighborhood consisted primarily of upper middle and professional class residents, including business managers, doctors, lawyers, and professors. One section of Glenwood Avenue was known as "Doctors' Hill," since nearly every home on the block was occupied by a physician. Business leaders living in the neighborhood included Brookside Cotton Mill manager William Lang, H. T. Hackney Company president (and later mayor of Knoxville) Benjamin Morton, and several Southern Railway officials. George Dempster
George Roby Dempster
George Roby Dempster was an American businessman, inventor, and politician, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the first half of the twentieth century. Dempster is best known for the invention of the Dempster-Dumpster, a now-commonly-used trash receptacle that can be mechanically...
, inventor of the Dempster-Dumpster
Dempster Dumpmaster
The Dempster Dumpmaster, introduced in the 1950s, was the first United States commercially successful front loading garbage truck.Built by Dempster Brothers, Inc of Knoxville, Tennessee, they used the Dempster-Dumpster system of mechanically emptying standardised metal containers, which had been...
and a mayor of Knoxville, lived in Old North Knoxville in the 1920s.
North Knoxville continued to grow until the 1940s, by which time most of the original residents had died or moved away. Knoxville's continued expansion northward and westward, as well as the onset of automobile travel, drew the residents of the city's early suburbs further out to newer neighborhoods along the city's periphery. During the 1950s and 1960s, many of the neighborhood's larger houses were converted into low-rent apartments, causing a decline in housing values. The formation of the Old North Knoxville Neighborhood Association in the 1970s, however, led to the restoration and rehabilitation of most the neighborhood's historic homes.
Old North Knoxville Historic District
The Old North Knoxville Historic District covers 324 acres (131.1 ha), and includes properties along Alexander Street, East Anderson Avenue, Armstrong Avenue, East Baxter Avenue, Cornelia Street, Folsom Avenue, Fremont Place, Glenwood Avenue, Harvey Street, Kenyon Street, Kern Place, Matthews Place, McMillan Street, East Oklahoma Avenue, Rader Place, East Scott Avenue, Shepherd Place, Stewart Place, Thompson Place, and East Woodland Avenue. The district's 496 contributing buildings and structures consist primarily of houses and outbuildings, with one commercial structure. The neighborhood is characterized by short front lawns and large sidewalks. Circa-1907 "Granitoid" pavement, known locally as "singing" pavement due to the sound it makes when cars drive over it, is still found along Kenyon Street.Houses in Old North Knoxville include designs by three established architects— George F. Barber, his son, Charles Barber, and the Swiss-born David Getaz. Architectural styles represented in the district include Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture (United States)
In America, the Queen Anne style of architecture, furniture and decorative arts was popular in the United States from 1880 to 1910. In American usage "Queen Anne" is loosely used of a wide range of picturesque buildings with "free Renaissance" details rather than of a specific formulaic style in...
, Eastlake
Eastlake Movement
The Eastlake Movement was a nineteenth century architectural and household design reform movement started by architect and writer Charles Eastlake . The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in terms of broad antique furniture designations...
, Folk Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
, Bungalow/Craftsman
American Craftsman
The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...
, Dutch Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Neoclassical Revival
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
, American Foursquare
American Foursquare
The 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...
, and Shingle
Shingle Style architecture
The Shingle style is an American architectural style made popular by the rise of the New England school of architecture, which eschewed the highly ornamented patterns of the Eastlake style in Queen Anne architecture....
. The district has one Colonial Revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
home (517 East Oklahoma) and one home designed in the French Eclectic style (518 Glenwood).
Notable houses
- W. R. Cooper House (1212 Kenyon Ave.), a Folk Victorian house built circa 1883, moved approximately one block to its present location in 1900.
- Thomas Fitzgerald House (311 Glenwood Ave.), a Folk Victorian house built circa 1888.
- Lou-Mar (505 East Scott Avenue), built 1889, a Queen AnneQueen Anne Style architectureThe Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
-style house designed by architect David Getaz. - James Eugene Fair House (241 East Scott Ave.), a Queen AnneQueen Anne Style architectureThe Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
-style house built in 1896. - Pinecrest (131 East Scott Avenue), a Folk Victorian house built in 1899 for Brookside Mills manager William Lang, and designed by architect George F. Barber.
- James B. Dunn Mansion (1424 Armstrong Avenue), a large Neoclassical-style house built in 1905.
- 131 East Oklahoma Avenue, a Neoclassical-style house built around 1910, noted for its oversized columns.
- 518 Glenwood Avenue, a French Eclectic-style house built in 1925, and designed by architect Charles I. BarberCharles I. BarberCharles Irving Barber was an American architect, active primarily in Knoxville, Tennessee, and vicinity, during the first half of the 20th century...
of the firm, Barber & McMurry. - George Dempster House (265 East Scott Avenue), an American Foursquare-style house built in 1926; the home of the prominent Knoxville businessman and mayor.
- Marble Hill (125 East Glenwood Avenue), an Arts and Crafts "bungalow mansion" built in 1916, and designed by Martin E. Parmelee. Built for the Samuel T. Buffat family. Buffat was an executive with the H. T. Hackney Company. Fountain City banker William S. McKinney purchased the home in 1920. From 1965-2003, it was the home of noted bluegrass musician Daniel E. Bailey, a member of the Bailey Brothers and the Happy Valley Boys. Bailey was also grocer Cas Walker's radio announcer.
External links
- Historic Old North Knoxville — official site