Knoxville, Tennessee
Encyclopedia
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee
, U.S.A., behind Memphis
and Nashville
, and is the county seat
of Knox County
. It is the largest city in East Tennessee
, and the second-largest city (behind Pittsburgh) in the Appalachia
region. As of the 2000 United States Census, Knoxville had a population of 173,890; the July 2007 estimated population was 183,546. Knoxville is the principal city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area
with a metro population of 655,400, which is in turn the central component of the Knoxville-Sevierville
-La Follette
Combined Statistical Area
with 1,029,155 residents.
Of Tennessee's four major cities, Knoxville is second oldest to Nashville
, which was founded seven years earlier. After Tennessee's admission into the Union in 1796, Knoxville was the state's first capital, in which capacity it served until 1819, when the capital was moved to Murfreesboro
, prior to Nashville receiving the designation. The city was named in honor of the first Secretary of War
, Henry Knox
.
One of Knoxville's nicknames is The Marble City. In the early 20th century, a number of quarries were active in the city, supplying Tennessee pink marble
(actually Ordovician
limestone
of the Holston Formation
) to much of the country. Notable buildings such as the National Gallery of Art
in Washington
are constructed of Knoxville marble. The National Gallery's fountains were turned by Candoro Marble Company
, which once ran the largest marble lathes in the United States.
Knoxville was once also known as the Underwear Capital of the World. In the 1930s, no fewer than 20 textile and clothing mills operated in Knoxville, and the industry was the city's largest employer. In the 1950s, the mills began to close, causing an overall population loss of 10% by 1960.
Knoxville is also the home of the University of Tennessee
's flagship campus. The university's sports teams, called the "Volunteers" or "Vols", are extremely popular in the surrounding area. In recognition of this popularity, the telephone area code for Knox County and eight adjacent counties is 865 (VOL)
. Knoxville is also the home of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
, almost entirely thanks to the popularity of Pat Summitt
and the University of Tennessee women's basketball team
.
(c. 1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D). One of the oldest man-made structures in Knoxville is a burial mound constructed during the early Mississippian
period (c. 1000 A.D.). The mound is located on the University of Tennessee campus. Other prehistoric sites include an Early Woodland habitation area at the confluence of the Tennessee River and Knob Creek (near the Knox-Blount county line), and Dallas Phase
Mississippian villages at Post Oak Island (also along the river near the Knox-Blount line), and at Bussell Island
(at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River
near Lenoir City).
By the 18th century, the Cherokee
had become the dominant tribe in the East Tennessee region, although they were consistently at war with the Creeks and Shawnee
. The Cherokee people called the Knoxville area kuwanda'talun'yi, which means "Mulberry Place." Most Cherokee habitation in the area was concentrated in the Overhill settlements
along the Little Tennessee River
, southwest of Knoxville.
The first Euro-American traders and explorers arrived in the Tennessee Valley in the late 17th century, although there is significant evidence that Hernando de Soto
visited the Bussell Island site in 1540. The first major recorded Euro-American presence in the Knoxville area was the Henry Timberlake
expedition, which passed through the confluence of the Holston and French Broad into the Tennessee River in December 1761. Timberlake, who was en route to the Overhill settlements along the Little Tennessee River, recalled being pleasantly surprised by the deep waters of the Tennessee after having struggled down the relatively shallow Holston for several weeks.
and confusion brought about by the American Revolution
led to a drastic increase in Euro-American settlement west of the Appalachians. By the 1780s, Euro-American settlers were already established in the Holston and French Broad valleys. The U.S. Congress ordered all illegal settlers out of the valley in 1785, but with little success. As settlers continued to trickle into Cherokee lands, tensions between the settlers and the Cherokee rose steadily.
In 1786, James White
, a Revolutionary War
officer, and his friend James Connor built White's Fort near the mouth of First Creek, on land White had purchased three years earlier. In 1790, White's son-in-law, Charles McClung
—who had arrived from Pennsylvania the previous year—surveyed White's holdings between First Creek and Second Creek for the establishment of a town. McClung drew up 64 0.5 acre (0.202343 ha) lots. The waterfront was set aside for a town common. Two lots were set aside for a church and graveyard (First Presbyterian Church, founded 1792). Four lots were set aside for a school. That school was eventually chartered as Blount College and it served as the starting point for the University of Tennessee, which uses Blount College's founding date of 1794, as its own. Also in 1790, President George Washington
appointed North Carolina surveyor William Blount
governor of the newly-created Territory South of the River Ohio.
One of Blount's first tasks was to meet with the Cherokee and establish territorial boundaries and resolve the issue of illegal settlers. This he accomplished almost immediately with the Treaty of Holston
, which was negotiated and signed at White's Fort in 1791. Blount originally wanted to place the territorial capital at the confluence of the Clinch River
and Tennessee River (now Kingston
), but when the Cherokee refused to cede this land, Blount chose White's Fort, which McClung had surveyed the previous year. Blount named the new capital Knoxville after Revolutionary War general and Secretary of War Henry Knox
, who at the time was Blount's immediate superior.
Problems immediately arose from the Holston Treaty. Blount believed that he had "purchased" much of what is now East Tennessee when the treaty was signed in 1791. However, the terms of the treaty came under dispute, culminating in continued violence on both sides. When the government invited the Cherokee's chief Hanging Maw for negotiations in 1793, Knoxville settlers attacked the Cherokee against orders, killing the chief's wife. Peace was renegotiated in 1794.
. Early Knoxville has been described as an "alternately quiet and rowdy river town." Early issues of the Knoxville Gazette—the first newspaper published in Tennessee—are filled with accounts of murder, theft, and hostile Cherokee attacks. Abishai Thomas, a friend of William Blount, visited Knoxville in 1794 and wrote that while he was impressed by the town's modern frame buildings, the town had "seven taverns" and no church.
Knoxville initially thrived as a way station for travelers and migrants heading west. Its situation at the confluence of three major rivers in the Tennessee Valley brought flatboat
and later steamboat
traffic to its waterfront in the first half of the 19th-century, and Knoxville quickly developed into a regional merchandising center. Local agricultural products—especially tobacco, corn, and whiskey—were traded for cotton, which was grown in the Deep South
.
The population of Knoxville more than doubled in the 1850s with the arrival of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad in 1855.
Among the most prominent citizens of Knoxville during the Antebellum years was James White's son, Hugh Lawson White
(1773–1840). White first served as a judge and state senator before being nominated by the state legislature to replace Andrew Jackson
in the U.S. Senate in 1825. In 1836, White ran unsuccessfully for president, representing the Whig Party.
, the radical publisher of the Knoxville Whig, was one of the region's leading anti-secessionists (although he defended the practice of slavery). Blount County, just south of Knoxville, had developed into a center of abolitionist activity, due in part to its relatively large Quaker
faction and the anti-slavery president of Maryville College
, Isaac Anderson. The Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church, Knoxville
was reportedly a station on the underground railroad
. Business interests, however, guided largely by Knoxville's trade connections with cotton-growing centers to the south, contributed to the development of a strong pro-secession movement within the city. The city's pro-secessionists included among their ranks Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey, a prominent historian whose father had built the Ramsey House in 1797. Thus, while East Tennessee and greater Knox County voted decisively against secession in 1861, the city of Knoxville favored secession by a 2-1 margin. In late May 1861, just before the secession vote, delegates of the East Tennessee Convention
met at Temperance Hall in Knoxville in hopes of keeping Tennessee in the Union
. After Tennessee voted to secede the following month, the convention met in Greeneville and attempted to create a separate Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.
In July 1861, after Tennessee had joined the Confederacy
, General Felix Zollicoffer
arrived in Knoxville as commander of the District of East Tennessee. While initially lenient toward the city's Union sympathizers, Zollicoffer instituted martial law in November of that year after Union guerillas destroyed seven of the city's bridges. The command of the district passed briefly to George Crittenden and then to Kirby Smith, the latter of whom launched a failed invasion of Kentucky in August 1862. In early 1863, General Simon Buckner took command of Confederate forces in Knoxville. Anticipating a Union invasion, Buckner fortified Fort Loudon (in West Knoxville, not to be confused with the colonial fort
to the southwest) and began constructing earthworks throughout the city. The approach of Union forces under Ambrose Burnside
in the Summer of 1863, however, forced Buckner to evacuate Knoxville before the earthworks were completed.
Burnside arrived in Knoxville in early September 1863. Like the Confederates, he immediately began fortifying the city. The Union forces rebuilt Fort Loudon and erected 12 other forts and batteries flanked by entrenchments around the city. Burnside moved a pontoon bridge upstream from Loudon
, allowing Union forces to cross the river and build a series of forts along the heights of South Knoxville, including Fort Stanley and Fort Dickerson.
As Burnside was fortifying Knoxville, the Confederate army defeated Union forces at the Battle of Chickamauga
(near the Tennessee-Georgia line) and subsequently laid siege to Chattanooga
. On November 3, 1863, the Confederates dispatched General James Longstreet
north to attack Burnside at Knoxville. Longstreet initially wanted to attack the city from the south, but lacking the means to carry the necessary pontoon bridges, he was forced to cross the river further downstream at Loudon (November 14) and march against the city's heavily-fortified western section. On November 15, General Joseph Wheeler
unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Union forces in the heights of South Knoxville, and the following day Longstreet failed to cut off retreating Union forces at Campbell's Station
(now Farragut). On November 18, General William P. Sanders
was mortally wounded while conducting delaying maneuvers west of Knoxville, and Fort Loudon was renamed Fort Sanders in his honor. On November 29, after a two-week siege, the Confederates attacked Fort Sanders, but retreated after a fierce 20-minute engagement. On December 4, after word of the Confederate setback at Chattanooga reached Longstreet, Longstreet abandoned his attempts to take Knoxville and retreated into winter quarters at Russellville
. He rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia
the following Spring.
to migrate from the Welsh Tract
in Pennsylvania
to work in a rolling mill then co-owned by John H. Jones. These Welsh families settled in an area now known as Mechanicsville
. The Richards brothers also co-founded the Knoxville Iron Works beside the L&N Railroad, also employing Welsh workers. Later the site would be used as the grounds for the 1982 World's Fair
.
Other companies that sprang up during this period were Knoxville Woolen Mills, Dixie Cement, and Woodruff's Furniture. Between 1880 and 1887, 97 factories were established in Knoxville, most of them specializing in textiles, food products, and iron products. By the 1890s, Knoxville was home to more than 50 wholesaling houses, making it the third largest wholesaling center by volume in the South. The Candoro Marble Works, established in the community of Vestal in 1914, became the nation's foremost producer of pink marble and one of the nation's largest marble importers.
In 1869, Thomas Hughes, a Union-sympathizer and president of East Tennessee University, secured federal wartime restitution funding and state-designated Morrill Act funding to expand the college, which had been occupied by both armies during the war. In 1879, the school changed its name to the University of Tennessee, hoping to secure more funding from the Tennessee state legislature. Charles Dabney
, who became president of the university in 1887, overhauled the faculty and established a law school in an attempt to modernize the scope of the university.
The post-war manufacturing boom brought thousands of immigrants to the city. The population of Knoxville grew from around 5,000 in 1860 to 32,637 in 1900. West Knoxville was annexed in 1897, and over 5,000 new homes were built between 1895 and 1904.
In 1901, train robber Kid Curry
(whose real name was Harvey Logan), a member of Butch Cassidy
's Wild Bunch
was captured after shooting two deputies on Knoxville's Central Avenue. He escaped from the Knoxville Jail and rode away on a horse stolen from the sheriff.
in 1913. The latter is sometimes credited with giving rise to the movement to create a national park
in the Great Smoky Mountains, some 20 miles (32.2 km) south of Knoxville. Around this time, a number of affluent Knoxvillians began purchasing summer cottages in Elkmont
, and began to pursue the park idea more vigorously. They were led by Knoxville businessman Colonel David C. Chapman
, who, as head of the Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission, was largely responsible for raising the funds for the purchase of the property that became the core of the park. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park
opened in 1933.
