June 1996

Johnson City

This is the Thankful Baptist Church near downtown Johnson City. It was built around 1910, an African-American church on the outskirts of town on Water Street in an industrial section close to the tannery. Check my maps of Johnson City in John's ET&WNC book and you'll find it there. It's still on Water Street but the street has been relocated slightly. The yellow curb is where the street was originally. Just thought it was an unusuall and nicely proportioned building. If you look in the background, you'll see the expressway overpass. Behind this overpass was the tannery, a huge complex of bark sheds, chemical vats, drying rooms and steam generators. Up the hill to the right was Science Hill School. There was also a Catholic girls school (St. Mary's) up there too.