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Gwen H. Terasaki

"Gwen Harold was born in Johnson City in 1906. Her memoir, A Bridge to the Sun, was nominated for the National Book Award and won the Washington Post non-fiction book of the year award in 1958. It details her controversial marriage to Japanese diplomat Hidenari Terasaki in 1931. She writes that her marriage was a dream of a “rainbow across the Pacific.”. The movie adaptation of her memoir premiered in Johnson City in August 1961, two months before its world premiere in October."

Ella V. Ross

"Ella Virginia Ross was the the Dean of Women and eventually Dean of Students at East Tennessee State College until she retired in 1972. She served as president of the Johnson City Little Theatre and chairman of the East Tennessee Educational Association. In 1953, she was elected to help rewrite Tennessee’s Constitution for a modern population. She was named Johnson City’s Woman of the Year in 1947 and its Woman of Achievement in 1970."

Mary H. McCown

In the 1930s, Mary Hardin McCown supervised an initiative to preserve records at the Washington County Courthouse. She also served on the Tennessee Historical Commission and published two books on Tennessee history in 1959 and 1964. She also worked to preserve Rocky Mount and the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site. In 1979, she was appointed the official historian of Johnson City.

May R. McDowell

"In 1957, May Ross McDowell became the first female city commissioner of Johnson City, and in 1961, the first female mayor. She established the Sister Cities International Program in Johnson City in the 1960s to increase international relations. She was the first president of the Professional Women’s Club and the first female director of the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce."