Think You Know Your Neighborhood?
|
|
Editor’s Note: Chester Kilgore is a native Knoxvillian who is also a long time resident of ONK. He has been recovering from surgery lately which, while it has denied him the ability to get out and participate in neighborhood functions, has given him the time to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of what and where ONK is. By Chester Kilgore Back in 1989 or 1990. ONK and the former Brownlow Community joined (merged) and all became ONK. The area involved which was added into the boundaries of ONK by the addition of the former Brownlow Community is formed by Broadway on the west, Glenwood Avenue on the south, Sixth Avenue on the east and Cecil Avenue on the north. This was prior to any of the H-1 overlay area now in ONK. When the H-1 was being drawn, only PARTS of the ONK area west of Broadway (the triangle part of ONK) were included in the H-1, as the whole area could not get enough support for being included in it. The same thing happened in the Brownlow part of ONK which was formerly the Brownlow community, and it ended up, the only parts of that section which were included in the H-1 were two blocks of Grainger and two blocks of Leonard Place. Just as not being included in the H-1 does not exclude a part of the triangle area of ONK as being within the ONK boundary, neither does it exclude the areas of the former Brownlow Community which are not within the H-1 designation. I was there at the time Brownlow and ONK joined (as president of Brownlow at the time), and I was there working also on the H-1 designation and guidelines and, along with several others from that dim past ago working to take our case to MPC and Council and working with all the neighbors on both sides of Broadway, getting signatures, talking up the benefits of H-1 and giving explanations to people in all parts of ONK (including the Brownlow portion). Some of you are too new to the neighborhood to have been here in those exciting times when we first became what and where we are today, and some of you did not participate at that time due to not getting along with the elected officers in the ONK organization at that time. Whatever the reasons of others, I participated then and I participate now whenever and however I can. It seems that right now about all I can do is act as a sort of historian on our recent past as it relates to our getting to our status and areas as we now have it. It is my hope that this will once and for all clarify our geographic boundaries in ONK east of Broadway. The area east of Broadway is actually an older (mill) community than is most of ONK west of Broadway. But that is a story Ann Bennett and I can tell another day. In light of the above lengthy explanation, do you all realize that our new and wonderful First Creek Park is ENTIRELY in the boundaries of ONK? That too is a story for another day, and I will be glad to share sometime exactly how fortunate we are to have the park and what wonderful things are being done within it creation involving UT College of Agriculture/Horticulture, Knox county, Knoxville City, the EPA and a couple of other agencies. We have a really valuable asset in First Creek Park and it is ours to use for free and all right here in ONK. (Of course most everyone did not know it was in ONK, but it is Blanche, it is!) If you have not seen or used this park, you are missing a very, very good thing! I trust everyone knows ITS location. I will continue to represent ONK at the HZC, and I hope to be able to attend ONK meetings again soon. Until then I hope that you kind people will keep me informed about all the happenings in ONK as I am committed to preservation in general and our in our neighborhood in particular. I really appreciate your keeping me in the loop either via e-mail or phone or mail (horse & buggy?) so that I can help ONK in any way I can in an informed manner. Information is everything! |