An Oral History Project
Johnson’s Historical Depot
A working archive of Johnson City, kept at a bookstore on Main Street.
Tell us what you remember about Johnson City.
Call the Line
Any hour, day or night. Talk as long as you like.
Anything you remember
You don't have to be old and it doesn't have to be important. If you worked downtown, shopped downtown, got in trouble downtown, or heard about it from somebody who did. That's the archive.
Most people tell us they don't really have a story. Then they talk for forty minutes. Start anywhere:
❋ A store that isn't there anymore❋ What downtown smelled like❋ Where your family banked❋ A job you had❋ Saturday night when you were sixteen❋ Your family's party line❋ What they said about “Little Chicago”❋ When they tore the old buildings down❋ Working a switchboard❋ The person everybody knew❋ A snowstorm or memorable floodCall the line at (423) 430-9385
How it works
What happens to it
Nothing gets published without your say-so. You can be named, stay anonymous, or have us keep the recording private in the archive and not publish it at all.
Ask us to delete it and we will, no questions.
Our long-term aim is to place this collection with the university archive, so it outlasts all of us. We'll say so publicly before anything moves.
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Call (423) 430-9385. Nobody picks up — it's a recorder, so there's no one to be shy in front of.
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Say your first name, and tell us whether we can share your story and use your name. That's how we know what you're comfortable with.
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Then talk. Take your time — we're not going anywhere.
Why we started
I grew up here and have 30+ years of my own stories. Then, we opened a bookstore in a downtown building. Customers started telling us their stories. So we got curious and started asking about our building, digging through archives and old newspapers.
What came back was a vanished telephone exchange, a chandelier shipped out of a house in Paris, a brick wall in the basement with something behind it, and dozens of women who worked a switchboard here that nobody had said out loud in seventy-five years.
That's one building on one block. There are hundreds of buildings in this town, and the people who remember them are not getting any younger.
Rather sit down with us? We record in person at the shop — twenty minutes, a real microphone, and coffee. Ring the Line or email us and we'll set it up.
