How Eastman Helped Shape Kingsport

For generations of Kingsport families, Eastman has been more than a name on a building. It has been a workplace, a community anchor, a source of innovation, and one of the reasons Kingsport became known as the Model City.

Eastman’s Kingsport story dates back to 1920, when George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, established what became Tennessee Eastman Corporation. The company was created to help supply chemicals needed for photographic materials, but over time it grew into something much larger: a major industrial force based in Kingsport. Eastman today describes itself as a global specialty materials company, and its headquarters remain in Kingsport.

The timing mattered. Kingsport had been re-chartered in 1917 and was being developed as a professionally planned industrial city. Unlike many older towns that grew slowly around a courthouse square or river landing, Kingsport was intentionally planned with areas for industry, homes, commerce, churches, and civic life. That planning helped give the city its long-running nickname, the Model City.

Eastman became one of the defining pieces of that plan. Its presence helped bring jobs, technical talent, families, and long-term economic stability to Kingsport. Over the decades, the company’s influence reached far beyond the plant gates. It shaped neighborhoods, schools, civic organizations, local giving, and the everyday rhythm of life for many Kingsport residents.

For longtime locals, Eastman is often part of family history. A parent, grandparent, neighbor, coach, church member, or friend may have worked there. That is why Eastman’s role in Kingsport feels different from a typical employer. It is woven into the city’s memory.

Today, Eastman remains one of Kingsport’s largest employers and continues to connect the city to global manufacturing, specialty materials, and innovation. Its presence also helps explain why Kingsport has a distinct identity within the Tri-Cities: part Appalachian hometown, part planned city, part industrial innovation hub.

Why it matters locally:
Eastman helped shape Kingsport’s economy, but it also helped shape its sense of place. To understand Kingsport, you have to understand the role Eastman has played across generations.

Good to know:
The Kingsport Archives recently announced that digitized volumes of TEC News, Eastman’s employee newsletter from 1946 through 1962, are available through the city’s digital archive. That gives residents a new way to explore everyday Eastman history, from workplace stories to community life during the postwar years.

One Local Thing takeaway:
Eastman’s story is Kingsport’s story too: a century-long connection between industry, innovation, families, and the community identity of the Model City.