The History of the 100 Block

Addison’s Bookstore is one of the most fascinating places in town, an old-fashioned bookseller with an ever-changing array of rare and familiar books. Jack Neely will be there on Nov. 13, talking mostly about its unique location, the 100 block of Gay Street, where a street-raising project covered the lower levels of old street-level commercial floors, giving rise to legends—some of them almost true—of an “Underground Gay Street.” The block has also seen Knoxville’s first public library (we’ll explain why it now has an Italian name), two especially dramatic gunfights, in 1881 and 1902, as well as the iconic live radio show known as the “Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round,” early centers of both the Greek and Jewish communities, a progressive newspaper, and “the Largest Furniture Company in the World.” Today, remarkably, it may be Knoxville’s most densely populated block. $5 admission on the night.