About Kingsport

Situated in the Northeast corner of Tennessee and privileged to possess one of the richest historic grounds in America, Kingsport is an exceptional treasure among surrounding treasures. Prior to being in Tennessee, the area previously known as King's Port was part of four different Virginia counties and one North Carolina county.

In the mid-18th century as the eastern states began to seem crowded, adventurous men looking to move further west discovered this place. Daniel Boone and his axemen left an area known as the Boatyard District and Long Island on the Holston River and marked a trail through Cumberland Gap for the pioneers who were to follow. Four years later two expeditions left "Long Island," to travel west by water.

In the late 18th century, this was America's frontier, and a bustling center of activity and enterprise. It was the first stop on the western migration, and the patterns set by its settlers became the framework for what historians call "the American Experience." Therefore, King's Port was an area where many pioneers gathered to decide if they were going west by land or water and consequently, it became an important shipping point on the Holston River. During this period, King's Port was also the source of relaxation for three American presidents, and was frequently visited by frontiersmen like Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone.

After the construction of the railroad bypassed King's Port in the mid-1800's, travel through the area declined. Then early in the 20th
century, businessmen who needed to market area products including the Appalachian coalfields, proceeded with another plan for a railroad. This vision and implementation opened the way for industry and commerce, heralding a new age of growth because of the river access and the completion of the Clinchfield railroad in 1915. The city fathers commissioned Dr. John Nolen to develop America's first "Model City" and Kingsport was chartered in 1917. Its design was executed, placing residential neighborhoods and the famous church circle on high ground, industry along the river, and a commercial district with row houses in between. Kingsport seems to have been the first municipality in Tennessee to be established under a city manager-board of mayor and alderman government.

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Officially charterd in 1917, Kingsport received its name from an early boat yard known as William King's port.