Knoxville's reliance on a manufacturing economy left it particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Great Depression
. The Tennessee Valley also suffered from frequent flooding, and millions of acres of farmland had been ruined by soil erosion. To control flooding and improve the economy in the Tennessee Valley, the federal government created the Tennessee Valley Authority
in 1933. Beginning with Norris Dam
, TVA constructed a series of hydroelectric and other power plants throughout the valley over the next few decades, bringing flood control, jobs, and electricity to the region. The Federal Works Projects Administration, which also arrived in the 1930s, helped build McGhee-Tyson Airport and expand Neyland Stadium
. TVA's headquarters, which consists of two twin high rises built in the 1970s, were among Knoxville's first modern high-rise buildings.
In 1948, the soft drink Mountain Dew
was first marketed in Knoxville, originally designed as a mixer for whiskey. Around the same time, John Gunther
, author of Inside USA, dubbed Knoxville the "ugliest city" in America. Gunther's description jolted the city into enacting a series of beautification measures that helped improve the appearance of the Downtown area.
With annexation attempts stalling, Knoxville initiated several projects aimed at boosting revenue in the Downtown area. The 1982 World's Fair
—the most successful of these projects—became one of the most popular world's fairs in U.S. history with 11 million visitors. The fair's energy theme was selected due to Knoxville being the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority and for the city's proximity to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
. The Sunsphere
, a 266 feet (81.1 m) steel truss structure topped with a gold-colored glass sphere, was built for the fair and remains one of Knoxville's most prominent buildings, along with the adjacent amphitheater which underwent a renovation that was completed in 2008.
Ever since, Knoxville's downtown has been developing, with the opening of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Knoxville Convention Center, redevelopment of Market Square, a new visitors center, a regional history museum, a Regal Cinemas
theater, several restaurants and bars, and many new and redeveloped condominiums. Since 2000 Knoxville has successfully brought business back to the downtown area. The arts in particular have begun to flourish, there are multiple venues for outdoor concerts and Gay St. hosts a new arts annex and gallery surrounded by many studios and new business as well. The Tennessee and Bijou Theaters underwent renovation providing a good basis for the city and its developers to re purpose the old downtown and have had great success to date revitalizing this once great section of Tennessee.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 98.1 square miles (254.1 km²), of which, 92.7 square miles (240.1 km²) of it is land and 5.4 square miles (14 km²) of it is water. The total area is 5.5% water.
In the southeast part of the city, the French Broad River
(flowing from Asheville, North Carolina
) joins the Holston River
(flowing from Kingsport
) to form the Tennessee River
. Knoxville is centered around a hilly area along the north bank of the river between its First Creek and Second Creek tributaries. This area now comprises Downtown Knoxville. South Knoxville refers to the industrial and residential areas along the south bank of the river (extending to the Blount County line), and West Knoxville typically refers to the area beyond Sequoyah Hills, much of which is situated along Kingston Pike and the merged I-40 and I-75. The Knox County section of the Tennessee River is technically part of Fort Loudoun Lake, an impoundment of the river created by the completion of Fort Loudoun Dam
(near Lenoir City
) in 1940.
The hills and ridges surrounding Knoxville are part of the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Province
, which consists of a series of elongate and narrow ridges that traverse the upper Tennessee Valley. The most substantial Ridge-and-Valley structures in the Knoxville area are Bays Mountain
, which runs along the Knox-Blount county line to the south, and Beaver Ridge, which passes through the northern section of the town. The Great Smoky Mountains
—a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains
—are located approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) south of Knoxville.
zone (Koppen climate classification
Cfa), although it is not quite as hot as areas to the south and west due to the higher elevations. Summers are hot and humid, with July highs averaging 87 °F (30.6 °C), lows averaging 66 °F (18.9 °C), and an average of 29 days per year with temperatures above 90 °F (32.2 °C). Winters are generally cool, with occasional small amounts of snow. January averages a high of around 45 °F (7.2 °C) and a low of around 25 °F (-3.9 °C), although low temperaures in the teens are not uncommon. Single digits are very rare, occurring once every few years. The record high for Knoxville is 104 °F (40 °C) occurring July 12, 1930, while the record low is -24 °F occurring January 21, 1985. Annual precipitation averages around 48 in (1,219 mm), and average winter snowfall is 11.5 inches (29.2 cm).
, Blount
, Loudon, and Union counties. MSAs consist of a core urban center and the outlying communities and rural areas with which it maintains close economic ties. They are not administrative divisions, and should not be confused with "metropolitan government," or a consolidated city-county
government, which Knoxville and Knox County lack.
The Knoxville Metropolitan area includes unincorporated communities such as Halls
, Powell
, Karns
, Corryton
, Concord
, and Mascot
, which are located in Knox County outside of Knoxville's city limits. Along with Knoxville, major municipalities in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area include Alcoa
, Maryville
, Lenoir City
, Loudon
, Farragut
, Oak Ridge
, Clinton
, and Maynardville
. As of 2008, the population of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area was 691,152.
Additionally, the Knoxville MSA is the chief component of the larger OMB-designated Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette TN
Combined Statistical Area
(CSA). The CSA also includes the Morristown Metropolitan Statistical Area
(Hamblen, Grainger, and Jefferson
counties) and the Sevierville
(Sevier County
), La Follette
(Campbell County
), Harriman
(Roane County), and Newport
(Cocke County) Micropolitan Statistical Areas. Municipalities in the CSA, but not the Knoxville MSA, include Morristown, Rutledge
, Dandridge
, Jefferson City
, Sevierville, Gatlinburg
, Pigeon Forge
, LaFollette, Jacksboro
, Harriman, Kingston
, Rockwood
, and Newport. The combined population of the CSA as of the 2000 Census was 935,659. Its estimated 2008 population was 1,041,955.
Georgia Tech researchers have mapped the Knoxville MSA as one of the 18 'Major Cities' in the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion.
of 2000, there were 177,661 people, 76,650 households, and 40,164 families residing in the city, and the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 616,079. The population density
was 1,876.7 people per square mile (724.6/km²). There were 84,981 housing units at an average density of 917.1 per square mile (354.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.7% White, 16.2% African American, 1.45% Asian, 0.31% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.72% from other races
, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.58% of the population.
There were 76,650 households out of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.3% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.6% were non-families. 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.84.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.7% under the age of 18, 16.8% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $27,492, and the median income for a family is $37,708. Males had a median income of $29,070 versus $22,593 for females. The per capita income
for the city is $18,171. About 14.4% of families and 20.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.
In 2006, ERI
published an analysis that identified Knoxville as the most affordable U.S. city for new college graduates, based on the ratio of typical salary to cost of living.
Population and household growth are expected to follow employment growth, causing increased housing demand during the forecast period. Resident employment should continue to grow at a pace equal to that from 2000 to the Current date. As population continues to increase and the labor force grows, the unemployment rate is projected to increase slightly to 3.7 percent. The population growth is estimated to result in 12,900 new households in the HMA by the Forecast date. Demand for new housing for the period from April 1, 2005, to April 1, 2008, is estimated to total 13,100 units—10,400 sales units and 2,700 rental units.
, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
and other Department of Energy facilities in nearby Oak Ridge
, the National Transportation Research Center
, and the Tennessee Valley Authority
.
In April 2008, Forbes Magazine named Knoxville among the Top 10 Metropolitan Hotspots in the United States and within Forbes' Top 5 for Business & Careers, just behind cities like New York
and Los Angeles
.
In March 2009, CNN ranked Knoxville as the 59th city in the top 100 US metro areas, in terms of real estate price depreciation. The median price of a home in Knoxville is $184,900.
Kiplinger
has ranked Knoxville at #5 in its list of Best Value Cities 2011 citing "college sports, the Smoky Mountains and an entrepreneurial spirit."
, has broadcast weekday lunchtime concerts of bluegrass music
, old-time music
and more from the Knoxville Visitor's Center on Gay Street, as well as streaming
its music programming to the world over the Internet.
Knoxville also boasts an Opera Company which has been guided by Don Townsend for over two decades. The KOC performs a season of opera every year with a talented chorus as the backbone of each production.
In its May 2003 "20 Most Rock & Roll towns in the U.S." feature, Blender
ranked Knoxville the 17th best music scene in the United States. In the ’90s, noted alternative-music critic Ann Powers, author of Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America, referred to the city as "Austin without the hype".
The city also hosts numerous art festivals, including the 17-day Dogwood Arts Festival
in April, which features art shows, crafts fairs, food and live music. Also in April is the Rossini Festival, which celebrates opera and Italian culture. June's Kuumba (meaning creativity in Swahili
) Festival commemorates the region's African American heritage and showcases visual arts, folk arts, dance, games, music, storytelling, theater, and food. Autumn on the Square showcases national and local artists in outdoor concert series at historic Market Square, which has been revitalized with specialty shops and residences. Every Labor Day brings Boomsday
, the largest Labor Day fireworks display in the United States, to the banks of the Tennessee River between Neyland Stadium and downtown.
is the local daily newspaper in Knoxville, with a Sunday circulation of 150,147 (as of March 31, 2007), owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
. Metro Pulse
is a standard weekly publication covering popular culture, arts, and entertainment, also owned by E.W. Scripps. The Knoxville Voice
is a former populist
alternative newspaper that was published on a biweekly basis from 2006-2009.
The Knoxville metro area is served by many local television and radio stations. , the Knoxville designated market area (DMA) is the 59th largest in the U.S. with 552,380 homes, according to Nielsen Market Research. The major network television affiliates are WATE
6 (ABC
), WMAK
7 (RTV
), WVLT
8 (CBS), WBIR
10 (NBC
), WBXX
20 (CW
), WPXK 23 (Ion), and WTNZ
43 (Fox
). WVLT, known on-air as VolunteerTV, also operates a MyNetworkTV
channel on its digital
subchannel. This channel was the area's UPN
affiliate from 1995-2006. East Tennessee PBS
operates Knoxville's Public Broadcasting Service
station at WKOP 17. Knoxville is also the headquarters of Scripps Networks Interactive
(subsidiary of E. W. Scripps), which operates several cable television
networks, including HGTV
, DIY Network
, Food Network
, Cooking Channel
, Travel Channel
and Great American Country
. Home shopping network, Jewelry Television
, is also based in the city. There are also a wide variety of radio stations in the Knoxville area, catering to many different interests, including news
, talk radio
, and sports, as well as an eclectic mix of musical interests.
The 1999 film October Sky
was filmed in Knoxville as well as several counties in east Tennessee, and the 2000 film Road Trip was partially filmed at the University of Tennessee
campus downtown. The film Box of Moonlight, starring John Turturro and Sam Rockwell, was filmed and takes place in and around Knoxville. The March 31, 1996 episode of The Simpsons
, entitled Bart on the Road
, features Bart
and his friends renting a car and driving to Knoxville after finding a promotional brochure for the city's 1982 World's Fair
, only to discover the fair has long ended, and its featured attraction, the Sunsphere
, has fallen into decay. Academy Award-winning director and producer, Quentin Tarantino
was born in Knoxville, as well as actors Johnny Knoxville
, David Keith
, and Brad Renfro
. Survivor: The Australian Outback
finalist Tina Wesson
is also from Knoxville.
Pulitzer Prize
-winning novelist and playwright James Agee
was born in Knoxville and spent his early years there. His novel A Death in the Family
centers around the Fort Sanders neighborhood where his family lived and chronicles the death of his father. Another Pulitzer recipient, Cormac McCarthy
, spent most of his childhood in Knoxville. His novel Suttree
revolves around life among the city's working class in the early 1950s.
Singer Ava Barber
, famous for her tenure on The Lawrence Welk Show
, was born and spent much of her early life in Knoxville.
Entertainer Dolly Parton
, a native of Sevierville, received her first taste of fame in Knoxville, as a teenager, performing as a regular on Cas Walker
's local radio show.
