Fri
Jun 29 2007
08:59 am

Renaming a part of Magnolia has caused some concern for organizations and business' located there.

As reported by J.J. Stambaugh at the KNS.
(link...)

"MPC Executive Director Mark Donaldson explained that city street names should be "based on the principle of simple and logical." There's nothing logical, he said, about allowing the stretch of Magnolia to keep its name when it will no longer flow continuously from Broadway through East Knoxville because of the massive Interstate 40 widening project downtown.

But Sylvia Woods, who runs the AFL-CIO Labor Council at the intersection of Magnolia and Morgan Street along with her husband, Harold, said it seemed as though MPC was mainly interested in naming a street after the well-known Regas family of restaurateurs.

Street names are more than monikers. For many people they represent important memories. They offer a nostalgic continuity with the past. Also. to anyone who needs to do reasearch about a city or town, name changes can cause problems when looking through indexes.

The Regas Avenue name somehow doesn't seem to fit the area either. What is their link to that area?

Magnolia Avenue connotates many different things for Knoxvilians, but for many people who have lived or worked along its wide stretches it has always been an important throughfare. Disconnecting Magnolia from downtown seems kind of shoddy. As if the street weren't good enough to go straight into the heart of the city. Unless there's a darn good reason for changing it, the name Magnolia should be retained.

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R. Neal's picture

Magnolia will always mean

Magnolia will always mean two things to me: Pizza Palace and Chilhowee Park.

Many fond childhood memories of Chilhowee Park, and Pizza Palace is still a favorite.

Gone but not forgotten are the Tic Toc and the movie theater, I think it was the Park Theater? (OK, so not forgotten but a little hazy).

They ought to leave it alone.

lotta's picture

territorial marker

it's not enough to be developer friendly - we've got to give a shout out and make SURE everyone knows who runs this berg.

Rachel's picture

Yes, it was the Park

Yes, it was the Park Theater. Where I first saw Gone With the Wind when I was 15 or so (not in 1939, folks). My grandmother took me and embarrased the hell out of me by bawling loudly all through Melanie's death scene.

As for the street, what the heck is wrong with Old Magnolia? I do NOT like this trend of naming streets after business/local power players.

BTW, didya know the Kerbala Temple has requested that the street they face (Mimosa) be re-named Kerbela Temple Drive? They made the claim that there were only two other addresses on that street (actually there's a whole block of houses). The left bank was pretty uniformly opposed to that one, and I think it's dead.

edens's picture

>The Regas Avenue name

>The Regas Avenue name somehow doesn't seem to fit the area >either. What is their link to that area?

You're kidding, right? There's been a Regas Restaurant (originally the Regas Bros. Cafe, I believe)on the corner of Gay and Magnolia since 1919.

Personally, I'm not all that crazy about the name change. But, then, Magnolia was originally Park Avenue...

bizgrrl's picture

You're kidding, right?

You're kidding, right? There's been a Regas Restaurant (originally the Regas Bros. Cafe, I believe)on the corner of Gay and Magnolia since 1919.

My sentiments exactly. I also do not think the street name needs to be changed but this is not a good argument. In addition, Magnolia Avenue area from town to at least just past Pellissippi campus (old Catholic High School) is nothing like it used to be in 1966 or earlier. Things do change.

CathyMcCaughan's picture

If they're going to do this,

If they're going to do this, they may as well rename ALL the downtown streets after Knoxville's power players. Farragut will follow suit with street names going to the highest bidders.

edens's picture

FYI, Park Avenue was renamed

FYI, Park Avenue was renamed Magnolia by Knoxville Mayor Bryan Branner, in honor of his mother Magnolia (what is it about Knoxville Mayors and their moms?)

The Branner Mansion, btw, stood where Catholic/Pellissippi does now (for a time, the school held classes in the old house).

Carole Borges's picture

Gay Street?

