PLEASE CLICK ON THE PHOTOS BELOW TO ENLARGE THEM.
THE HISTORIC ALBUM IS IN THE PHOTO GALLERY UNDER: "THE ARCHIVES FOR RIVERVIEW."
Current and former residents of the Riverview Apartments in Kingsport came home to have historic pictures made, on what may be the last time many of them see the apartments.
In just a few short weeks, the Riverview Apartments will be torn down to make way for the $11.9 million dollar HOPE VI Revitilization that will replace the four blocks of apartments with free-standing, single and multi-family homes.
A few tears were shed, as residents gazed upon the particular apartment they called home for many years and remembered the closeness. So many of our friends and neighbors raised generations of children that played in the fountain that used to be in the center of the complex.. studied and read grade school books at the historic George Washington Carver Library.. ate lunch at the nearby Edge's Place.. sipped sodas at the Taylor Confectionary.. heard a rousing "Good Morning" every school day from Mr. Releford sitting on the front porch of Apartment #81, the apartment closest to Douglass School.. learned to swim in the Riverview Pool.. played "Cowboys and Indians" on Clay Hill, Riverview's First Unofficial Playground.. and then graduated to their life's calling at the nearby Douglass School.
Even on this day, folks were gathering together, catching up on the neighborhood news. It was almost like the days of old, when you could walk up and down the streets or the alleys, see a loved friend or neighbor, and stop to talk about something or someone. It was a blessing indeed, to hear folks talking, chatting, just having a good time with loved ones. And as always, a careful eye out for the young ones scurrying around.
THIS PHOTO FROM THE HELEN BUNTING COLLECTION: CARVER LIBRARY DEDICATION
Imagine what it must have been like, when the apartments were new.
1940.. 1946.. 1951.. 1958..
You're living in a faraway city, and your father gets a call from his brother, his uncle, his cousin, who are working at Tennessee Eastman..
He says, "man, you've got to come to Kingsport, there's jobs here. You KNOW you can stay with us until you find a place."
Your family moves to Kingsport, Daddy gets on at Eastman, and starts looking around for a place to live.
THIS PHOTO FROM THE HELEN BUNTING COLLECTION: "The Children of Riverview"
The Riverview Apartments.. they must have seemed like condominiums back then.
Everybody called them "projects" back then, because the government built them and others as work "projects" for the Works Progress Administration, later the Works Projects Administration. Seems like that name stuck with them forever.
But because of the close friendships, close family ties, and close neighbor relations, all bound together by love, these were never "projects" in a derogatory sense of the word. These homes became part of our Kingsport heritage, THE PART THAT BINDS US ALL TOGETHER AS FAMILY!
We will never forget the Riverview Apartments.. they stood for a new beginning for most of the families who lived there. We should be proud of the heritage they stood for, for we all had a part in them.
KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER CLIFFORD JEFFERY TAKING MRS. MAMIE GILLENWATER'S PICTURE IN FRONT OF HER RIVERVIEW APARTMENT
In the PHOTO GALLERY is a special album of many of your friends and neighbors who came home before the apartments are torn down.. they came to reminisce, to walk the same paths they walked many short years ago, and most of all, to remember those friendships, bourne of the coincidence of just being neighbors.
If you missed getting your keepsake picture made over Thanksgiving and would like to have your picture included in the special album, please have one taken of you and your family standing in front of your apartment, and please send that to: csneed@newschannel9.com If you don't have email, call Calvin at (423) 421-7784 or Johnnie Mae Swaggerty at (423) 246-6623, and we can arrange to have one made of you to include in the on-going album.
DION "DINKY" RUSSELL WELCOMING FOLKS BACK HOME!
This is a special album, that honors the memory of the relationships, the fun, and the closeness the Historic Riverview Apartments inspired in the residents and former residents of our community. The apartments may be gone soon, but the friendships they spawned, will live on in the history of our community forever.
If you want to include relatives, either still with us or deceased, that you want to include in the apartments, please email that information to me at: csneed@newschannel9.com (copy and paste this email address), and I will include it. Also, if there is a correction, get that to me, too. This album is an on-going work and items can be added to it, so please check back with it often.
Also, if you'd like to include your picture standing in front of your apartment, please take one and email that to me, too. There is a time deadline, though.. I'm told, the Historic Riverview Apartments will be gone within the next eight weeks, and for the next year or so, the four acres where they used to sit, will be nothing but an open field until the new housing is built. Please get your picture in front of your apartment to me ASAP, or call Johnnie Mae and we'll schedule one to take with you pronto, in the next eight weeks.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS!
PLEASE VISIT THIS HISTORIC ALBUM IN THE PHOTO GALLERY: "The Archives For Riverview."
