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From the header of the Johnson City Comet newspaper to its early development patterns there is no doubt that Johnson City, Tennessee was (and still is) a railroad town. Johnson City rode the boom and bust cycles of the late nineteenth century railroad and mining interests through eras of amazing growth and prosperity - down to barely surviving the Financial Panic of 1893 with its City Charter still intact due to the City's ownership of bonds from failed railroad ventures. Personal fortunes were won and lost but after each railway failure another better capitalized enterprise would succeed in extending the mountainous railway lines farther into the coal and iron mining regions of Virginia and North Carolina where previous efforts had failed. The photos above are a sampling of Johnson City's "baby pictures" as the railway extensions brought new business and trade opportunities for the growing population in the area surrounding Henry Johnson's depot.

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