Wed
Jul 13 2011
11:22 am
Knoxville's Wall Street, 1906
By: redmondkr

For some of us a daily visit to Shorpy is a must. Yesterday afternoon this glimpse of 1906 Knoxville appeared on the front page, not a particularly flattering view of my home town.

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Charles's picture

Yes, there's a lot not to be

Submitted by Charles on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 12:35pm.

Yes, there's a lot not to be nostalgic about there. But, just architecturally, is this that much better?

ArtWagner's picture

What I see

Submitted by ArtWagner on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 1:14pm.

What I see in the 1906 photo is a vital, vibrant street life amid lively commerce. Absolutely, Knoxville was dirtier and grimier, perhaps even grim. But it was alive.

Although we have thankfully made great strides today in revitalizing what had fallen into near-death in the 60s due to hideous suburban sprawl, it is a great lesson to see what we once were, dirt and all.

Charles's picture

Yeah, but what you also might

Submitted by Charles on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 1:36pm.

Yeah, but what you also might see are some ugly signs of race issues in that era, which were, of course, not at all unique to Knoxville's Wall Street. See the three shoeless kids standing in horseshit on the right there? You might also see that there are no other kids in the shot, which combined with the hustle and bustle, suggest to me that this was taken in the middle of what, for those kids' white peers, was likely the middle of a school day.

Somebody's picture

There were undeniable race

Submitted by Somebody on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 5:22pm.

There were undeniable race issues in 1906. I will say, though, that those shoeless kids don't appear to be standing in any type of excrement at all. Even poor barefooted kids know better than to stand around in piles of crap. I also note that there are leaves on the trees and plenty of men walking around in their shirtsleeves, so it was probably a temperate, and possibly warm, day, so school could have just been out for the summer. Schools were segregated back then, but black kids could go to school in Knoxville in 1906. Googling around, I was able to find reference to the first segregated high school graduating class in Knoxville in 1888.

Somebody's picture

Not sure what's supposed to

Submitted by Somebody on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 1:39pm.

Not sure what's supposed to be unflattering. There's a little more trash on the ground, but everybody's a heck of a lot better dressed than what you'd see on a typical day now.

bizgrrl's picture

Thanks for the picture. What

Submitted by bizgrrl on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 4:35pm.

Thanks for the picture. What happened to all those nice buildings?

bizgrrl's picture

And, what a nice photograph.

Submitted by bizgrrl on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 4:38pm.

And, what a nice photograph. Who is the photographer?

redmondkr's picture

Shorpy has many many old

Submitted by redmondkr on Wed, 2011/07/13 - 4:55pm.

Shorpy has many many old photos, most with no photographer credits. The reason I considered this one a less than flattering view of Knoxville is the dirty street. Of all the street scenes available at the site, most cities display less trash on the streets. Of course it is possible that most of the others were cleaned just for the occasion of the photograph.

And those children? It's more surprising that they are not somewhere working in a sweat shop. The Shorpy site is named for Shorpy Higginbotham, a greaser on the tipple at Bessie Mine in Alabama.

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