NORTH / EAST VOL. 2 NO. 24 NEIGHBORHOOD BUZZ
Happy Holler nominated to National Register of Historic Places The Happy Holler commercial district has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places for its cultural and historic significance to Knoxville’s early days of development. The nomination, submitted to the U.S. National Park Service, was written by Metropolitan Planning Commission staff and was pre-approved by the Tennessee Historical Commission. Happy Holler’s historic and cultural value is tied to its collection of early 20th-century buildings, the most complete example in Knoxville outside of downtown. The district runs along both sides of the 1200 block of North Central Street and forms the core of a community-oriented shopping district established along early trolley lines. Most buildings in Happy Holler are one-story commercial structures built between 1900 and 1930. The area served northside residents, from the community now known as Old North Knoxville, a Victorian-era neighborhood lying to the east of Happy Holler, as well as the families of textile, railroad and iron workers who lived to the west. Trolley lines brought other Knoxvillians – many from nearby Lincoln Park and Oakwood subdivisions – to the grocery, drug and hardware stores, movie theater and other venues in Happy Holler. The name “Happy Holler” came from both its low-lying topography and its popularity during Prohibition, well known for its bootleggers who operated from back rooms in the district. Despite its notoriety, Happy Holler also became a popular entertainment area. The first suburban movie theater in Knoxville, The Picto, opened at 1205 Central St. in 1916. In 2011, the city of Knoxville celebrated an honorary naming of the section of North Central Street between Pearl and Scott avenues as “Happy Holler.” The community hosts an annual Happy Hollerpalooza street fair.
IN THIS ISSUE Basketball enthusiasm Donnie Tyndall generated so much excitement with his remarkable recruiting roundup, a spur-of-the-moment thing, that basketball is suddenly a summer sport.
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Telling the story of East Knoxville By Alvin Nance Knoxville historian Robert Booker recently published his newest work, a booklet titled “The Story of East Knoxville.” KCDC and Lawler Wood Housing Partners LLC sponsored the printing of the new book as well as a reprint of the booklet Booker wrote in 2008 about the history of Mechanicsville, which includes the HOPE VI project that replaced the aging College Homes development with modern and affordable housing. Understanding the history of the neighborhoods that we serve is imperative for KCDC to be able to improve and transform those communities while respecting their cultural heritage. “The Story of East Knoxville” begins in 1791, by which time the Great Valley of East Tennessee had become known as Knoxville, and runs through present day. From 1856 to 1869, East Knoxville was its own municipality with a mayor and city council. Two additional municipalities, Park City (1907) and Mountain View (1909), also were located in East Knoxville. “People should know their history,” Booker said. “It’s all about people having a sense of pride in their community. “East Knoxville has led the way in a number of ways. It is home
current changes happening in the community and the affordable housing being built by KCDC in Five Points, formerly Park City. “The Story of East Knoxville” includes photos of the Residences at Eastport, a senior housing development that repurposed the historic Eastport Elementary School built in 1932, and of the new single-family homes and duplexes. “KCDC is an organization that helps to rebuild communities,” Booker said. “In rebuilding, it sometimes needs to tell the story of what the communities are all about, as it did when it demolished College Homes in Mechanicsville and established Hope VI. There was a great story to tell of how people lived before they built public housing – how many people didn’t have electricity or running water. I want to tell those stories about how KCDC made a difference.” “The Story of East Knoxville” and “The Story of Mechanicsville,” as well as Booker’s first book, “200 Robert Booker poses with his books. Photo submitted Years of Black Culture in Knoxville,” are available for purchase at the Beck Cultural Exchange to Chilhowee Park, the Safety and the city’s water system origi- Center, 1927 Dandridge Ave., or Building and the Civic Coliseum. nated in East Knoxville. In 1894, by calling 524-8461. All proceeds There are a number of things in the city’s first water tank, which from book sales support the Beck East Knoxville that people can held 500,000 gallons, was erected Cultural Exchange Center’s probe proud of, but sometimes that’s on a high hill where Green Magnet grams and exhibits. Alvin Nance is CEO of Knoxville’s Community Deovershadowed.” Academy is today. The Knoxville Utilities Board The booklet also touches on velopment Corporation.
