DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.25199849.v2
title: Knoxville TN Urban Renewal Mapping Data

description: This dataset contains files created, digitized, or georeferenced by Chris DeRolph for mapping the pre-urban renewal community within the boundaries of the Riverfront-Willow St. and Mountain View urban renewal projects in Knoxville TN. Detailed occupant information for properties within boundaries of these two urban renewal projects was extracted from the 1953 Knoxville City Directory. The year 1953 was chosen as a representative snapshot of the Black community before urban renewal projects were implemented. The first urban renewal project to be approved was the Riverfront-Willow Street project, which was approved in 1954 according to the University of Richmond Renewing Inequality project titled ‘Family Displacements through Urban Renewal, 1950-1966’ https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/renewal/#view=0/0/1&viz=cartogram&city=knoxvilleTN&loc=15/35.9700/-83.9080&project=2348<b>cityDirectory1953 is a folder that contains:</b>JPG images of 1953 City Directory for street segments within the urban renewal project boundaries; images collected at the McClung Historical CollectionTXT files of extracted text from each image that was used to join occupant information from directory to GIS address data<b>shp is a folder that contains the following shapefiles:</b><b>Residential:</b>Black_owned_residential_1953.shp: residential entries in the 1953 City Directory identified as Black and property owners;Black_rented_residential_1953.shp: residential entries in the 1953 City Directory identified as Black and non-owners of the propertyNon_Black_owned_residential_1953.shp: residential entries in the 1953 City Directory identified as property owners that were not listed as BlackNon_Black_rented_residential_1953.shp: residential entries in the 1953 City Directory not listed as Black or property owners<b>Residential shapefile attributes:</b>cityDrctryString: full text string from 1953 City Directory entryfileName: name of TXT file that contains the information for the street segmentsOccupant: the name of the occupant listed in the City Directory, enclosed in square brackets []Number: the address number listed in the 1953 City DirectoryBlackOccpt: flag for whether the occupant was identified in the City Directory as Black, designated by the (c) or (e) character string in the cityDrctryString fieldOwnerOccpd: flag for whether the occupant was identified in the City Directory as the property owner, designated by the @ character in the cityDrctryString fieldUnit: unit if listed (e.g. Apt 1, 2d fl, b'ment, etc)streetName: street name in ~1953Lat: latitude coordinate in decimal degrees for the property locationLon: longitude coordinate in decimal degrees for the property locationrace_own: combines the BlackOccpt and OwnerOccpd fieldsmapLabel: combines the Number and Occupant fields for map labeling purposeslastName: occupant's last namelabelShort: combines the Number and lastName fields for map labeling purposes<b>Non-residential:</b>Black_nonResidential_1953.shp: non-residential entries in the 1953 City Directory listed as Black-occupiedNonBlack_nonResidential_1953.shp: non-residential entries in the 1953 City Directory not listed as Black-occupied<b>Non-residential shapefile attributes:</b>cityDrctryString: full text string from 1953 City Directory entryfileName: name of TXT file that contains the information for the street segmentsOccupant: the name of the occupant listed in the City Directory, enclosed in square brackets []Number: the address number listed in the 1953 City DirectoryBlackOccpt: flag for whether the occupant was identified in the City Directory as Black, designated by the (c) or (e) character string in the cityDrctryString fieldOwnerOccpd: flag for whether the occupant was identified in the City Directory as the property owner, designated by the @ character in the cityDrctryString fieldUnit: unit if listed (e.g. Apt 1, 2d fl, b'ment, etc)streetName: street name in ~1953Lat: latitude coordinate in decimal degrees for the property locationLon: longitude coordinate in decimal degrees for the property locationNAICS6: 2022 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) six-digit business code, designated by Chris DeRolph rapidly and without careful considerationNAICS6title: NAICS6 title/short descriptionNAICS3: 2022 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) three-digit business code, designated by Chris DeRolph rapidly and without careful considerationNAICS3title: NAICS3 title/short descriptionflag: flags whether the occupant is part of the public sector or an NGO; a flag of '0' indicates the occupant is assumed to be a privately-owned businessrace_own: combines the BlackOccpt and OwnerOccpd fieldsmapLabel: combines the Number and Occupant fields for map labeling purposes<b>Other shapefiles:</b>razedArea_1972.shp: approximate area that appears to have been razed during urban renewal based on visual overlay of usgsImage_grayscale_1956.tif and usgsImage_colorinfrared_1972.tif; digitized by Chris DeRolphroadNetwork_preUrbanRenewal.shp: road network present in urban renewal area before razing occurred; removed attribute indicates whether road was removed or remains today; historically removed roads were digitized by Chris DeRolph; remaining roads sourced from TDOT GIS roads dataTheBottom.shp: the approximate extent of the razed neighborhood known as The Bottom; digitized by Chris DeRolphUrbanRenewalProjects.shp: boundaries of the East Knoxville urban renewal projects, as mapped by the University of Richmond's Digital Scholarship Lab https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/renewal/#view=0/0/1&viz=cartogram&city=knoxvilleTN&loc=15/35.9700/-83.9080<b>tiff is a folder that contains the following images:</b>streetMap_1952.tif: relevant section of 1952 map 'Knoxville Tennessee and Surrounding Area'; copyright by J.U.G. Rich and East Tenn Auto Club; drawn by R.G. Austin; full map accessed at McClung Historical Collection, 601 S Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902; used as reference for street names in roadNetwork_preUrbanRenewal.shp; georeferenced by Chris DeRolphnewsSentinelRdMap_1958.tif: urban renewal area map from 1958 Knox News Sentinel article; used as reference for street names in roadNetwork_preUrbanRenewal.shp; georeferenced by Chris DeRolphusgsImage_grayscale_1956.tif: May 18, 1956 black-and-white USGS aerial photograph, georeferenced by Chris DeRolph; accessed here https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/scene/metadata/full/5e83d8e4870f4473/ARA550590030582/usgsImage_colorinfrared_1972.tif: April 18, 1972 color infrared USGS aerial photograph, georeferenced by Chris DeRolph; accessed here https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/scene/metadata/full/5e83d8e4870f4473/AR6197002600096/usgsImage_grayscale_1976.tif: November 8, 1976 black-and-white USGS aerial photograph, georeferenced by Chris DeRolph; accessed here https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/scene/metadata/full/5e83d8e4870f4473/AR1VDUT00390010/<br>