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Neighborhood organization celebrates 25th year
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By: Andy Anderson
The formation meeting for what became Old North Knoxville, Inc. was held at Cley Schwab's house (now Jean Campbell's house) on East Scott Avenue. A group of neighbors throughout the Broadway, Central, and Woodland triangle met to start organizing a neighborhood organization dedicated to preservation and helping neighbors. After getting their charter approved by the state, in October 1978, ONK was formally recognized as a non-profit organization. Marshall Thurman, who lived at 509 East Scott Ave., was one of the primary organizers of the group. He became the first president of ONK. Other officers included Barbara Collins, 1st Vice President, lived on East Scott Avenue (where she still lives); Ralph McPhetridge, 2nd Vice President; Nan Moore, Secretary, lived in Fountain City, and Bill Camp, Treasurer, who lived on Oklahoma. The board consisted of Homer (Andy) Anderson, Al Blickensderfer who owned the Dunn Mansion, Otis Hurst who lived on East Scott, Micki Irick of Kenyon, Margie Kincaid of Folsom, Gladys Million of Oklahoma, Paul Thornton of Glenwood, and Bess Weaver of Guy B. Love Towers. Since that first board 25 years ago, ONK has worked to promote historic preservation and neighborhood improvement. There have been battles against commercial encroachment, including the four-laning of Woodland, preventing used car lots from the center of the neighborhood, and working to keep the County Intake Center from moving into the old Sears Building. H-1 Overlay zoning was first attempted in 1981. It failed largely due to misinformation on H-1 Overlays that still exists today. In the 1990s, the H-1 passed and the Old North Knoxville neighborhood increased in size with the addition of the Brownlow neighborhood. Other accomplishments include the annual Victorian Holiday Home Tour (celebrating its 15th anniversary this year), neighborhood banners, the annual Ice Cream Social, an ongoing neighborhood watch, participation in National Neighbor's Night Out, 1st Creek clean ups, traffic calming plans, and two MPC Excellence Awards for Neighborhood/Civic Achievement, to name a few. The board and neighborhood meetings were first held in members' homes. The meetings were later held in Guy B. Love Towers, St. James Episcopal Church, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Glen Oaks Baptist Church, the Berean Church (It used to be on Kenyon.), and currently in the Beta Sigma Phi Sorority House on Armstrong.
In the 25 years since the first formation of the neighborhood organization, restoration has improved the neighborhood's appearance, helping make Old North Knoxville once again a vibrant and exciting place to live. This is just one of the positive changes the neighborhood organization has had a part in. With hard work, dedication, and a little luck, the next 25 years should bring many more positive changes to the entire area and Old North Knoxville will be a great example of what historic preservation and neighborhood achievement should be.
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