Hikers plan extended trek for Alzheimer’s By Betsy Pickle
South Knoxvillians Steve Madden and Kim Pieratt love to hike, whether it’s in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or in the nearby Urban Wildnerness. But this weekend, they’re going to find out if they really can get too much of a good thing. Saturday, June 21, has been dubbed The Longest Day by the Alzheimer’s Association. On the summer solstice, people around the world will spend 16 hours ba-
sically doing one activity to show their support for people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers while raising money for research. Madden and Pieratt have chosen hiking in the Smokies for their activity and have done practice hikes of 11 and 10 and a half hours. Others will be doing anything from playing bridge to jogging to knitting. Advocating for Alzheimer’s has become a personal quest for Madden, whose father died of the dis-
ease last December. “The reason I got so motivated to try to do something … is I saw how it affected my stepmother,” says Madden, who works for the Auto Club Group. “Dad lived at home until the last two weeks of his life, and she was basically his 24-hour-a-day caregiver. She got to the point where she could hardly sleep a wink, she was so afraid of what he was going to do in the middle of the night. He would walk out of the house sometimes; we wouldn’t know where he went. We’d find him a few hours later wandering around the neighborhood. What she went through was kind of like torture.” The figures are ominous. Ac-
cording to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 5 million Americans are living with the disease, including 110,000 in Tennessee, with up to 16 million expected to be affected by 2050. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and there is no known treatment to prevent it or cure it. The financial toll is sobering, with family members – primarily females – providing billions of hours of unpaid care. Madden got involved after his father contracted Alzheimer’s, and he enlisted Pieratt, a friend and ministry assistant at First Baptist To page 3
Burchett gears up consolidated government push By Betty Bean Supporters of combining city and county governments tried and failed to get it done in 1959, 1978 and 1983 before launching a high-dollar, go-forbroke 1996 attempt that ended as the most embarrassing Tim Burchett failure of all. Tommy Schumpert, then county mayor and a unification supporter, predicted it would be 15 or 20 years before anybody tried it again, if ever. And he figured it might take some kind of crisis to trigger such an attempt. Eighteen years later, after multiple county scandals – from a series of term limits and sunshinelaw violations that led to “Black Wednesday,” to the indictments of two consecutive elected trustees – a new unification movement is emerging, this time from a different direction than the usual busi-
ness elites who have been met with suspicion by county residents. Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett sees benefits from unification and seems determined to avoid the failures of the past. The popular Republican is running unopposed for reelection and appears ready to make unified government the “big idea” of his second term. He’s been dropping public hints and engaging in oneon-one discussions about it for months. “Just don’t call it metro,” he said, drawing a distinction between his plan and Metro Nashville, which combined its city and county governments in 1963. It’s governed by a 40-member metro council. The top cop is appointed, and the elected sheriff is a glorified jailor. Burchett wants to blunt the opposition of city employees, who fought the 1996 referendum. He calls the Knoxville Fire Department “one of the best in the country.” He strongly supports keeping
the elected sheriff as the top cop. But his biggest talking point is saving money. He cites duplication in parks and recreation, human resources and tax collection among others. He doesn’t foresee wholesale firings and thinks city and county staffs could be combined and trimmed through attrition and retirements. He works well with city Mayor Madeline Rogero, whose chief policy officer, Bill Lyons, said Rogero will gladly talk about unification. “We are always interested in finding ways to deliver quality service at a lower cost. However, Mayor Rogero has not yet had discussions with Mayor Burchett on this matter.” The animosity between Sheriff Tim Hutchison, who opposed unification, and Mayor Victor Ashe, who supported it, proved insurmountable in 1996. Neither holds office today, and Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones is a former KPD employee who has populated his command staff with KPD retirees.
Lyons, a consultant and pollster in the failed 1996 unification attempt, says combining the two governments won’t be easy, despite a friendlier political climate. He’s not sure what happened before, but “we do know that it has never won outside the city.” Ashe said it could be even harder to sell unification to city voters this time around. “Even though Tim and Madeline appear to get along, they are totally opposite on almost everything. … Why would (city residents) vote to have a less progressive government that won’t ever vote to raise taxes?” Burchett is undeterred. “We’ve got to get the discussion started,” he said. “It’s not something you just say and it happens. You have to have a lot of community input. If the community decides it wants to continue with duplication of services, then, we’ll stay on this road. But if they realize there’s a problem, this might resolve it.”
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