In honor of Thompson Photo's 100th anniversary, we are happy to present a small selection of Jim Thompson's extraordinarily diverse work. All photos have been provided courtesy of Thompson Photo and the Thompson family. We have provided identification of places and dates where possible.
AT THE GAP: 1940s-era tourists survey the Smokies from Newfound Gap. (Inset) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt presides over the opening of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Newfound Gap, 1934.
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DO NOT FEED: Hungry bear cubs scrounge for food in a Smokies parking lot.
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MOUNTAIN MAJESTY: Jim Thompson chronicled the birth and growth of the National Park.
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CHISHOLM TRACES: The Chisholm Tavern on Front Street near the river in downtown Knoxville was built in the late 1700s. By the time of this photograph in the 1940s, it was a ramshackle tenement. It was later demolished.
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GOOOOO VOLS!: Long before Neyland Stadium, the UT football team played its games at Wait Field on Cumberland. This photo is from the 1920s.
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FIRST RESPONDERS: A fire wagon rushes past the Southern Railway station on Depot Avenue, circa 1915.
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A NEW KNOXVILLE?: A sign promises great things to come on Market Square, shortly after the Market House was torn down in the early 1960s.
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MEET ME AT THE FAIR: Crowds gather at Chilhowee Park for the 1910 Appalachian Exposition.
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THE CROSSING: The Henley and Gay street bridges figure prominently in Jim Thompson's photographs.
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ON THE AIR: The brand new studios of WNOX radio in North Knoxville, in the 1960s.
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BOTTOMS UP: The local "Kiwanis Klub" helps out enlisted men. It is unclear whether the photo is from World War I or the Spanish-American war.
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MOUNTAIN DEW: Long before Jim Gray, Jim Thompson was detailing the Smokies' natural wonder, from mountain glens...
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WATER SPORTS: ...to bathing beauties.
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RIVER INDUSTRY: Sand barges load up and depart from the banks of the Tennessee, circa 1911.
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SEND IN THE CLOWNS: A circus parade winds down Gay Street, circa 1940. On the right is the Thompson-owned Snap Shop. The arrow points to Bert Thompson sitting atop the store's sign, holding a young Ed Thompson on his lap.
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DOWNTOWN, FROM ABOVE: Thompson took extensive aerial photographs of the city. In this picture, Gay Street runs diagonally along the right, with Market Square and the Market House in the center left.
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