South gay street knoxville tn

Gay Street is home to art galleries, historic theaters, the East Tennessee History Center and more – with many buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The street welcomes annual St. Patrick’s Day, Pride, Veterans and Christmas parades and more. Gay Street is a street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, that traverses the heart of the city's downtown area. Since its development in the s, Gay Street has served as the city's principal financial and commercial thoroughfare, and has played a primary role in the city's historical and cultural development.

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This time we have walked a little further south on Gay Street. We've just passed the Knoxville Visitors Center, and we've found ourselves staring at the lovely "Postcard From Knoxville" mural. For a look into the Block of South Gay Street by the railroad on the north end of Gay Street, join us for a Knoxville Weekend video featuring KHP’s Jack Neely and Knoxville Urban Guy, Alan Sims, for an affectionate look back at an old classic – Harold’s Deli.

Gay Street in downtown Knoxville is packed with things to do, catching a show at a historic theater to shopping local, grabbing ice cream, or visiting a museum. Gay Street was the site of the Constitutional Convention that resulted in the founding of the state of Tennessee and was a focal point for the early political activity of both the city and the state of Tennessee.

During the Civil War, Gay Street saw some early violence, a fatal shooting of a Unionist demonstrator, days after the firing on Ft. During the war, the street hosted headquarters of several commanders, including, briefly, Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston and, during the later siege on the now Union-held city, U.

Ambrose Burnside.

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Union Gen. William Sanders died as the result of wounds in the Lamar House on Gay. Several years after the war, former Confederate Gen. James Clanton of Alabama was killed in a gunfight with a former Union officer. After the war, Gay Street saw extensive commercial development as railroad construction brought an industrial boom to Knoxville. By , Gay Street was home to three-fourths of Knoxville's commercial activity. It was the street connected to the first public bridge across the Tennessee River, the first a military bridge established by the Union army.

There followed several other bridges, lost in floods or storms, culminating in the bridge that carries automobile traffic today. Almost all public visitors to Knoxville made an appearance on Gay Street. In , Rutherford B. Hayes gave a speech to a more peaceful crowd at the same location. Debs, and civil-rights activist Frederick Douglass. Andrew Jackson, then most famous for his defeat of the British army in New Orleans two years earlier.

All of them still stand. The skyscraper race commenced again in the late s, when the steel and glass United American Bank building, later known as Plaza Tower, soared above the Andrew Johnson, and Riverview Tower, almost as tall, rose near it. From to , Gay Street was the site of dozens of civil-rights demonstrations, first sit-ins at all-white lunch counters, then demonstrations outside the still-segregated movie theaters.

The demonstrations were all successful without notable violence. An early performance space, ca. It would host orchestral performances, vaudeville, opera festivals, and lectures for decades. It was the first of several theaters that kept Gay Street lit up at night. The street was always the center of vaudeville in Knoxville. By the s, Gay Street supported several movie theaters at once, the largest of which were the Riviera and the more extravagantly decorated Tennessee It drew national attention, and some gibes from humorist Mark Twain.

Because of its preservation and contributions to Knoxville's economic base and vibrant arts scene, the American Planning Association designated Gay Street as one of 10 Great Streets under the organization's Great Places in America program. Several downtown streets have been renamed over the years, but Gay Street retains its original name, perhaps because, from the very beginning, the street has been known as the place where Knoxvillians come for fun and entertainment.

Jack is the Executive Director of the Knoxville History Project , an educational nonprofit whose mission is to research and promote the history of Knoxville. He has written several books about Knoxville and its history, and they can be purchased in various places throughout the city including Union Avenue Books and the Visit Knoxville Gift Shop.