Other references to Knoxville in literature and music include:
. There are three council members who are elected at-large and six council members that represent individual districts. The City Council meets every other Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Main Assembly Room of the City County Building
. As of January 10, 2011, the current mayor
is Daniel T. Brown, who replaced Bill Haslam
. Haslam served from 2004 until January 2011, when he resigned to serve as the 49th Governor of Tennessee. The previous mayor of sixteen years, Victor Ashe
, was named United States Ambassador
to Poland
in June 2004. Ashe was term-limited and could not serve another term. On November 8, 2011, Madeline Rogero was elected to be the first female mayor of Knoxville. She will be sworn in on December 17, 2011.
. It is also home to:
In addition, the following institutions have branch campuses
in Knoxville:
Also, the distance education
offeror Huntington College of Health Sciences
has its offices in Knoxville.
The main library serving Knoxville is the Lawson McGhee Public Library
, located in downtown Knoxville.
to Asheville, North Carolina
, and Nashville
and Interstate 75
to Chattanooga
and Lexington
. Knoxville and the surrounding area is served by McGhee Tyson Airport
. Public transportation is provided by KAT. Rail freight is offered by CSX
and Norfolk Southern.
: Chełm, Poland Chengdu
, PR China Kaohsiung
, Taiwan Larissa
, Greece Muroran, Japan Neuquen
, Argentina Yesan County, South Korea
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, U.S.A., behind Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
and Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, and is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Knox County
Knox County, Tennessee
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its 2007 population was estimated at 423,874 by the United States Census Bureau. Its county seat is Knoxville, as it has been since the creation of the county. The county is at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee...
. It is the largest city in East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
, and the second-largest city (behind Pittsburgh) in the Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
region. As of the 2000 United States Census, Knoxville had a population of 173,890; the July 2007 estimated population was 183,546. Knoxville is the principal city of the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area
Knoxville Metropolitan Area
Knoxville Metropolitan Area is the third largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in Tennessee. It consists of Knoxville, Tennessee as its central city and the following counties:*Anderson*Blount*Knox*Loudon*Union...
with a metro population of 655,400, which is in turn the central component of the Knoxville-Sevierville
Sevierville, Tennessee
Sevierville is a city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. Its population was 11,757 at the 2000 United States Census; in 2004 the estimated population was 14,101. Sevierville is the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee....
-La Follette
La Follette, Tennessee
LaFollette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,926 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the La Follette, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette...
Combined Statistical Area
Combined Statistical Area
The United States Office of Management and Budget defines micropolitan and metropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas consist of one or more counties...
with 1,029,155 residents.
Of Tennessee's four major cities, Knoxville is second oldest to Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, which was founded seven years earlier. After Tennessee's admission into the Union in 1796, Knoxville was the state's first capital, in which capacity it served until 1819, when the capital was moved to Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 108,755 according to the United States Census Bureau's 2010 U.S. Census, up from 68,816 residents certified during the 2000 census. The center of population of Tennessee is located in...
, prior to Nashville receiving the designation. The city was named in honor of the first Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
, Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
.
One of Knoxville's nicknames is The Marble City. In the early 20th century, a number of quarries were active in the city, supplying Tennessee pink marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
(actually Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
of the Holston Formation
Holston Formation
The Holston Formation, alternately known as the Holston Limestone, is a stratigraphic unit of Ordovician age within the Chickamauga Group in the Ridge-and-Valley physiographic province of the southeastern United States...
) to much of the country. Notable buildings such as the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
are constructed of Knoxville marble. The National Gallery's fountains were turned by Candoro Marble Company
Candoro Marble Works
The Candoro Marble Works is a marble cutting and polishing facility located in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Established as a subsidiary of the John J. Craig Company in 1914, the facility's marble products were used in the construction of numerous monumental buildings across the United States during...
, which once ran the largest marble lathes in the United States.
Knoxville was once also known as the Underwear Capital of the World. In the 1930s, no fewer than 20 textile and clothing mills operated in Knoxville, and the industry was the city's largest employer. In the 1950s, the mills began to close, causing an overall population loss of 10% by 1960.
Knoxville is also the home of the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
's flagship campus. The university's sports teams, called the "Volunteers" or "Vols", are extremely popular in the surrounding area. In recognition of this popularity, the telephone area code for Knox County and eight adjacent counties is 865 (VOL)
Area code 865
Area code 865 serves Knox County, Tennessee, and the eight counties that border it in central East Tennessee. The area incorporates most of the region defined as the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette Combined Statistical Area...
. Knoxville is also the home of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors men and women who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA...
, almost entirely thanks to the popularity of Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
Patricia "Pat" Head Summitt is an American women's college basketball coach. She is currently the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team. She is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history of either a men's or women's team in any division...
and the University of Tennessee women's basketball team
Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball
The Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA women's basketball competition...
.
Early history
The first humans to form substantial settlements in what is now Knoxville arrived during the Woodland periodWoodland period
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...
(c. 1000 B.C. – 1000 A.D). One of the oldest man-made structures in Knoxville is a burial mound constructed during the early Mississippian
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
period (c. 1000 A.D.). The mound is located on the University of Tennessee campus. Other prehistoric sites include an Early Woodland habitation area at the confluence of the Tennessee River and Knob Creek (near the Knox-Blount county line), and Dallas Phase
Dallas Phase
Dallas Phase is an archaeological phase, within the Mississippian III period, in the South Appalachian Geologic province.-Geography:Dallas peoples moved into southwest Virginia from northeastern Tennessee in the early 13th century...
Mississippian villages at Post Oak Island (also along the river near the Knox-Blount line), and at Bussell Island
Bussell Island
Bussell Island, formerly Lenoir Island, is an island located at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River near the U.S. city of Lenoir City, Tennessee. The island was inhabited by various Native American cultures for thousands of years before the arrival of early European explorers, and is currently...
(at the mouth of the Little Tennessee River
Little Tennessee River
The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, approximately 135 miles long, in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.-Geography:...
near Lenoir City).
By the 18th century, the Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
had become the dominant tribe in the East Tennessee region, although they were consistently at war with the Creeks and Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
. The Cherokee people called the Knoxville area kuwanda'talun'yi, which means "Mulberry Place." Most Cherokee habitation in the area was concentrated in the Overhill settlements
Overhill Cherokee
The term Overhill Cherokee refers to the former Cherokee settlements located in what is now Tennessee in the southeastern United States. The name was given by 18th century European traders and explorers who had to cross the Appalachian Mountains to reach these settlements when traveling from...
along the Little Tennessee River
Little Tennessee River
The Little Tennessee River is a tributary of the Tennessee River, approximately 135 miles long, in the Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.-Geography:...
, southwest of Knoxville.
The first Euro-American traders and explorers arrived in the Tennessee Valley in the late 17th century, although there is significant evidence that Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (explorer)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
visited the Bussell Island site in 1540. The first major recorded Euro-American presence in the Knoxville area was the Henry Timberlake
Henry Timberlake
Henry Timberlake was a colonial Anglo-American officer, journalist, and cartographer. He was born in Virginia in 1730 and died in England...
expedition, which passed through the confluence of the Holston and French Broad into the Tennessee River in December 1761. Timberlake, who was en route to the Overhill settlements along the Little Tennessee River, recalled being pleasantly surprised by the deep waters of the Tennessee after having struggled down the relatively shallow Holston for several weeks.
Settlement
The end of the French and Indian WarFrench and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
and confusion brought about by the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
led to a drastic increase in Euro-American settlement west of the Appalachians. By the 1780s, Euro-American settlers were already established in the Holston and French Broad valleys. The U.S. Congress ordered all illegal settlers out of the valley in 1785, but with little success. As settlers continued to trickle into Cherokee lands, tensions between the settlers and the Cherokee rose steadily.
In 1786, James White
James White (general)
James White was an American pioneer and soldier who founded Knoxville, Tennessee, in the early 1790s. Born in Rowan County, North Carolina, White served as a captain in the county's militia during the American Revolutionary War...
, a Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
officer, and his friend James Connor built White's Fort near the mouth of First Creek, on land White had purchased three years earlier. In 1790, White's son-in-law, Charles McClung
Charles McClung
Charles McClung was an American pioneer, politician, and surveyor best known for drawing up the original plat of Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1791. While Knoxville has since expanded to many times its original size, the city's downtown area still roughly follows McClung's 1791 grid...
—who had arrived from Pennsylvania the previous year—surveyed White's holdings between First Creek and Second Creek for the establishment of a town. McClung drew up 64 0.5 acre (0.202343 ha) lots. The waterfront was set aside for a town common. Two lots were set aside for a church and graveyard (First Presbyterian Church, founded 1792). Four lots were set aside for a school. That school was eventually chartered as Blount College and it served as the starting point for the University of Tennessee, which uses Blount College's founding date of 1794, as its own. Also in 1790, President George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
appointed North Carolina surveyor William Blount
William Blount
William Blount, was a United States statesman. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention for North Carolina, the first and only governor of the Southwest Territory, and Democratic-Republican Senator from Tennessee . He played a major role in establishing the state of Tennessee. He was the...
governor of the newly-created Territory South of the River Ohio.
One of Blount's first tasks was to meet with the Cherokee and establish territorial boundaries and resolve the issue of illegal settlers. This he accomplished almost immediately with the Treaty of Holston
Treaty of Holston
The Treaty of Holston was a treaty between the United States government and the Cherokee signed on July 2, 1791 and proclaimed on February 7, 1792...
, which was negotiated and signed at White's Fort in 1791. Blount originally wanted to place the territorial capital at the confluence of the Clinch River
Clinch River
The Clinch River rises in Southwest Virginia near Tazewell, Virginia and flows southwest through the Great Appalachian Valley, gathering various tributaries including the Powell River before joining the Tennessee River in East Tennessee.-Course:...
and Tennessee River (now Kingston
Kingston, Tennessee
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States, and is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake. Kingston, with a population of 5,264 at the 2000 United States census, is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area....
), but when the Cherokee refused to cede this land, Blount chose White's Fort, which McClung had surveyed the previous year. Blount named the new capital Knoxville after Revolutionary War general and Secretary of War Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
, who at the time was Blount's immediate superior.
Problems immediately arose from the Holston Treaty. Blount believed that he had "purchased" much of what is now East Tennessee when the treaty was signed in 1791. However, the terms of the treaty came under dispute, culminating in continued violence on both sides. When the government invited the Cherokee's chief Hanging Maw for negotiations in 1793, Knoxville settlers attacked the Cherokee against orders, killing the chief's wife. Peace was renegotiated in 1794.
Antebellum Knoxville
Knoxville served as capital of the Territory South of the River Ohio and as capital of Tennessee (admitted as a state in 1796) until 1817, when the capital was moved to MurfreesboroMurfreesboro, Tennessee
Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 108,755 according to the United States Census Bureau's 2010 U.S. Census, up from 68,816 residents certified during the 2000 census. The center of population of Tennessee is located in...
. Early Knoxville has been described as an "alternately quiet and rowdy river town." Early issues of the Knoxville Gazette—the first newspaper published in Tennessee—are filled with accounts of murder, theft, and hostile Cherokee attacks. Abishai Thomas, a friend of William Blount, visited Knoxville in 1794 and wrote that while he was impressed by the town's modern frame buildings, the town had "seven taverns" and no church.
Knoxville initially thrived as a way station for travelers and migrants heading west. Its situation at the confluence of three major rivers in the Tennessee Valley brought flatboat
Flatboat
Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...
and later steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
traffic to its waterfront in the first half of the 19th-century, and Knoxville quickly developed into a regional merchandising center. Local agricultural products—especially tobacco, corn, and whiskey—were traded for cotton, which was grown in the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
.
The population of Knoxville more than doubled in the 1850s with the arrival of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad in 1855.
Among the most prominent citizens of Knoxville during the Antebellum years was James White's son, Hugh Lawson White
Hugh Lawson White
Hugh Lawson White was a prominent American politician during the first third of the 19th century. He succeeded Andrew Jackson and served in the United States Senate, representing Tennessee, from 1825 until his resignation in 1840, and was a Whig candidate for President in 1836...
(1773–1840). White first served as a judge and state senator before being nominated by the state legislature to replace Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
in the U.S. Senate in 1825. In 1836, White ran unsuccessfully for president, representing the Whig Party.
