Knoxville

From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this "golden age" can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of local children only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in America's history. This fascinating new history of Knoxville, Tennessee, showcases more than two hundred of the best vintage postcards available.

"In this new edition, Wheeler argues that, like Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (1925), Knoxvillians have fabricated for themselves a false history, portraying themselves and their city as the almost impotent victims of historical forces that they could neither alter nor control. The result of this myth, Wheeler says, is a collective mentality of near-helplessness against the powerful forces of isolation, poverty, and even change itself. But Knoxville's past is far more complicated than that, for the city contained abundant material goods and human talent that could have been used to propel Knoxville into the ranks of the premier cities of the New South - if those assets had not slipped through the fingers of both the leaders and the populace.

Knoxville, Tennessee, is a haunted city. Ghosts roam its streets, its old theaters, its graveyards, even the caverns that snake beneath its byways. Knoxville is also a city beset by mysterious beasts—from enigmatic monster cats to big hairy creatures that are said to roam the town by night. Knoxville is a city of legends. There are persistent rumors of an “Old Knoxville” buried beneath the present city, and there is a famous downtown cemetery where there are gravestones, but no bodies. With a firm eye to history, Price tells his chilling stories with perception and good humor—all of which add up to a book that can be read and reread for years to come.

Though it began as a small fort on the Tennessee River, Knoxville would not know obscurity for long. Founded in 1791, Knoxville became the capital of the new state of Tennessee five years later and rapidly became a major metropolitan area for the southeastern United States. Exportations of raw and natural goods brought wealth and new residents, and soon its main thoroughfare became a window into the growth, development, decline, and rebirth of an all-American city. Then, as now, all roads downtown lead to Gay Street, and everything Knoxville came from it. Though Knoxville is a decidedly Southern city, it has also taken its place within the American melting pot. Swiss, English, Dutch, Irish, German, Greek, African, and Spanish families have all played major roles in the city's development. For many years, at one small popcorn stand on Gay Street stood Gary Crowder-the meticulous owner of the amazing collection of photographs predominantly featured in Images of America: Knoxville.

Discover the fascinating stories of Knoxville's eateries as author and historian Paula Johnson dives back in time through the stories of the city's great restaurants. Over the past 225 years, Knoxville dining has come full circle - from early taverns and saloons to upscale continental cuisine and back to the roots of local eating experiences. Greek immigrants Frank and George Regas founded the legendary Regas Restaurant, which operated for 90 years, spreading culinary influence throughout the entire city. Early country music stars frequented Harold's Deli while visiting the city to perform on Tennessee's first live radio shows. Guests from around the world sat 266 feet in the air at the Sunsphere Restaurant, a fine dining establishment run by the Hardee's Corporation during Knoxville's World's Fair.

South Knoxville is an area of Knoxville located just south of the Tennessee River. Although a small subsection of the city, Knoxville owes much of its current success to this little community that was once the home of a bustling marble and lumber industry. As the origin of such landmarks as Ijams Nature Center, Fort Dickerson, Fort Higley, Fort Stanley, and the Gov. John Sevier Home, South Knoxville also now is host to a thriving arts and trade district.