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Article: Looking Past the Hills Of a Tennessee Valley; Wealth, Technology Have Lifted Johnson City Series: REALITY CHECK Series Number: 1/3
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 13, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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From the unpretentious headquarters of Free Service Tire Co. on
Buffalo Street, Lewis P. Wexler, like his father and grandfather
before him, has watched this small city and the nation grow steadily
wealthier.
Johnson City, which lies tucked among the valleys and ridges
of East Tennessee, has had improvements in every component of the
standard of living measured by economists: housing, clothing, food,
automobiles, roads, schools, medical care, recreation and
communications.
Some of the most powerful changes, though, have been those
that economists can't measure: the effect of new roads and highways
in opening this once-remote region to commerce; the influence of
television in ...