Now there's a name that's loaded with inferences! Personally when my out of town friends are shocked to see any city retain a name like that, I love to boast about how sexually secure our men are here. Who the heck was Gay anyway? And who really cares unless he was the first homesteader to live on that street.

Naming streets after people is nice, but I prefer more poetic names for important streets. Usually, no one remembers who John Stillmore or Beth Allen were a few years after they are gone.

SnM's picture

Still Magnolias

This was discussed briefly over on knoxblab when the article came out a few weeks ago. My suggestion was to just call it "West Magnolia" or something similar.

And you missed the best part of the article:

City Councilman Joe Bailey, who heads the city's Public Property Naming Committee, wanted to know who first requested the name change. He said it had been his understanding that E-911 officials sought it for safety reasons but he later was told that changing the name wouldn't affect public safety.

Donaldson said that an E-911 official had originally co-signed the request along with MPC staff members as part of an 18-year tradition in which the agencies automatically supported each other's recommendations.

But that "18-year relationship has ended" because of the concerns expressed over the Magnolia moniker issue, he said.

Public Property Naming Committee?

Understood it was to be changed for safety reasons but later was told safety wouldn't be affected?

An 18-year tradition of agencies automatically supporting each other?

But that marriage broke up over Magnolia?

My sakes, the drama.

Ennui's picture

Don't change it.

Don't change it.

CathyMcCaughan's picture

Look! Something shiny!

Look! Something shiny!

edens's picture

Jack would know more than I

Jack would know more than I do, but I recall the origins of Gay Street's name being something of a mystery. The possible inspiration may be Gay Street in downtown Baltimore (predating Knoxville's by a few years it runs inland from the inner harbor). There's also a Gay Street in Manhattan - Greenwich Village, no less (its name dates to the 1830s, so stop snickering...)

Bbeanster's picture

The Baltimore connection is

The Baltimore connection is what gave Gay Street its name.

And Regas is a North Gay Street restaurant, with little real connection to Magnolia except a parking lot exit. Magnolia's name change didn't happen within human memory, so I don't think that's a good enough excuse for the change.

We've already forgiven the Regases their Riverside Tavern rent. How much more do we owe them for running city politicos favorite happy hour bar?

edens's picture

>Regas is a North Gay Street

>Regas is a North Gay Street restaurant, with little real >connection to Magnolia except a parking lot exit.

I'll give you that today, but for much of its existence the restaurant occupied the gay/magnolia corner of the old Watauga Hotel's ground floor (I can scan the photo, if you're interested...) Btw, anybody know when the Hotel Atkin was torn down - sometime in the mid late sixties, I believe? Stood where Regas' parking lot is today.

Once again, not to crazy about the name change, either.

Socialist With A Gold Card's picture

Downtown street names

The Baltimore connection is what gave Gay Street its name.

This is the way I've always heard it:

In the late 1780's or early 1790's, someone (either William Blount or Colonel F.A. Ramsey) was charged with laying out the streets of downtown Knoxville. He (either Blount or Ramsey) hired a family friend to do the job, a man from Baltimore named James Gettys. Gettys laid out the street grid, naming most of the streets after those in his native Baltimore.

After laying out the grid for Knoxville, Gettys moved back north and later founded the town of Gettysburg, PA.

Colonel Ramsey named one of his sons James Gettys McGready Ramsey; JGM Ramsey was a noted historian who wrote the first significant history of Tennessee.

--Socialist With A Gold Card


"I'm a socialist with a gold card. I firmly believe we need a revolution; I'm just concerned that I won't be able to get good moisturizer afterwards." -- Brett Butler

Stan G's picture

"MPC Executive Director Mark

"MPC Executive Director Mark Donaldson explained that city street names should be "based on the principle of simple and logical." There's nothing logical, he said, about allowing the stretch of Magnolia to keep its name when it will no longer flow continuously from Broadway through East Knoxville because of the massive Interstate 40 widening project downtown."

