Written by Ethiel Garlington
Hitting the road for preservation.
Knox Heritage and the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance (ETPA) invited a group of individuals personally invested in preservation to travel outside of Knox County to meet with the community leaders of four smaller East Tennessee towns. The group assembled by Knox Heritage and ETPA included two developers, one architect/developer, one commercial realtor, Knoxville’s Chief Building Inspector, and two Knox Heritage staffers. Also riding along for the majority of the day was the historic preservation planner for the East Tennessee Development District. We rented a small bus to transport our assembled team out of Knoxville’s city limits and into “the field.”
Each of the four towns on our tour has its own unique charm, potential, and obstacles, and we hoped to create a custom dialogue for each community with our team of preservation and development experts. Our invited guests brought their individual experiences to the table and were able to contribute to the conversation by sharing the challenges and successes they’ve encountered with preservation projects.
The day began with a stop in Jefferson City, Tennessee - population 8,057. This outlying town possesses a small historic district that straddles an active railroad track. We were greeted by 10 community leaders eager to ask questions about downtown revitalization. Their historic downtown consists of early 20th century commercial buildings, typically 2-3 stories high, that are mostly empty and in need of repair.
Last year, Jefferson City was selected to participate in the new Tennessee Downtowns program. Created by the Tennessee Main Street office, Tennessee Downtowns is a mentoring program that provides guidance and a small grant to help kick start revitalization efforts in towns that are not ready for the full Main Street regiment. After meeting with Jefferson City’s downtown property owners, the mayor, representatives from Carson-Newman College (a small liberal arts school conveniently located mere blocks from town), and members of their Tennessee Downtowns task force, we toured Jefferson City. Led by “Downtown Brown,” a downtown property owner, the tour was a quick overview of available historic properties.
Morristown, Tennessee
Next on the tour was Morristown, which is larger (population 26,616) and has substantially more activity downtown. We lunched with the Main Street director, city and county mayors, and local developers at a downtown eatery and discussed their ongoing efforts to maintain a viable historic core. Morristown, like most historic commercial centers, modified their district in the 1960s to stay competitive with burgeoning indoor malls. Morristown’s solution was to install elevated sidewalks over their existing sidewalks to double the number of available storefronts. The theory was that new businesses would open along the second story of each historic building, and could be accessed by the catwalk-like concrete sidewalks.
It’s been almost 50 years, and despite the continued upkeep of the elevated sidewalks, the second story storefronts have never thrived. However, new beautification efforts are being implemented by Morristown’s Main Street program, and include fresh paint, hanging flower baskets, and additional repairs. Our team from Knoxville was sharply divided over the sidewalks, but all agreed downtown Morristown had managed to remain relevant.
We traveled from Morristown along a newly designated National Scenic Byway to reach our third stop on the tour. Newport is a beautiful Appalachian town in Cocke County that sits just off of Interstate 40 and is a short drive to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (the most visited National Park in the country). Our hosts welcomed us with coffee and brownies at the East Tennessee Coffee Company. Again, we were greeted by the city and county mayors and numerous local officials enthusiastic to speak with us about their work in Newport, which includes plans for a new river walk, redeveloping the historic train station, and finding a way to alleviate some of the traffic congestion downtown. We toured the downtown area and stepped inside the circa 1923 Mims Hotel, one of their premier preservation projects, that now serves as an assisted living facility.
Dandridge, Tennessee
Then we were back on the bus for our final stop of the day, Dandridge, which is one of Tennessee’s oldest towns, and the oldest Main Street program in our service region. Despite the community’s success with their historic resources, there is a derelict 1920s school overlooking downtown and Douglas Lake. The old school is ripe for redevelopment, but has not been maintained in 20+ years. Water damage from the roof has compromised the walls and floors, and while the property owner is willing to sell the school, many of our developers felt the asking price was overinflated.
While traveling between stops on the tour, our Knoxville contingent caught up on projects closer to home. This was another one of our goals for the day, to encourage conversations among local developers, architects, and realtors. We at Knox Heritage and ETPA feel these conversations help to strengthen the relationships that are necessary for successful preservation redevelopment. After all, how often do these guys take a day from their busy schedules to spend an entire day together rambling around East Tennessee?
At the end of the day, on the 50-minute drive from Dandridge to downtown Knoxville, our group had some spirited discussions about what we’d seen. All were impressed (and somewhat surprised) with the historic resources of each of the four towns, as well as the demonstrated enthusiasm by local leaders to continue pursuing preservation projects. Plans are already in the works for “Developers Roadshow No. 2.” Lucky for us, East Tennessee is brimming with idyllic small towns ripe for revitalization and preservationists that are eager to see the region thrive.
Check out pictures of the day at the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance Facebook page.
Watch a news story about the Developers Roadshow featuring Knox Heritage Executive Director, Kim Trent, and Dandridge:
Ethiel Garlington is the director of preservation field services for Knox Heritage with support from the Partners in the Field grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
