Martin-Dobyns House - Kingsport, TN - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Per the NRHP application (primary link below), the importance of this location is: The Martin-Dobyns House, located at 1434 Watauga Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, is locally significant for its historical association with James Wiley Dobyns (J.W.), the first Mayor of the City of Kingsport and his wife, Lulu Lee Cooper Dobyns. J.W. Dobyns purchased the home and moved into it with his family in 1915. The house continues to feature many of its original materials and elements with few to minimal alterations.

J.W. first came to the area to manage the 7,000 acres owned by George L. Carter, thus lived in Rotherwood Mansion (Waymarks WM9ZM8/WM79RE) over on the Holston River. In 1915, the family moved here into this Folk Victorian style home built by Andrew Martin. Dobyns filled a series of leadership positions for a bank, general store, and tobacco market. In 1917, Dobyns was appointed mayor of the rechartered city of Kingsport, and rapidly established services for the community. He assisted with the formation of Broad Street Methodist Church. The hard-working mayor continued to his death in 1923. An ongoing feature is the city high school is named Dobyns-Bennett after the first Mayor and also the first Board of Education Chairman.

Street address: 1434 Watauga Street Kingsport, TN USA 37664 County / Borough / Parish: Sullivan County Year listed: 2014 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Politics/Government, Social History, Architecture Periods of significance: 1884-1951 Historic function: Domestic Current function: Domestic Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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