Weekend Rains Roil First Creek

February 17, 2003

First of all, did you know that there is a park and a greenway in Old North Knoxville?  First Creek Greenway wends its way through the part of Old North Knoxville in the Grainger Avenue area. You can get on the greenway from several points, including Grainger Avenue and Glenwood Avenue and take a wonderful stroll through part of Old North Knoxville that you might not have thought was there.  Both the park and greenway are open until dusk.  

Seeing how we received five inches of rain over the weekend, we thought that we would provide these dramatic photos taken by David Booker showing the flooding in Old North Knoxville's First Creek Park.  David braved the elements this past weekend to capture these remarkable images!  Click on the color pictures to see larger pictures. For comparison, the photo at the beginning of this article shows the park during calmer times.

For most of the last half of the twentieth century, the strip of uninhabited flood land along First Creek in the Fourth and Gill and Old North Knoxville neighborhoods was an unsightly dumping spot and an eyesore.  Starting in 1999, though, it became an urban park with almost a mile of concrete and asphalt walking and biking trail that runs from near Broadway to Glenwood Avenue.

The land for the park was donated by KUB and the Monday Real Estate Co., and easements were granted by several neighbors. Charles Allen Thomas of the Knox Area Greenways Coalition met regularly with neighborhood businesses and residents to promote the greenway. Groups included were the Sixth Avenue Merchants Association and the neighborhood associations of Fourth and Gill, Park Ridge and Old North Knoxville.  

The Isaac Walton League will be sponsoring its annual  clean-up along most of First Creek on the morning of Saturday, April 12th.  Check this website for more information to be announced in the very near future.  

We have a really valuable asset in First Creek Park and it is ours to use for free right here in Old North Knoxville.  If you have not seen or used this park (hopefully during drier times), you are missing a very, very good thing!