Kingsport: More Brochure Love

I cannot get enough of the graphics and themes of 1940s-1960s marketing brochures. Even the records of the City of Kingsport Planning Commission have not let me down.

First of all, I’d like to thank the twelve of you who read my blog every week. But you must know that on April 2 New Kids on the Block released their new album “10” and it is with some sacrifice that I drag myself away from Twitter and YouTube to write a new blog entry.

Notice the phone number “Circle 6-8184” and the suggestion that “Men, you can provide this home for your wife and two kids.”

In the realtor’s letter to planning commissioner Bob Clear, you see the “circle” prefix abbreviated. The proximity to the above-mentioned Orebank Road means that the development was likely part of the original Pendleton Land Grant.

Today, you would rarely see “two bedroom-one bath” and “dream home” in the same sentence. Some of the lots did allow for a basement, however.

The entrance to Beechcliff Estates, today. A mixture of ranch and mid-century modern architecture.

Two more homes from the original housing tract. By the way, Beechcliff Estates is heavily populated with beech and other trees and the whole tract backs up to a cliff that overlooks Reedy Creek.

Finally, recently I’ve featured the owners of ph# 72 in 1927, Circle 6-8184 in 1962, and now we learn that just 6 years later, Kingsport implemented a standard area code and 3-digit prefix.

Kingsport began using the “423” area code in 1995. That 1968 city motto was a winner, right?

That does it for today’s archiventure, but if you see Jonathan, Donnie, Danny, Jordan, and Joey, please tell them I’m available to be their Music and Memorabilia archivist!