The U.S. Civil War
Anti-slavery and anti-secession sentiment ran high in East Tennessee in the years leading up to the U.S. Civil War. William "Parson" BrownlowWilliam Gannaway Brownlow
William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician who served as Governor of the state of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875...
, the radical publisher of the Knoxville Whig, was one of the region's leading anti-secessionists (although he defended the practice of slavery). Blount County, just south of Knoxville, had developed into a center of abolitionist activity, due in part to its relatively large Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
faction and the anti-slavery president of Maryville College
Maryville College
Maryville College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Maryville, Tennessee, near Knoxville. It was founded in 1819 by Presbyterian minister Isaac L. Anderson for the purpose of furthering education and enlightenment into the West. The College is one of the fifty oldest colleges in the...
, Isaac Anderson. The Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church, Knoxville
Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church, Knoxville
The Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church is a historic church congregation presently located in a building at 3800 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was reportedly a station on the Underground Railroad...
was reportedly a station on the underground railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. Business interests, however, guided largely by Knoxville's trade connections with cotton-growing centers to the south, contributed to the development of a strong pro-secession movement within the city. The city's pro-secessionists included among their ranks Dr. J.G.M. Ramsey, a prominent historian whose father had built the Ramsey House in 1797. Thus, while East Tennessee and greater Knox County voted decisively against secession in 1861, the city of Knoxville favored secession by a 2-1 margin. In late May 1861, just before the secession vote, delegates of the East Tennessee Convention
East Tennessee Convention of 1861
The East Tennessee Convention consisted of a series of meetings held in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in which 29 counties in East Tennessee and one county in Middle Tennessee denounced secessionist activities within the state of Tennessee and resolved to break away and form an...
met at Temperance Hall in Knoxville in hopes of keeping Tennessee in the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
. After Tennessee voted to secede the following month, the convention met in Greeneville and attempted to create a separate Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.
In July 1861, after Tennessee had joined the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, General Felix Zollicoffer
Felix Zollicoffer
Felix Kirk Zollicoffer was a newspaperman, three-term United States Congressman from Tennessee, officer in the United States Army, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War...
arrived in Knoxville as commander of the District of East Tennessee. While initially lenient toward the city's Union sympathizers, Zollicoffer instituted martial law in November of that year after Union guerillas destroyed seven of the city's bridges. The command of the district passed briefly to George Crittenden and then to Kirby Smith, the latter of whom launched a failed invasion of Kentucky in August 1862. In early 1863, General Simon Buckner took command of Confederate forces in Knoxville. Anticipating a Union invasion, Buckner fortified Fort Loudon (in West Knoxville, not to be confused with the colonial fort
Fort Loudoun (Tennessee)
Fort Loudoun was a British colonial fort in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, near the towns of the Overhill Cherokee. The fort was reconstructed during the Great Depression and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.-History:...
to the southwest) and began constructing earthworks throughout the city. The approach of Union forces under Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Burnside
Ambrose Everett Burnside was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a U.S. Senator...
in the Summer of 1863, however, forced Buckner to evacuate Knoxville before the earthworks were completed.
Burnside arrived in Knoxville in early September 1863. Like the Confederates, he immediately began fortifying the city. The Union forces rebuilt Fort Loudon and erected 12 other forts and batteries flanked by entrenchments around the city. Burnside moved a pontoon bridge upstream from Loudon
Loudon, Tennessee
Loudon is a city in and the county seat of Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 4,476 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located in eastern Tennessee, southwest of Knoxville, on the Tennessee River...
, allowing Union forces to cross the river and build a series of forts along the heights of South Knoxville, including Fort Stanley and Fort Dickerson.
As Burnside was fortifying Knoxville, the Confederate army defeated Union forces at the Battle of Chickamauga
Battle of Chickamauga
The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign...
(near the Tennessee-Georgia line) and subsequently laid siege to Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
. On November 3, 1863, the Confederates dispatched General James Longstreet
James Longstreet
James Longstreet was one of the foremost Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse." He served under Lee as a corps commander for many of the famous battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the...
north to attack Burnside at Knoxville. Longstreet initially wanted to attack the city from the south, but lacking the means to carry the necessary pontoon bridges, he was forced to cross the river further downstream at Loudon (November 14) and march against the city's heavily-fortified western section. On November 15, General Joseph Wheeler
Joseph Wheeler
Joseph Wheeler was an American military commander and politician. He has the rare distinction of serving as a general during war time for two opposing forces: first as a noted cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and later as a general in the...
unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Union forces in the heights of South Knoxville, and the following day Longstreet failed to cut off retreating Union forces at Campbell's Station
Battle of Campbell's Station
The Battle of Campbell's Station was a battle of the Knoxville Campaign of the American Civil War, occurring on November 16, 1863, at Campbell's Station, , Knox County, Tennessee....
(now Farragut). On November 18, General William P. Sanders
William P. Sanders
William Price Sanders was an officer in the Union Army in the American Civil War, who died at the Siege of Knoxville.-Birth and early years:...
was mortally wounded while conducting delaying maneuvers west of Knoxville, and Fort Loudon was renamed Fort Sanders in his honor. On November 29, after a two-week siege, the Confederates attacked Fort Sanders, but retreated after a fierce 20-minute engagement. On December 4, after word of the Confederate setback at Chattanooga reached Longstreet, Longstreet abandoned his attempts to take Knoxville and retreated into winter quarters at Russellville
Russellville, Tennessee
Russellville is an unincorporated community in Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. Located along U.S. Route 11E, it lies approximately midway between Whitesburg and Morristown.-History:...
. He rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac...
the following Spring.
Reconstruction and the Industrial Age
After the war, northern investors such as the brothers Joseph and David Richards helped Knoxville recover relatively quickly. Joseph and David Richards convinced 104 Welsh immigrant familiesWelsh American
Welsh Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Wales. In the 2008 U.S. Census community survey, an estimated 1.98 million Americans had Welsh ancestry, 0.6% of the total U.S. population. This compares with a population of 3 million in Wales. However,...
to migrate from the Welsh Tract
Welsh Tract
The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers. It covers 40,000 acres to the west of Philadelphia...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
to work in a rolling mill then co-owned by John H. Jones. These Welsh families settled in an area now known as Mechanicsville
Mechanicsville, Knoxville
Mechanicsville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, located northwest of the city's downtown area. One of the city's oldest neighborhoods, Mechanicsville was established in the late 1860s for skilled laborers working in the many factories that sprang up along Knoxville's periphery...
. The Richards brothers also co-founded the Knoxville Iron Works beside the L&N Railroad, also employing Welsh workers. Later the site would be used as the grounds for the 1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
The 1982 World's Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World."...
.
Other companies that sprang up during this period were Knoxville Woolen Mills, Dixie Cement, and Woodruff's Furniture. Between 1880 and 1887, 97 factories were established in Knoxville, most of them specializing in textiles, food products, and iron products. By the 1890s, Knoxville was home to more than 50 wholesaling houses, making it the third largest wholesaling center by volume in the South. The Candoro Marble Works, established in the community of Vestal in 1914, became the nation's foremost producer of pink marble and one of the nation's largest marble importers.
In 1869, Thomas Hughes, a Union-sympathizer and president of East Tennessee University, secured federal wartime restitution funding and state-designated Morrill Act funding to expand the college, which had been occupied by both armies during the war. In 1879, the school changed its name to the University of Tennessee, hoping to secure more funding from the Tennessee state legislature. Charles Dabney
Charles William Dabney
Charles William Dabney was President of the University of Tennessee and the University of Cincinnati.-Biography:...
, who became president of the university in 1887, overhauled the faculty and established a law school in an attempt to modernize the scope of the university.
The post-war manufacturing boom brought thousands of immigrants to the city. The population of Knoxville grew from around 5,000 in 1860 to 32,637 in 1900. West Knoxville was annexed in 1897, and over 5,000 new homes were built between 1895 and 1904.
In 1901, train robber Kid Curry
Harvey Logan
Harvey Alexander Logan , also known as Kid Curry, was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang. Despite being less well known than his counterparts, he has since been referred to as "the wildest of the Wild Bunch"...
(whose real name was Harvey Logan), a member of Butch Cassidy
Butch Cassidy
Robert LeRoy Parker , better known as Butch Cassidy, was a notorious American train robber, bank robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the American Old West...
's Wild Bunch
Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang or the Oklahombres, was a gang of outlaws based in the Indian Territory that terrorized Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were...
was captured after shooting two deputies on Knoxville's Central Avenue. He escaped from the Knoxville Jail and rode away on a horse stolen from the sheriff.
The Progressive Era and the Great Depression
The growing city of Knoxville hosted the Appalachian Exposition in 1910 and again in 1911, and the National Conservation ExpositionNational Conservation Exposition
The National Conservation Exposition was an exposition held in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, between September 1, 1913 and November 1, 1913. The exposition celebrated the cause of bringing national attention to conservation activities, especially in the Southeastern United States...
in 1913. The latter is sometimes credited with giving rise to the movement to create a national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
in the Great Smoky Mountains, some 20 miles (32.2 km) south of Knoxville. Around this time, a number of affluent Knoxvillians began purchasing summer cottages in Elkmont
Elkmont, Tennessee
Elkmont is a region situated in the upper Little River Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains of Sevier County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Throughout its history, the valley has been home to a pioneer Appalachian community, a logging town, and a resort community...
, and began to pursue the park idea more vigorously. They were led by Knoxville businessman Colonel David C. Chapman
David C. Chapman
David Carpenter Chapman was an American soldier, politician, and business leader from Knoxville, Tennessee who led the effort to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1920s and 1930s. Mount Chapman and Chapman Highway David Carpenter Chapman (9 August 1876 - 26 July 1944) was...
, who, as head of the Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission, was largely responsible for raising the funds for the purchase of the property that became the core of the park. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North...
opened in 1933.
Knoxville's reliance on a manufacturing economy left it particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The Tennessee Valley also suffered from frequent flooding, and millions of acres of farmland had been ruined by soil erosion. To control flooding and improve the economy in the Tennessee Valley, the federal government created the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
in 1933. Beginning with Norris Dam
Norris Dam
Norris Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control structure located on the Clinch River in Anderson County and Campbell County, Tennessee, USA. Its construction in the mid-1930s was the first major project for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which had been created in 1933 to bring economic...
, TVA constructed a series of hydroelectric and other power plants throughout the valley over the next few decades, bringing flood control, jobs, and electricity to the region. The Federal Works Projects Administration, which also arrived in the 1930s, helped build McGhee-Tyson Airport and expand Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several NFL exhibition games. The stadium's official capacity is 102,455...
. TVA's headquarters, which consists of two twin high rises built in the 1970s, were among Knoxville's first modern high-rise buildings.
In 1948, the soft drink Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew is a citrus-flavored carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in the 1940s by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman and was first marketed in Marion, VA, Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee. A revised formula was...
was first marketed in Knoxville, originally designed as a mixer for whiskey. Around the same time, John Gunther
John Gunther
John Gunther was an American journalist and author whose success came primarily in the 1940s and 1950s with a series of popular sociopolitical works known as the "Inside" books...
, author of Inside USA, dubbed Knoxville the "ugliest city" in America. Gunther's description jolted the city into enacting a series of beautification measures that helped improve the appearance of the Downtown area.
Modern Knoxville
Knoxville's textile and manufacturing industries largely fell victim to foreign competition in the 1950s and 1960s, and after the establishment of the Interstate Highway system in the 1960s, the railroad—which had been largely responsible for Knoxville's industrial growth—began to decline. The rise of suburban shopping malls in the 1970s drew retail revenues away from Knoxville's Downtown area. While government jobs and economic diversification prevented widespread unemployment in Knoxville, the city sought to recover the massive loss of revenue by attempting to annex neighboring communities in Knox County. These annexation attempts often turned combative, and several attempts to merge the Knoxville and Knox County governments failed though the school boards merged on 1 July 1987.With annexation attempts stalling, Knoxville initiated several projects aimed at boosting revenue in the Downtown area. The 1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
The 1982 World's Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World."...
