Architectural and Historical Survey, Downtown Core Commercial District, Morristown, Tennessee

Brewer Ingram Fuller Architects

From introduction: "Funded by the City of Morristown and a grant by the Tennessee Historical Commission, Brewer Ingram Fuller Architects was engaged to conduct an architectural and historical survey of the city’s Downtown Commercial Core. This project builds on a previous survey conducted by the Tennessee Historical Commission in 1980 and a draft National Register Nomination for a proposed “Main Street Historic District” completed in 1992. The defined survey boundaries consist of 92 property parcels and a lesser number of buildings; several buildings within this area have divided ownership since their original construction, and at least one parcel spans two historic buildings. The survey boundaries encompass the six blocks currently described as the Downtown Core. The Downtown Core Commercial District is located in the approximate center of the City of Morristown, bounded on the north by 1st North Street, on the east by Hill Street, on the south by the main line of the Norfolk & Southern Railway, and on the west by Mill Street and Hamilton Avenue. Morristown is the county seat of Hamblen County, though it pre-dates the establishment of the county, which was formed in 1870 from parts of Jefferson, Grainger, and Greene Counties. It is the only incorporated municipality in Hamblen County, the third smallest in area of Tennessee’s 95 counties. The District is located on Turkey Creek. Historically, it grew around the intersection of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad (the present Norfolk & Southern line), the North Carolina Branch of the E.T.V.&G. Railroad, and the Morristown and Cumberland Gap Railroad. U.S. Highway 11E previously was routed along 1st North Street at the north edge of the survey boundary, but is presently routed along a bypass one block south. U.S. Highway 25E previously was routed along Cumberland Street through the survey area, but currently bypasses the District a mile to the east. Interstate 81 passes five miles to the south of the survey area. As the historical commercial center of Morristown, the survey area generally consists of a low-rise urban condition interspersed with surface parking lots. The district is generally at an elevation of around 1300 feet, with a shallow valley toward the center corresponding with the location of Turkey Creek, which is channelized at the northern boundary of the study area, but otherwise passes through the Downtown Core within a culvert." Project funding was provided in part by a 2013 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the City of Morristown (project number TN-13-028) administered by the Tennessee State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P13AF00110) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Morristown, Tennessee is a Certified Local Government.

Architectural and Historical Survey, Downtown Core Commercial District, Morristown, Tennessee

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