Calendar of Events
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
ETHS Brown Bag Lecture Series: Western Heights: History Reborn
Category: Free event, History, heritage and Lecture, panel
Western Heights: History Reborn
Brown Bag Lecture,
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 @ 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
The program is presented by the East Tennessee Historical Society and is and free and open to the public. The lecture will begin at noon at the East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville. Guests are invited to bring a “Brown Bag” lunch.
The Beaumont and Western Heights neighborhoods hold a special artistic heritage, communicated through their histories of Knoxville’s working classes, and as they echo the area’s continued connection to the liberal arts. The area played childhood muse and inspiration to such famous international figures as Frances Hodgson Burnett, David Madden and Clarence Brown. Beaumont is French for “lovely hill,” a perfect name for the often-overlooked hillside community with picturesque views of downtown. Following the Civil War and Gen. James Longstreet’s ill-fated siege of Fort Sanders during the Civil War, an area formally known as Flag Pole Hill within the community served as the location of the family home of Burnett, a British-born author.
In 1939, the Knoxville Housing Authority directed a federal initiative to subsidize construction of low-rent housing in the Beaumont area. The 244-unit complex, named Western Heights, was more than subsidized living. It included new housing, splash pad, baseball diamond, library, teen club, WPA Adult Education School, Red Cross classes and a Sunday School. The first families moved into Western Heights in 1940, and it is the oldest still-standing affordable housing community in Knoxville. The nearby major employers included Brookside Weaving Mills, Dempster Brothers Machinery and Southern Railway, all of which needed a working-class population which led the area to be almost entirely residential since it was developed.
The Western Heights and Beaumont neighborhoods are strategically located 1.5 miles from downtown, but disinvestment, concentrated poverty and residential and commercial vacancies have kept the neighborhood from realizing its potential.
KCDC’s Transforming Western initiative is underway to revitalize the Western Heights housing site and the surrounding neighborhood following a comprehensive, 14-month planning process. The process culminated with KCDC receiving a $40 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant to help fund neighborhood transformation through additional affordable housing along with economic and educational opportunities and community-wide amenities. Join us to learn more about the history of the site and how that history will inform and shape the upcoming transformation.
About the Presenters:
Ben Bentley: Executive Director and CEO, Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation and Marisa Moazen: Vice President of Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation.
https://easttnhistory.org/events/western-heights-history-reborn
East Tennessee Historical Society, 601 S. Gay Street, Knoxville, TN 37902. Museum hours: M-F 9-4, Sa 10-4, Su 1-5. Information: 865-215-8824, www.easttnhistory.org