—the most successful of these projects—became one of the most popular world's fairs in U.S. history with 11 million visitors. The fair's energy theme was selected due to Knoxville being the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority and for the city's proximity to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
. The Sunsphere
Sunsphere
The Sunsphere, in Knoxville, Tennessee, is an high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.-Design:...
, a 266 feet (81.1 m) steel truss structure topped with a gold-colored glass sphere, was built for the fair and remains one of Knoxville's most prominent buildings, along with the adjacent amphitheater which underwent a renovation that was completed in 2008.
Ever since, Knoxville's downtown has been developing, with the opening of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Knoxville Convention Center, redevelopment of Market Square, a new visitors center, a regional history museum, a Regal Cinemas
Regal Cinemas
Regal Cinemas is a UK-based cinema chain since the early days of the cinema. In 1928, Regal Cinemas became part of Associated British Cinemas but has retained the name 'Regal Cinemas'....
theater, several restaurants and bars, and many new and redeveloped condominiums. Since 2000 Knoxville has successfully brought business back to the downtown area. The arts in particular have begun to flourish, there are multiple venues for outdoor concerts and Gay St. hosts a new arts annex and gallery surrounded by many studios and new business as well. The Tennessee and Bijou Theaters underwent renovation providing a good basis for the city and its developers to re purpose the old downtown and have had great success to date revitalizing this once great section of Tennessee.
Geography
Knoxville is located at 35°58′22"N 83°56′32"W (35.972882, -83.942161).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 98.1 square miles (254.1 km²), of which, 92.7 square miles (240.1 km²) of it is land and 5.4 square miles (14 km²) of it is water. The total area is 5.5% water.
In the southeast part of the city, the French Broad River
French Broad River
The French Broad River flows from near the village of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into the state of Tennessee. Its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville is the beginning of the Tennessee River....
(flowing from Asheville, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
) joins the Holston River
Holston River
The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia...
(flowing from Kingsport
Kingsport, Tennessee
Kingsport is a city located mainly in Sullivan County with some western portions in Hawkins County in the US state of Tennessee. The majority of the city lies in Sullivan County...
) to form the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
. Knoxville is centered around a hilly area along the north bank of the river between its First Creek and Second Creek tributaries. This area now comprises Downtown Knoxville. South Knoxville refers to the industrial and residential areas along the south bank of the river (extending to the Blount County line), and West Knoxville typically refers to the area beyond Sequoyah Hills, much of which is situated along Kingston Pike and the merged I-40 and I-75. The Knox County section of the Tennessee River is technically part of Fort Loudoun Lake, an impoundment of the river created by the completion of Fort Loudoun Dam
Fort Loudoun Dam
Fort Loudoun Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Loudon County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority , which built the dam in the early 1940s as part of a unified plan to provide electricity and flood control in the...
(near Lenoir City
Lenoir City, Tennessee
Lenoir City is a city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 8,642 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area....
) in 1940.
The hills and ridges surrounding Knoxville are part of the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley Province
Ridge-and-valley Appalachians
The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, also called the Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division and are also a belt within the Appalachian Mountains extending from southeastern New York through northwestern New...
, which consists of a series of elongate and narrow ridges that traverse the upper Tennessee Valley. The most substantial Ridge-and-Valley structures in the Knoxville area are Bays Mountain
Bays Mountain
Bays Mountain is a ridge of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, located in eastern Tennessee. It runs southwest to northeast, from just south of Knoxville to Kingsport.Its southern segment is relatively low in elevation...
, which runs along the Knox-Blount county line to the south, and Beaver Ridge, which passes through the northern section of the town. The Great Smoky Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
—a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
—are located approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) south of Knoxville.
Climate
Knoxville falls in the humid subtropical climateHumid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...
zone (Koppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
Cfa), although it is not quite as hot as areas to the south and west due to the higher elevations. Summers are hot and humid, with July highs averaging 87 °F (30.6 °C), lows averaging 66 °F (18.9 °C), and an average of 29 days per year with temperatures above 90 °F (32.2 °C). Winters are generally cool, with occasional small amounts of snow. January averages a high of around 45 °F (7.2 °C) and a low of around 25 °F (-3.9 °C), although low temperaures in the teens are not uncommon. Single digits are very rare, occurring once every few years. The record high for Knoxville is 104 °F (40 °C) occurring July 12, 1930, while the record low is -24 °F occurring January 21, 1985. Annual precipitation averages around 48 in (1,219 mm), and average winter snowfall is 11.5 inches (29.2 cm).
Knoxville Metropolitan Area
Knoxville is the central city in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area, an Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-designated metropolitan statistical area (MSA) that covers Knox, AndersonAnderson County, Tennessee
Anderson County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, its population is 75,129. Its county seat is Clinton.It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee, Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, Blount
Blount County, Tennessee
Blount County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its population was 123,010 at the United States Census, 2010. The county seat is at Maryville, which is also the county's largest city....
, Loudon, and Union counties. MSAs consist of a core urban center and the outlying communities and rural areas with which it maintains close economic ties. They are not administrative divisions, and should not be confused with "metropolitan government," or a consolidated city-county
Consolidated city-county
In United States local government, a consolidated city–county is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is a municipal corporation, and a county, which is an administrative division of a state...
government, which Knoxville and Knox County lack.
The Knoxville Metropolitan area includes unincorporated communities such as Halls
Halls Crossroads, Tennessee
Halls Crossroads is an unincorporated community in northern Knox County, Tennessee. As a northern suburb of nearby Knoxville, Halls is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Powell
Powell, Tennessee
Powell is an unincorporated community in Knox County, Tennessee, United States. The United States Geographic Names System classifies Powell as a populated place. The area is located in the Emory Road corridor, just north of Knoxville, southeast of Clinton, and east of Oak Ridge...
, Karns
Karns, Tennessee
Karns is an unincorporated community in western Knox County, Tennessee, United States, about west of the center of Knoxville. The United States Geographic Names System classifies Karns as a populated place.- Geography :...
, Corryton
Corryton, Tennessee
Corryton is an unincorporated community in northeastern Knox County, Tennessee, United States, about 15 miles north of Knoxville. The United States Geographic Names System classifies Corryton as a populated place...
, Concord
Concord, Knox County, Tennessee
Concord is an unincorporated community in Knox County, Tennessee, United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district. The United States Geographic Names System classifies Concord as a populated place...
, and Mascot
Mascot, Tennessee
Mascot is a census-designated place in Knox County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,119 at the 2000 census.Mascot is the site of an underground zinc mine.-History:...
, which are located in Knox County outside of Knoxville's city limits. Along with Knoxville, major municipalities in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area include Alcoa
Alcoa, Tennessee
Alcoa is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, United States, south of Knoxville. Its population was 7,744 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Maryville
Maryville, Tennessee
Maryville is the county seat of Blount County, Tennessee, in the Southeastern United States. The city is located south of Knoxville. Maryville's population was 27,258 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Maryville has received a number of accolades for its...
, Lenoir City
Lenoir City, Tennessee
Lenoir City is a city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 8,642 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area....
, Loudon
Loudon, Tennessee
Loudon is a city in and the county seat of Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 4,476 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located in eastern Tennessee, southwest of Knoxville, on the Tennessee River...
, Farragut
Farragut, Tennessee
Farragut is a town in Knox and Loudon counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and is generally a suburb of nearby Knoxville. Farragut's population was 20,689 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area...
, Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
, Clinton
Clinton, Tennessee
Clinton is a city in Anderson County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 9,409 at the United States Census, 2000. It is the county seat of Anderson County. Clinton is included in the "Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area".-Geography:...
, and Maynardville
Maynardville, Tennessee
Maynardville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 1,782 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. As of 2008, the population of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area was 691,152.
Additionally, the Knoxville MSA is the chief component of the larger OMB-designated Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette TN
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
Combined Statistical Area
Combined Statistical Area
The United States Office of Management and Budget defines micropolitan and metropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas consist of one or more counties...
(CSA). The CSA also includes the Morristown Metropolitan Statistical Area
Morristown metropolitan area
The Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of three counties - Grainger, Hamblen, and Jefferson - in eastern Tennessee, anchored by the city of Morristown. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 123,081...
(Hamblen, Grainger, and Jefferson
Jefferson County, Tennessee
*...
counties) and the Sevierville
Sevierville, Tennessee
Sevierville is a city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. Its population was 11,757 at the 2000 United States Census; in 2004 the estimated population was 14,101. Sevierville is the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee....
(Sevier County
Sevier County, Tennessee
Sevier County is a county of the state of Tennessee, United States. Its population was 71,170 at the 2000 United States Census. It is included in the Sevierville, Tennessee, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN Combined Statistical Area. The...
), La Follette
La Follette, Tennessee
LaFollette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,926 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the La Follette, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette...
(Campbell County
Campbell County, Tennessee
Campbell County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 40,716. Its county seat is Jacksboro. The Census Bureau has identified the county as a Micropolitan Statistical Area, designated the LaFollette Micropolitan Statistical Area for the largest...
), Harriman
Harriman, Tennessee
Harriman is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, primarily in Roane County, with a small extension into Morgan County. It is the principal city of and is included in the Harriman Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Roane County and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La...
(Roane County), and Newport
Newport, Tennessee
Newport is a city in Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 7,242 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Cocke County.-Geography:...
(Cocke County) Micropolitan Statistical Areas. Municipalities in the CSA, but not the Knoxville MSA, include Morristown, Rutledge
Rutledge, Tennessee
Rutledge is a town in Grainger County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Grainger County. It is part of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Dandridge
Dandridge, Tennessee
Dandridge is a town in Jefferson County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County. It is part of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Jefferson City
Jefferson City, Tennessee
Jefferson City is a city in Jefferson County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Morristown, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,760 at the 2000 census. The city was originally named Mossy Creek, but was changed in 1901 to honor Thomas Jefferson...
, Sevierville, Gatlinburg
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Gatlinburg had a population of 3,828. The city is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S...
, Pigeon Forge
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 5,875....
, LaFollette, Jacksboro
Jacksboro, Tennessee
Jacksboro is a town in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,887 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Campbell County.-Geography:Jacksboro is located at...
, Harriman, Kingston
Kingston, Tennessee
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States, and is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake. Kingston, with a population of 5,264 at the 2000 United States census, is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area....
, Rockwood
Rockwood, Tennessee
Rockwood is a city in Roane County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 5,774 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, and Newport. The combined population of the CSA as of the 2000 Census was 935,659. Its estimated 2008 population was 1,041,955.
Georgia Tech researchers have mapped the Knoxville MSA as one of the 18 'Major Cities' in the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion.