Actually, IMO there is nothing logical about that statement.

Certainly, for those of us who have lived here for a while the Regas name in part and parcel of the intersection of Gay and Magnolia. My past partner had a friend whose only Knoxville landmark was the Regas Restaurant. It didn't make any difference had far out of the way she had to travel all directions had to start at the Regas.

That said, Regas in not the only business closely associated with that section of Magnolia Ave. Certainly, Old Magnolia would be more logical, e.g. Old Broadway, Old Kingston Pike, and would retain the history of the area.

The one good thing about being pessimistic is - at least it shows you understand the situation. -- Unknown

Ennui's picture

The renaming of streets got

The renaming of streets got really silly during Victor's last term. "Support Our Troops" and "Historic Preservation" as street names? Laudable sentiments, rotten looking signage.

SnM's picture

Old Magnolia

Stan's got a good idea there.

Re: "rotten looking signage." Not just that. "Historic Preservation Drive" as the designation for the concrete canyon erected on the graveyard of a once-thriving community may be the most irony-impaired street name ever.

Rachel's picture

"Historic Preservation

"Historic Preservation Drive" as the designation for the concrete canyon erected on the graveyard of a once-thriving community may be the most irony-impaired street name ever.

As I have said many times, although not as well as SnM says it.

littlelulu21's picture

Leave Magnolia Avenue alone!!

It is correct that Magnolia Avenue was once named Park Avenue. It traveled from Broadway to Prosser Road in those days. When Brian Branner was sworn in as Mayor of Park City he renamed the street after his mother Magnolia Branner. (There is some interesting history about why he chose to do that but this is not the time to discuss it.)

The reason it was originally called Park Avenue was because it led to Chilhowee Park. At that time Chilhowee Park was the place where almost all large local events were held. In fact, the first of three international expositions would take place at Chilhowee Park...the first in 1910. Did you know that the Park City hosted the Applachian Exposition 72 years before Knoxville hosted its first Worlds Fair in 1982?

On May 1, 1890 the first electric steetcar ran from Gay Street,turned right onto Magnolia and on to Chilhowee Park. A large gathering waz held on the beautiful grounds surrounding Lake Ottoxee to celebrate the establishment of a streetcar route deep into Park City. The street car route greatly improved the outlook for future development in the area and soon (1907) a lovely little city became incorporated....it was known as Park City and still is by us old timers! I say leave the name alone. I appreciate the contributions the Regas family has made over the years to Knoxville but this is going a bit too far.

The Regas family lived on Linden Avenue for years and were well respected in our community....they were proud to say they were from Park City! I doubt if they would have any objection to leaving the name Magnolia Avenue as it is. Why do we need a name change for such a historic Avenue? Whose bright idea was this, anyhow? It seems to me that Park City has given up enough of its idenity without having to give up the name of its main street....even if they only want to rename a small section of it. Regas has entrances on Depot Street and Gay Street....if they want to rename a street let it be one of those rather than Magnolia Avenue.

The residents of Park City shouldn't stand by and let this happen. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Park City there is a book available locally and online called Park City by Becky French Brewer and Doug McDaniel. Park City is the best kept secret in the city....a real treasure...often neglected but never defeated. The best real estate deals in town can be found in Park City. Leave Magnolia Avenue alone and let Park City prosper once more. Residents of Park City used to be able to drive a straight shot to Regas before they cut Magnolia off with the new Hall of Fame Blvd.. Haven't they done enough damage without renameing one of our most historic streets?

Nelle's picture

Thanks for the history lesson

... but no one's talking about re-naming all of Magnolia.

Rather, the city/MPC are considering a new name for the portion of Magnolia on the west side of Hall of Fame that no longer links up with the rest of the street.

Personally, I don't care whether they call it Regas or Old Magnolia or Late for Dinner, but I think it should be called something other than Magnolia because having 2 Magnolias would be confusing.

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