by Ron Allen
____________________________________________
This concerns the single downtown block of Main Avenue between Gay Street and Prince (now Market) Street. I have listed here some of the businesses and buildings that were located in this block of downtown Knoxville in earlier times. This not intended to be a complete list of such places, but simply a representative sample.
Usually, the only way to determine names and locations of businesses, lawyers, hotels and other places that were located anywhere in the downtown area before the first city directory was issued in 1859 is a rather time-consuming and difficult task. In fact, it's sometimes a hit and miss proposition, when sometimes information is found through luck. Even the early Knoxville city directories often provide little help, since in those times usually no street numbers were shown for downtown locations. The names and locations of these places in earlier years are generally available only through newspaper advertisements, and the information concerning the locations of the majority of the places listed here during the period before 1859 have been identified by searching through those records.
Before 1859, the following are known to have been located in the block of Main between Gay and Market, although in at least one instance I have fudged a bit by including a couple of businesses that were actually located at the southwest corner of Main and Prince, but since those were on the opposite corner I figured that was close enough for my purposes. I have notes and references concerning a number of other businesses that MAY have been in this block at one time, but advertisements for those places mention only that they were on Main Avenue, and with no additional specific information available those have not been included here :
D. P. Armstrong, General Store, South side Main, nearly opposite the Court House, 1835-1837 (successors to Armstrong and Gaines)
Armstrong and Gaines, Attorneys, South side Main, opposite the Court House, 1834
J. D. Gibson and E. F. Sevier Company General Store, Main Street near Mansion House 1851
Jacobs and Temple, Dry Goods, corner Main and Gay, 1849
McClung and Wallace, Dry Goods and General store, Southwest corner Main and Gay 1849
Mansion House hotel, opposite Court House, north side Main, 1839 - 1842 (earlier this had been Mynatt's Hotel)
Mynatt's Hotel, opposite Court House, north side Main, 1837
J. C. Ristine, Coach and Harness Mfg., Main Street, opposite Mansion House, 1851
E. F. Sevier, Dry Goods, Two doors from the Mansion House on Main 1852
John G. Whitson, Attorney, " Lawyer's Row, rear Court House", 1848 - 1859
Ethelred Williams, General Store, "Nearly opposite the Court House", 1827
In 1859, and 1869, the following were located in the block of Main Avenue between Gay street and Prince (Market) street, according to the city's first two directories, published in those years :
C. M. Alexander, Attorney, south side Main between Gay and Prince
Barnes and Crawford, Carriage Makers, "One door west of the Court House", Main Street. 1869
Hiram Barry, Printer, Southwest corner Main at Prince (Market) 1869
C. W. Charlton, Postmaster and Commission Merchant, Main, between Gay and Prince
L J. and C. W. Coker, Livery Stable, southwest corner Prince and Main
Charles Haag Boarding House, South side Main, between Gay and Prince
William A. Henderson, Attorney, North side Main, between Gay and Prince
William Joy, Saloon, corner Main and Prince
R. M. McPherson, Wholesale Grocer, North side Main between Gay and Prince
Morine and Brothers, Painters, Northeast corner Main and Prince
P. L. Mynatt, North side Main between Gay and Prince, "Lawyer's Row"
Page, McGlohon and Co. Boots and Shoes, South side Main between Gay and Prince
Sneed and Cocke, Attorneys, North side Main between Gay and Prince
Joseph Stout, Bakery, North side Main between Gay and Prince
The new Court House was built on the south side of Main in 1885, opposite the site of the original Court House. That building is of course still standing today, thus no businesses or any other structures have been located on that side of this block since that year. For that matter, it seems that no businesses were located on the north side of the block for most of the remainder of the nineteenth century. The Business Listings in the 1886 city directory show no buildings or businesses of any kind on the north side of Main between Gay and Prince.
A photograph at the Library of Congress reveals that around the turn of the twentieth century all of the buildings on this side of the block, and most of the structures located on the west side of Gay between Main and Cumberland, other than the Lamer House, had been demolished.
_______________________________________