Neighborhoods
|
Mechanicsville, Knoxville Mechanicsville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, located northwest of the city's downtown area. One of the city's oldest neighborhoods, Mechanicsville was established in the late 1860s for skilled laborers working in the many factories that sprang up along Knoxville's periphery... North Hills Historic District The North Hills Historic District is a residential subdivision in north Knoxville, Tennessee, that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in September 2008 as an historic district. The subdivision was established in 1927 by the North Hills Corporation as a neighborhood of... North Knoxville North Knoxville is the section of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that lies north of the city's downtown area. It is concentrated around Broadway , Clinton Highway , Tazewell Pike , Washington Pike, and adjacent roads, and includes the neighborhoods of Fountain City, Inskip-Norwood, Oakwood-Lincoln... Norwood (Knoxville, Tennessee) Norwood is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is located in an area north and west of Interstate 75, north of Interstate 640, east of Western Avenue, and south of Schaad Road and Callahan Drive.Its ZIP codes are 37912 and 37921.-References:*... Lincoln Park, Knoxville Lincoln Park, sometimes referred to as Oakwood-Lincoln Park, is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee. It extends from Interstate 275 North to Broadway and from Sharp's Ridge to Woodlawn Avenue. This neighborhood also includes the Oakwood neighborhood... Old North Knoxville Old North Knoxville is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just north of the city's downtown area. Initially established as the town of North Knoxville in the late-19th century, the area was a prominent suburb for Knoxville's upper middle and professional classes until the 1950s... Parkridge (Knoxville, Tennessee) Parkridge is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located off Magnolia Avenue east of the city's downtown area. Developed as a streetcar suburb for Knoxville's professional class in the 1890s, the neighborhood was incorporated as the separate city of Park City in 1907, and annexed by... Rocky Hill (Knoxville, Tennessee) Rocky Hill is a West Knoxville neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee. It encompasses an area north and west of Northshore Drive, east of Morrell Road, and south of Westland Drive.Its ZIP code is 37919.-References:**... Sequoyah Hills, Tennessee Sequoyah Hills is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located off Kingston Pike between the city's downtown area and West Knoxville. Initially developed in the 1920s, Sequoyah Hills was one of Knoxville's first suburbs, and today is home to some of the city's most affluent residents... South Knoxville South Knoxville is the section of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that lies south of the Tennessee River. It is concentrated along Chapman Highway , Alcoa Highway , Maryville Pike , Sevierville Pike, and adjacent roads, and includes the neighborhoods of Lindbergh Forest, Island Home Park, Old Sevier,... West Hills (Knoxville, Tennessee) West Hills is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, located just off Kingston Pike in West Knoxville. Initially developed in the 1950s, West Hills was Knoxville's first major post-World War II subdivision, and the first subdivision to consist primarily of modern ranch-style houses... West Knoxville West Knoxville is the section of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, that lies west of the city's downtown area. It generally stretches from Sequoyah Hills on the east to the city's border with Farragut on the west... |
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 177,661 people, 76,650 households, and 40,164 families residing in the city, and the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 616,079. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,876.7 people per square mile (724.6/km²). There were 84,981 housing units at an average density of 917.1 per square mile (354.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.7% White, 16.2% African American, 1.45% Asian, 0.31% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.72% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.58% of the population.
There were 76,650 households out of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.3% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.6% were non-families. 38.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.12 and the average family size was 2.84.
In the city the population was spread out with 19.7% under the age of 18, 16.8% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $27,492, and the median income for a family is $37,708. Males had a median income of $29,070 versus $22,593 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city is $18,171. About 14.4% of families and 20.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.1% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.
In 2006, ERI
Economic Research Institute
ERI Economic Research Institute, or ERI, is a private company with headquartersin Redmond, Washington. It has offices in Redmond, Bellingham, Vancouver, Washington; Newport Beach, California, Washington, DC, and London....
published an analysis that identified Knoxville as the most affordable U.S. city for new college graduates, based on the ratio of typical salary to cost of living.
Population and household growth are expected to follow employment growth, causing increased housing demand during the forecast period. Resident employment should continue to grow at a pace equal to that from 2000 to the Current date. As population continues to increase and the labor force grows, the unemployment rate is projected to increase slightly to 3.7 percent. The population growth is estimated to result in 12,900 new households in the HMA by the Forecast date. Demand for new housing for the period from April 1, 2005, to April 1, 2008, is estimated to total 13,100 units—10,400 sales units and 2,700 rental units.
Economy
Knoxville's economy is largely fueled by the regional location of the main campus of the University of TennesseeUniversity of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
and other Department of Energy facilities in nearby Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
, the National Transportation Research Center
National Transportation Research Center
For the sigma N-transcription factor activator protein in prokaryotes, see NtrCThe National Transportation Research Center is an institution, located in Knoxville, Tennessee, that conducts research and development aimed at increasing the efficiency and safety of transportation systems and...
, and the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
.
In April 2008, Forbes Magazine named Knoxville among the Top 10 Metropolitan Hotspots in the United States and within Forbes' Top 5 for Business & Careers, just behind cities like New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
In March 2009, CNN ranked Knoxville as the 59th city in the top 100 US metro areas, in terms of real estate price depreciation. The median price of a home in Knoxville is $184,900.
Kiplinger
Kiplinger
Kiplinger is a Washington, D.C.-based publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice, available in print, online, audio, video and software products ....
has ranked Knoxville at #5 in its list of Best Value Cities 2011 citing "college sports, the Smoky Mountains and an entrepreneurial spirit."
Major companies headquartered in Knoxville
|
Petro's Chili & Chips Petro's Chili & Chips is a small fast-food chain based in Knoxville, Tennessee, with several locations in Knoxville and other parts of East Tennessee.- History :Petro's got its start at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville... Truck stop A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers... subsidiary Pilot Flying J Regal Entertainment Group Regal Entertainment Group also known as REG is a movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. Regal operates the largest and most geographically diverse theater circuit in the United States, consisting of 6,775 screens in 548 locations in 39 states and the District of Columbia as of... Sea Ray Sea Ray is a brand of pleasure boats produced and sold around the world. The company currently operates as part of the Brunswick Boat Group, a division of the Brunswick Corporation.-History:... Scripps Networks Interactive Scripps Networks Interactive is an American media company formed on July 1, 2008 as a spin out of the E.W. Scripps Company. Since launching HGTV in 1994, Scripps has become a leader in lifestyle media, developing relevant content for television, the Internet satellite radio, books, magazines, and... , including HGTV HGTV HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows... Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected... (a government corporation) Tombras Group The Tombras Group, founded in 1946, is a privately held advertising agency headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, noted for its national and regional advertising campaigns in the United States. With annual billings of $80 million, Tombras is one of the nation's largest independent digital-centric... , advertising agency Weigel's Weigel's is a gas station and convenience store chain located in the Knoxville, Tennessee area.- History :The Weigel family entered the dairy business in 1931 with a "herd" of four cows, selling raw milk for nine cents a gallon. In 1936, a used pasteurizer was purchased and the dairy became one of... |
Culture
Knoxville is home to a rich arts community and has many festivals throughout the year. Its contributions to old-time, bluegrass and country music are numerous, from Flatt & Scruggs and Homer & Jethro to the Everly Brothers. For the past several years an award-winning listener-funded radio station, WDVXWDVX
WDVX is a Knoxville, Tennessee, FM radio station broadcasting at 89.9 and 102.9 MHz.WDVX plays American roots music, including bluegrass, Americana, classic country, alternative country, Western swing, blues, old-time and traditional mountain music, bluegrass gospel, Celtic, and...
, has broadcast weekday lunchtime concerts of bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, old-time music
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
and more from the Knoxville Visitor's Center on Gay Street, as well as streaming
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
its music programming to the world over the Internet.
Knoxville also boasts an Opera Company which has been guided by Don Townsend for over two decades. The KOC performs a season of opera every year with a talented chorus as the backbone of each production.
In its May 2003 "20 Most Rock & Roll towns in the U.S." feature, Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
ranked Knoxville the 17th best music scene in the United States. In the ’90s, noted alternative-music critic Ann Powers, author of Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America, referred to the city as "Austin without the hype".
The city also hosts numerous art festivals, including the 17-day Dogwood Arts Festival
Dogwood Arts Festival (Knoxville)
The Dogwood Arts Festival is an annual event in Knoxville, Tennessee that celebrates the blooming of the dogwood trees. It includes a parade, a house and garden show, and demonstrations of various Appalachian arts and crafts such as quilting, bluegrass music, and doll-making...
in April, which features art shows, crafts fairs, food and live music. Also in April is the Rossini Festival, which celebrates opera and Italian culture. June's Kuumba (meaning creativity in Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
) Festival commemorates the region's African American heritage and showcases visual arts, folk arts, dance, games, music, storytelling, theater, and food. Autumn on the Square showcases national and local artists in outdoor concert series at historic Market Square, which has been revitalized with specialty shops and residences. Every Labor Day brings Boomsday
Boomsday
Boomsday is an annual fireworks celebration that takes place on Labor Day weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is one of the largest firework shows in the Southern United States and is considered a top attraction in the region. The event is held on Volunteer Landing and accompanied by live music and...
, the largest Labor Day fireworks display in the United States, to the banks of the Tennessee River between Neyland Stadium and downtown.
Events
|
Knoxville Marathon The Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race run in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. The race was established in 2005 and has been run annually ever since. The course time limit is 7 hours.... Knoxville Symphony Orchestra The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra in Knoxville, Tennessee.The orchestra was established in 1935 and is the oldest continuing orchestra in the southeastern United States. The founding conductor was Bertha Walburn Clark, who led the group until 1946... Singing Christmas Tree A Singing Christmas Tree, sometimes called a Living Christmas Tree, is an artificial Christmas tree filled with singers used as part of nativity plays. First appearing in 1933 in Mississippi, they later made their debut indoors in 1958 in North Carolina... The Living Christmas Tree Ska Weekend Ska Weekend is a music festival in Knoxville, TN, United States, that began in 2003 with only a few bands and has grown to be one of the largest gatherings of ska musicians in the country.-Popularity:... |
Sites of interest
|
Frank H. McClung Museum The Frank H. McClung Museum is a general museum located on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Built in 1963, exhibits focus on natural history, archeology, anthropology, decorative arts, and local history... National Register of Historic Places, Knox County, Tennessee This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Tennessee.This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Tennessee, United States... Sunsphere The Sunsphere, in Knoxville, Tennessee, is an high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.-Design:... Tennessee Theatre The Tennessee Theatre is a 1920s-era movie palace, located within the Burwell Building in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, at 604 South Gay Street.-History:... Three Rivers Rambler The Three Rivers Rambler is a scenic train ride in Knoxville, Tennessee along the Tennessee River provided by the Knoxville and Holston River Railroad, a subsidiary of Gulf and Ohio Railways.-The Ride:... Train Ride 1982 World's Fair The 1982 World's Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World."... |
Media and popular culture
The Knoxville News SentinelKnoxville News Sentinel
The Knoxville News Sentinel is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. It operates , an award-winning news website....
is the local daily newspaper in Knoxville, with a Sunday circulation of 150,147 (as of March 31, 2007), owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
E. W. Scripps Company
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American media conglomerate founded by Edward W. Scripps on November 2, 1878. The company is headquartered inside the Scripps Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its corporate motto is "Give light and the people will find their own way."On October 16, 2007, the company...
. Metro Pulse
Metro Pulse
Metro Pulse is a weekly newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee.It was founded in 1991 by Ashley Capps, Rand Pearson, Ian Blackburn, and Margaret Weston. Metro Pulse has been a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies since 1993....
is a standard weekly publication covering popular culture, arts, and entertainment, also owned by E.W. Scripps. The Knoxville Voice
Knoxville Voice
Knoxville Voice was a populist alternative newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was published every two weeks and available free of charge in more than 300 locations throughout Knox and Blount counties. The paper debuted on April 20, 2006 and ceased publication on January 8, 2009. The summer 2007...
is a former populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
alternative newspaper that was published on a biweekly basis from 2006-2009.
The Knoxville metro area is served by many local television and radio stations. , the Knoxville designated market area (DMA) is the 59th largest in the U.S. with 552,380 homes, according to Nielsen Market Research. The major network television affiliates are WATE
WATE-TV
WATE-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Knoxville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 26 from a transmitter on Sharp's Ridge in North Knoxville. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 6 as well as Comcast and Knology...
6 (ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
), WMAK
WMAK
WMAK, channel 7, is a digital television station serving the Knoxville, Tennessee area. WMAK signed on July 31, 2004, making it one of the few stations in the US to sign on exclusively as a digital station, with no full-powered analog counterpart...
7 (RTV
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
), WVLT
WVLT-TV
WVLT-TV is the CBS television network affiliate station serving Knoxville, Tennessee, the 58th DMA in America according to Nielsen Media Research...
8 (CBS), WBIR
WBIR-TV
WBIR-TV, channel 10, is the NBC affiliate television station in Knoxville, Tennessee. The station is licensed to the Gannett Pacific Corporation, a subsidiary of the Gannett Company...
10 (NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
), WBXX
WBXX-TV
WBXX-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Crossville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter in unincorporated Southwestern Anderson County. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Knology channel 7 as well as...
20 (CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
), WPXK 23 (Ion), and WTNZ
WTNZ
WTNZ is the Fox-affiliated television station for Eastern Tennessee licensed to Knoxville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter on Sharp's Ridge in the city's Arlington section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 11 and in high definition...
