Knoxville Lost and Found

In an effort to provide something interesting between substantive blog posts, I've decided to start adding a "then and now" feature. These posts will focus on familiar landscapes in Knoxville that have undergone significant change over the decades. First up, I offer the intersection of Broadway and Jackson Ave. 1920's   2012   Let's go left to right and count some differences:   1) The Knoxville Gas Company building is no longer there. 2) The Broadway viaduct now hides the train tracks below. 3) The AT&T building now completes the background. 4) The Southern Glass building now shores up the steep hill on the corner. 5) The Crane Co. building was long ago painted over with a Philco sign, probably the way most Knoxvillians know it. 6) If you could see through the Southern Glass building, every one of the tall buildings in the background of the 1920's picture is gone. 7) The Corner BP now occupies what was once the front yard of

Don't go looking for this spot. Why not? Well, because there is nothing to be found. The entire street, save for a block or so, is gone. What was once an area integrated into the northern fringe of downtown Knoxville is just completely gone. "What happened?", you may ask. The interstate happened and its arrival erased a large swath of the city from the map. Normally, I write about parking lots. This time around I don't even have a parking lot to share. Welcome back folks. It has been a while since our last foray into Knoxville's lost spaces, so let's pop open a beer and get started. Beer may not be the first thing that pops into one's mind when thinking of products made in Knoxville. There was a time when Knoxville was known triumphantly as "The Underwear Capital of the World." Now there's a slogan Visit Knoxville needs to trot out every now and again. Knoxville was also famous for its marble production and earned the nickname "Marble