As far as Urban Legends go, Knoxville has a few.
- The "Curse of the White Mule" that haunts the Woodruff building on the 400 block of Gay Street (AKA Downtown Grill and Brewery).
- The "dead-light" on Gay Street that repeatedly goes out after numerous replacements. The street lamp is thought to be haunted because of a mad lynching of an alleged local bandit who claimed innocence.
- The catching, jailing and escape of Kid Curry - a member of The Wild bunch led by Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid - after an old city showdown.
Jack Neely, a writer for the Metro Pulse, has a spectacular track record of publishing articles on these matters as well as many more pertaining to Knoxville History. He's even published a few books that compile his "Secret History" articles from the Knoxville periodical. And it was Jack that opened my eyes to the subterranean city that lies beneath Gay St.
Once I moved downtown from campus I had an excitement to get out and discover. Unknown to my attention for years, the "final frontier" of Knoxville was right under my nose each trip I stole downtown.
What exists today as Gay Street used to be known as Market Street (as named in 1791) , and was one of only about 10 roads that made up our city.
Nearly a century ago, the Gay St. existed at the same level as the railroad tracks that lay parallel to Jackson, rising southward up the hill towards the Tenneessee River.
(Jackson can be found in the North Eastern region of the map to the left- running East/West)
(Gay St. can be found as the center white line running continuously from Jackson the river - running North/South)
So essentially, while you follow Gay St. from the top to the bottom the height of the street would have been climbing a hill that ended at the river.
As the city grew the idea came up to rise the height of Gay St. so as to make it completely level from Jackson to Gay St Bridge. All this to make car travel easier across the Jackson St. rail yards and uninhibited pedestrian travel. This project came to be known as the Gay St. viaduct of 1919.
An additional viaduct was needed for cars to cross over Gay Street's new height while traveling on Jackson, i.e. the Jackson St. Viaduct.
What has resulted is an underground cavern of old store fronts, sidewalks, and fancier than usual basements. There has been on-and-off talk about resurrecting the old pathway... but that too must be just another urban legend.
Here are a few links if you're interested in further info:
InsideKnoxville Blog Article (REALLY COOL LOCAL BLOG!!!)
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