43 (Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
). WVLT, known on-air as VolunteerTV, also operates a MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
channel on its digital
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
subchannel. This channel was the area's UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliate from 1995-2006. East Tennessee PBS
East Tennessee PBS
East Tennessee PBS is a state network of two Public Broadcasting Service member Public television stations serving the Knoxville and Tri-Cities regions of East Tennessee...
operates Knoxville's Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station at WKOP 17. Knoxville is also the headquarters of Scripps Networks Interactive
Scripps Networks Interactive
Scripps Networks Interactive is an American media company formed on July 1, 2008 as a spin out of the E.W. Scripps Company. Since launching HGTV in 1994, Scripps has become a leader in lifestyle media, developing relevant content for television, the Internet satellite radio, books, magazines, and...
(subsidiary of E. W. Scripps), which operates several cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
networks, including HGTV
HGTV
HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...
, DIY Network
DIY Network
DIY Network is a channel owned by Scripps Networks Interactive that focuses on do it yourself projects at home.Television stations air local versions with local hosts with segments produced by the network. Branded DIY Network programming is also broadcast in Japan and the Philippines...
, Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
, Cooking Channel
Cooking Channel
Cooking Channel is a television specialty channel that airs recurring programs about food and cooking, owned by Scripps Networks Interactive. It is a spinoff of Food Network, also owned by SNI, but focuses more on instructional shows rather than "reality style" and contest programming that Food...
, Travel Channel
Travel Channel
The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...
and Great American Country
Great American Country
Great American Country , is a Nashville, Tennessee-based country music cable television network.-History:The station launched December 31, 1995 and Garth Brooks' video "The Thunder Rolls" was the first video to air on GAC....
. Home shopping network, Jewelry Television
Jewelry Television
Jewelry Television is an American television network, similar to the Home Shopping Network. It was formerly called "America's Collectibles Network" . The privately-held company was founded in 1993 and broadcasts high definition programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to over 80 million unique...
, is also based in the city. There are also a wide variety of radio stations in the Knoxville area, catering to many different interests, including news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
, talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
, and sports, as well as an eclectic mix of musical interests.
The 1999 film October Sky
October Sky
October Sky is a 1999 American biographical film directed by Joe Johnston, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper and Laura Dern. It is based on the true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1 to take up rocketry against his father's wishes, and who...
was filmed in Knoxville as well as several counties in east Tennessee, and the 2000 film Road Trip was partially filmed at the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
campus downtown. The film Box of Moonlight, starring John Turturro and Sam Rockwell, was filmed and takes place in and around Knoxville. The March 31, 1996 episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, entitled Bart on the Road
Bart on the Road
"Bart on the Road" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 1996. In the episode, Bart makes his own fake driver's license. He rents a car with it and takes Milhouse, Martin, and Nelson on a road trip to...
, features Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and his friends renting a car and driving to Knoxville after finding a promotional brochure for the city's 1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
The 1982 World's Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World."...
, only to discover the fair has long ended, and its featured attraction, the Sunsphere
Sunsphere
The Sunsphere, in Knoxville, Tennessee, is an high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.-Design:...
, has fallen into decay. Academy Award-winning director and producer, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
was born in Knoxville, as well as actors Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
, David Keith
David Keith
David Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman.-Career:...
, and Brad Renfro
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro was an American actor. He made his film debut in 1994 at age 12 in the lead role of Joel Schumacher's The Client, going on to star in 21 feature films, several short films, and two television episodes during his career. Much of his later career was marred by a pattern of...
. Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback
Survivor: The Australian Outback is the second season of the United States reality show Survivor. Filming took place at Goshen Station in northern Queensland during 2000 and aired from January 28, 2001 to May 3, 2001 on CBS...
finalist Tina Wesson
Tina Wesson
Tina Wesson won $1,000,000 as the winner of Survivor: The Australian Outback. A married personal nurse from Knoxville, Tennessee, Wesson outlasted 15 other players to become the first woman to win the $1 million prize in 2001. She did not have any votes cast against her at Tribal Council...
is also from Knoxville.
Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning novelist and playwright James Agee
James Agee
James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
was born in Knoxville and spent his early years there. His novel A Death in the Family
A Death in the Family
A Death in the Family is an autobiographical novel by author James Agee, set in Knoxville, Tennessee. He began writing it in 1948, but it was not quite complete when he died in 1955. It was edited and released posthumously in 1957 by editor David McDowell. Agee's widow and children were left with...
centers around the Fort Sanders neighborhood where his family lived and chronicles the death of his father. Another Pulitzer recipient, Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
, spent most of his childhood in Knoxville. His novel Suttree
Suttree
Suttree is a semi-autobiographical novel by Cormac McCarthy, published in 1979. Set in 1951 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the novel follows Cornelius Suttree, who has repudiated his former life of privilege to become a fisherman on the Tennessee River. The novel has a fragmented structure with many...
revolves around life among the city's working class in the early 1950s.
Singer Ava Barber
Ava Barber
Ava Barber is an American country music singer and performer. She is best remembered for having performed on The Lawrence Welk Show throughout much of the 1970s and early 1980s....
, famous for her tenure on The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
, was born and spent much of her early life in Knoxville.
Entertainer Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, a native of Sevierville, received her first taste of fame in Knoxville, as a teenager, performing as a regular on Cas Walker
Cas Walker
Orton Caswell Walker , better known as Cas Walker, was a Tennessee businessman, politician, and personality on television and radio. Walker founded a successful chain of small grocery stores that grew to include several dozen stores scattered throughout the Knoxville, Tennessee vicinity as well as...
's local radio show.
Other references to Knoxville in literature and music include:
- “Knoxville Courthouse Blues”, Hank Williams, Jr.Hank Williams, Jr.Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...
, 1984. - "The Ballad of Thunder RoadThe Ballad of Thunder Road"The Ballad of Thunder Road" is a song performed and co-written by actor Robert Mitchum in 1957, with music by composer Jack Marshall. It was the theme song of the movie Thunder Road. The song made the Billboard Hot 100 twice, in 1958 and 1962, and while it never peaked higher than #62, it racked...
", Robert MitchumRobert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
, 1957. Lyrics reference Knoxville's Bearden community. - "The Knoxville GirlThe Knoxville Girl"The Knoxville Girl" is an Appalachian murder ballad. It is derived from the 19th century Irish ballad The Wexford Girl, itself derived from the earlier English ballad "The Oxford Girl". Other versions are known as the "Waxweed Girl", "The Wexford Murder"...
", first recorded in 1924. traditional Appalachian balladAppalachian musicAppalachian music is the traditional music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. It is derived from various European and African influences, including English ballads, Irish and Scottish traditional music , religious hymns, and African-American blues...
. - "Knoxville: Summer of 1915Knoxville: Summer of 1915Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is a 1947 work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber. The text is taken from a 1938 short prose piece by James Agee...
", Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
, 1947 voice & orchestra piece based on 1938 short prose by James AgeeJames AgeeJames Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...
. - "Satan is Busy In Knoxville," song recorded in 1930 by jazz singer Leola Manning
- "Smoky Mountain RainSmoky Mountain Rain"Smoky Mountain Rain" is a song made famous by country music singer Ronnie Milsap. Originally released in 1980, the song became one of his best-known songs....
", Ronnie MilsapRonnie MilsapRonnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s...
, 1980. Lyrics begin “Thumbed my way from LA back to Knoxville . . ." - "The Man in the Overstuffed Chair," a short story by playwright Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, gives a brief description of the death of Williams's father, Cornelius, at a Knoxville hospital, and his subsequent burial at Old Gray Cemetery. - Swiss travel writer Annemarie SchwarzenbachAnnemarie SchwarzenbachAnnemarie Schwarzenbach was a Swiss writer, journalist, photographer and traveler.- Life :Annemarie was born in Bocken, near Zurich, Switzerland...
visited Knoxville in the 1930s, and wrote an essay about the city, "Auf der Schattenseite von Knoxville," which appeared in the December 1937 edition of the Swiss magazine, National ZeitungBasler ZeitungBasler Zeitung is a regional newspaper, published in Basel, Switzerland. The German-language daily was created through the merger of National-Zeitung and Basler Nachrichten in 1977. It is owned by the Basler Zeitung Medien who also publishes the free daily newspaper Baslerstab.-External links:*...
. - Pulitzer Prize-winning author Peter TaylorPeter Matthew Hillsman TaylorFor other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor.Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor was a U.S. author and writer.-Biography:...
's last novel, In the Tennessee Country, makes numerous references to a "Knoxville cemetery" where the main character's grandfather (a fictitious politician) is buried. This is a possible allusion to Old Gray Cemetery, where Taylor's own grandfather, Governor Robert Love TaylorRobert Love TaylorRobert Love Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1879 to 1881, Governor of Tennessee from 1887 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently a United States Senator from that state from 1907 until his death. He is notable for winning the governor's office in an election against...
, was originally buried in 1912. - Twain, Mark. Life on the MississippiLife on the MississippiLife on the Mississippi is a memoir by Mark Twain, of his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the American Civil War, and also a travel book, recounting his trip along the Mississippi many years after the War....
, Chapter 40. Twain wrote about a gunfight in downtown KnoxvilleDowntown KnoxvilleDowntown Knoxville is the downtown area of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It contains the city's central business district and primary city and county municipal offices. It is also home to several retail establishments, residential buildings, and the city's convention center...
involving Joseph Mabry, Jr., owner of Knoxville’s antebellum Mabry-Hazen House. - Part of the 1915 Anne W. ArmstrongAnne W. ArmstrongAnne Wetzell Armstrong was an American novelist and businesswoman, active primarily in the first half of the 20th century. She is best known for her novel, This Day and Time, an account of life in a rural Appalachian community...
novel, The Seas of God, takes place in a fictional town called "Kingsville," which was based on Knoxville. - Van Ryan, Jane. The Seduction of Miss Evelyn Hazen. The book chronicles the sensational lawsuitLawsuitA lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
between Knoxville socialite Evelyn Hazen, granddaughter of Joseph Mabry, Jr., and her fiancee. - "What I Need to Do", Kenny ChesneyKenny ChesneyKenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...
, 1999. Lyrics include the line ". . . maybe head up north to Knoxville, Tennessee . . ." - “Waitin’ on a Woman”, Brad PaisleyBrad PaisleyBrad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
, 2008. Lyrics reference Knoxville's West Town MallWest Town MallWest Town Mall is an upscale shopping mall located in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Opened in August 1972, this one-level mall is located in the western portion of Knoxville in the West Hills community. West Town Mall is located along Interstates 40/75 and Kingston Pike...
. - Woman In Hiding, a 1949 film noirFilm noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
starring actress Ida LupinoIda LupinoIda Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
, has multiple scenes that take place in Knoxville. - In the short story "Just Another Perfect Day", by John Varley, aliens make it so that Knoxville never existed.
- Steve EarleSteve EarleStephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
refers to Knoxville in his 1988 song, "Copperhead Road" from the eponymous album and referenced it in Oxycontin Blues from his Washington Square Serenade album, 2007. - The Felice Brothers refer to "fluttering a chinese fan in a "Knoxville Fashion" in their song Wonderful Life, from their Felice Brothers album (2008).
- Dire StraitsDire StraitsDire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
guitarist Mark KnopflerMark KnopflerMark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
recorded a song entitled, "Daddy's Gone to Knoxville," on his 2002 solo album, The Ragpicker's Dream.
Sports
- Knoxville ForceKnoxville ForceKnoxville Force is an American soccer team based in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 2010, the team debuted in the Southeast Division of the National Premier Soccer League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in 2011....
(National Premier Soccer LeagueNational Premier Soccer LeagueThe National Premier Soccer League is a United States soccer league recognized by the United States Soccer Federation and FIFA as a Division IV league...
, Southeast Division) - Knoxville Ice BearsKnoxville Ice BearsThe Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. They play their home games at James White Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 2006 the Ice Bears defeated the Florida Seals to take the SPHL championship and the...
