Ghost Walking the Streets of Knoxville: A Section of Walnut Street

Walk along Walnut Avenue between Union Avenue and Summit Hill Drive today and you’ll find that it’s a relatively unremarkable spot. But it was once the home of one of the city’s respected couples, Peter and Henrietta Kern, who lived here in the late 1800s within spitting distance of the hustle and bustle of their retail emporium on the southwest corner of Market Square. The Girl’s High School would be built next door to the Kern’s, and later a string of retail shops, including George Loo’s hand Laundry and Greenlee’s Bicycle Shop thrived here during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s.Greenlee’s, particularly, became a cherished hangout for musicians like Chet Atkins, who would walk over from the WNOX studios on Gay Street. And Barnum & Bailey liked to post circus posters on Greenlee’s upstairs windows, for a time touting appearance by the legendary gorilla Gargantua and his mate Toto.Written and narrated by Paul James. A version of this story was first published by InsideofKnoxville.comSound design and editing by Pete Carty. Theme song composed by Mike Stallings.Special thanks to producer Pete Carty.  Knoxville Chronicles is brought to you by the nonprofit Knoxville History Project. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.orgFunding for this episode has been kindly provided by the City of Knoxville and Friends of the Knoxville History Project.