(Southern Professional Hockey LeagueSouthern Professional Hockey LeagueThe Southern Professional Hockey League is a low-level professional ice hockey league based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with teams located in the southeastern United States.- History :...
) - Knoxville Rugby ClubKnoxville Rugby ClubThe Knoxville Rugby Club, founded in 1980, is an adult rugby union club serving the greater Knoxville area. The Possums compete in Division II of the South Territory of USA Rugby.-History:...
(Division II member of the South Territory, USA RugbyUSA RugbyUSA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...
Union) - Tennessee SmokiesTennessee SmokiesThe Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in the Knoxville, Tennessee metropolitan area. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball as of the 2011 season...
(Southern LeagueSouthern League (baseball)The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
, Double-A affiliate of the Chicago CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
) - Tennessee VolunteersTennessee VolunteersThe Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the National Collegiate Athletic Association college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mike Hamilton is the most recent Men's Athletic Director, but resigned on June 7, 2011, and Joan Cronan is the current Women's...
– University of TennesseeUniversity of TennesseeThe University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
Athletics - Neyland StadiumNeyland StadiumNeyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several NFL exhibition games. The stadium's official capacity is 102,455...
- Thompson-Boling ArenaThompson-Boling ArenaThompson-Boling Arena is multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arena opened in 1987. It is home to the Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Vols basketball teams. Since 2008, it has been home to the Lady Vol volleyball team. It is named after B....
- Women's Basketball Hall of FameWomen's Basketball Hall of FameThe Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors men and women who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA...
- Hard Knox Roller Girls - Flat Track Roller Derby
Government
Knoxville is governed by a mayor and nine-member City Council. It uses the strong-mayor form of the mayor-council systemMayor-council government
The mayor–council government system, sometimes called the mayor–commission government system, is one of the two most common forms of local government for municipalities...
. There are three council members who are elected at-large and six council members that represent individual districts. The City Council meets every other Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Main Assembly Room of the City County Building
Knoxville City-County Building
The Knoxville City-County Building is a building at 400 Main Street in Knoxville, Tennessee that houses the offices of the city government of Knoxville and the county government of Knox County, Tennessee. It also houses the Knox County Jail. The building stands ten stories, and contains of office...
. As of January 10, 2011, the current mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
is Daniel T. Brown, who replaced Bill Haslam
Bill Haslam
William Edward "Bill" Haslam is the 49th and current Governor of Tennessee. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam was elected to office in 2010...
. Haslam served from 2004 until January 2011, when he resigned to serve as the 49th Governor of Tennessee. The previous mayor of sixteen years, Victor Ashe
Victor Ashe
Victor Henderson Ashe II is the former United States Ambassador to Poland. From 1987 to 2003, he was mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee. Ashe is a Republican. Ambassador Ashe concluded his service as Ambassador to Poland on February 6, 2009....
, was named United States Ambassador
Ambassadors from the United States
This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to individual nations of the world, to international organizations, to past nations, and ambassadors-at-large.Ambassadors are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate...
to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in June 2004. Ashe was term-limited and could not serve another term. On November 8, 2011, Madeline Rogero was elected to be the first female mayor of Knoxville. She will be sworn in on December 17, 2011.
Education
Knoxville is home to the main campus of the University of TennesseeUniversity of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
. It is also home to:
- Fountainhead College of Technology (formerly Tennessee Institute of Electronics)
- Johnson University (formerly Johnson Bible College)
- Knoxville CollegeKnoxville CollegeKnoxville College is a historically black liberal arts college in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. Founded in 1875 by the United Presbyterian Church of North America, the school has an enrollment of approximately 100 students, and offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Studies and an Associate...
- Pellissippi State Community College (formerly Pellissippi State Technical Community College)
- South CollegeSouth CollegeSouth College, formerly Knoxville Business College, is a private for-profit post-secondary educational institution in Knoxville, Tennessee. The institution is accredited at the associate's, bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D degree levels by the Southern Association of Colleges and...
(formerly Knoxville Business College)
In addition, the following institutions have branch campuses
Satellite campus
A satellite campus or branch campus is a campus of a college or university that is physically detached from the main university or college area, and is often smaller than the main campus of an institution....
in Knoxville:
- ITT Technical InstituteITT Technical InstituteITT Technical Institute is a for-profit technical institute with over 130 campuses in 38 states of the United States. ITT Tech is owned and operated by ITT Educational Services, Inc. , a publicly traded company headquartered in Carmel, Indiana. ITT Educational Services, Inc...
- King CollegeKing CollegeKing College is a private, comprehensive college located in Bristol, Tennessee. Founded in 1867, King is independently governed with covenant affiliations to the Presbyterian Church and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church ....
- Lincoln Memorial UniversityLincoln Memorial UniversityLincoln Memorial University is a private four-year co-educational liberal arts college located in Harrogate, Tennessee.LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park....
- National College of Business & TechnologyNational College of Business & TechnologyNational College, formerly National College of Business & Technology and also formerly National Business College, is a for-profit career college operating in the southeastern and east-central United States...
- Roane State Community CollegeRoane State Community CollegeRoane State Community College is a two-year college located in eastern Tennessee. It was authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1969, along with two other community colleges, and operates under the authority of the Tennessee Board of Regents....
- Strayer UniversityStrayer UniversityStrayer University, formerly Strayer College of Baltimore, Maryland, is a private, for-profit educational institution. The Strayer University campuses are owned by Strayer Education, Inc. , headquartered in Herndon, Virginia....
- Tennessee Wesleyan CollegeTennessee Wesleyan CollegeTennessee Wesleyan College is a small liberal arts college founded in 1857, located in the East Tennessee city of Athens. It is affiliated with the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church...
- Tusculum CollegeTusculum CollegeTusculum College is a coeducational private college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church , with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee, United States, a suburb of Greeneville...
Also, the distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
offeror Huntington College of Health Sciences
Huntington College of Health Sciences
Huntington College of Health Sciences, formerly known as the American Academy of Nutrition, is a for-profit higher education institution based in Knoxville, Tennessee that offers programs in nutrition and health via distance education.- Primary focus :...
has its offices in Knoxville.
The main library serving Knoxville is the Lawson McGhee Public Library
Lawson McGhee Public Library
The Lawson McGhee Public Library is the main library for Knoxville, Tennessee. It is located at 500 West Church Avenue in downtown Knoxville. The Beck Cultural Exchange Center, the East Tennessee Historical Center and numerous library branches are also associated with the Lawson McGhee Public...
, located in downtown Knoxville.
Transportation
Principal highways serving the city Interstate 40Interstate 40
Interstate 40 is the third-longest major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States, after I-90 and I-80. Its western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California; its eastern end is at a concurrency of U.S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington, North Carolina...
to Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
, and Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and Interstate 75
Interstate 75
Interstate 75 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. It travels from State Road 826 and State Road 924 in Hialeah, Florida to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Ontario, Canada, border...
to Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
and Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
. Knoxville and the surrounding area is served by McGhee Tyson Airport
McGhee Tyson Airport
-Top Destinations:-Accidents and incidents:* On 06 August, 1962, an American Airlines Lockheed L-188 Electra veered off the runway on landing, striking the raised edge of an under-construction taxiway with the landing gear, causing it to collapse...
. Public transportation is provided by KAT. Rail freight is offered by CSX
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
and Norfolk Southern.
Major streets
|
Kingston Pike, Knoxville Kingston Pike is a highway in Knox County, Tennessee, USA, that connects Downtown Knoxville with West Knoxville, Farragut, and other communities in the western part of the county. The road follows a merged stretch of U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 11... (US 11 U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 is a north–south United States highway extending 1,645 miles across the eastern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 90 in the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in eastern New Orleans, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at the United... /US 70 U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,385 miles from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. As can be derived from its number, it is a major east–west highway of the Southern and Southwestern United States... ;TN 1) U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 is a north–south United States highway extending 1,645 miles across the eastern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 90 in the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in eastern New Orleans, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at the United... /US 70 U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,385 miles from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. As can be derived from its number, it is a major east–west highway of the Southern and Southwestern United States... ;TN 1) Tennessee State Route 169 State Route 169 is a west-to-east secondary highway in Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee.The route is 11.7 miles long. Its western terminus is in west Knox County at Tennessee State Route 131 . Its eastern terminus is in Knoxville at Tennessee State Route 62... ) Tennessee State Route 158 Tennessee State Route 158 is a west-to-east highway in Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee.The route is 4.5 miles long. Its western terminus is in Knoxville, Tennessee at TN 1. Its eastern terminus is in Knoxville at Interstate 40... ) Pellissippi Parkway The Pellissippi Parkway is a highway in Knox and Blount counties in Tennessee. It extends from State Route 62 at Solway in Knox County to a terminus east of U.S. Route 129 in Blount County... (I-140 Interstate 140 (Tennessee) Interstate 140 is a spur route of Interstate 40 near Knoxville, Tennessee, that forms part of the Pellissippi Parkway. It runs east from Dutchtown Road north of Interstate 40 near Farragut to U.S. Route 129, near McGhee Tyson Airport. It intersects with U.S. Route 11 and U.S. Route 70 near its... and TN 162) U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 is a north–south United States highway extending 1,645 miles across the eastern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 90 in the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in eastern New Orleans, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at the United... ;TN 1) Tennessee State Route 61 State Route 61 is a west-to-east highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee that is 69 miles long.State Route 61 begins in Roane County, and it ends in Union County.It overlaps Interstate 75 in Anderson County.-Counties traversed :... ) Tennessee State Route 62 State Route 62 is a west-to-east highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee that is 83 miles long. It is designated as a primary route.State Route 62 begins in Putnam County at State Route 84; it ends in Knox County at State Route 71.... ) |
Sister cities
Knoxville has seven sister cities as designated by Sister Cities InternationalSister Cities International
Sister Cities International is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between United States and international communities. More than 2,000 cities, states and counties are partnered in 136 countries around the world...
: Chełm, Poland Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
, PR China Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into thirty-eight districts. The city is one of five special municipalities of the Republic of China...
, Taiwan Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
, Greece Muroran, Japan Neuquen
Neuquén
Neuquén is the name of the following things:* Neuquén, Argentina* Neuquén Province* Neuquén River* Neuquén Group...
, Argentina Yesan County, South Korea
See also
- List of people from Knoxville, Tennessee
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Tennessee
Sources
- Barber, John W., and Howe, Henry. All the Western States and Territories, . . . (Cincinnati, Ohio: Howe's Subscription Book Concern, 1867). pp. 631–632.
- Carey, Ruth. "Change Comes to Knoxville." in These Are Our Voices: The Story of Oak Ridge 1942-1970, edited by James Overholt, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1987.
- Deaderick, Lucile, ed. Heart of the Valley—A History of Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville: East Tennessee Historical SocietyEast Tennessee Historical SocietyThe East Tennessee Historical Society , headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of East Tennessee history, the preservation of historically significant artifacts, and educating the citizens of Tennessee...
, 1976. - Jennifer Long; "Government Job Creation Programs-Lessons from the 1930s and 1940s" Journal of Economic Issues . Volume: 33. Issue: 4. 1999. pp 903+, a case study of Knoxville.
- Isenhour, Judith Clayton. Knoxville, A Pictorial History. (Donning Company, 1978, 1980).
- McDonald, Michael, and Bruce Wheeler. Knoxville, Tennessee: Continuity and Change in an Appalachian City University of Tennessee Press, 1983. the standard academic history
- McKenzie, Robert Tracy. Lincolnites and Rebels: A Divided Town in the American Civil War (2009) on Knoxville excerpt and text search
- The Future of Knoxville's Past: Historic and Architectural Resources in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission, October, 2006).
- Rothrock, Mary U., editor. The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee. (Knox County Historical Committee; East Tennessee Historical Society, 1946).
- Temple, Oliver P. East Tennessee and the Civil War (1899) 588pp online edition
External links
- City of Knoxville (official web site)
- Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation
- Knoxville Business District
- Knoxville Historic District
- The McClung museum at The University of Tennessee Knoxville, "Archaeology & the Native Peoples of Tennessee" exhibit.