Knoxville

Knoxville, city, seat (1792) of Knox county, eastern Tennessee, U.S., on the Tennessee River, which is formed just east of the city by the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers. It is situated between the Cumberland Mountains to the northwest and the Great Smoky Mountains to the southeast and is the centre of a metropolitan area that includes the cities of Maryville, Alcoa, and Oak Ridge.

In 1786 General James White, a former officer in the American Revolution, established a frontier outpost (James White’s Fort; restored as a historic site). The city was officially founded and renamed Knoxville in 1791 for Henry Knox, secretary of war in President George Washington’s Cabinet, and became the capital (1792–96) of the Territory South of the Ohio River and of the state of Tennessee (1796–1812, 1817–18). During the American Civil War, Knoxville was occupied by the Confederates until September 1863. In November 1863, Confederates under General James Longstreet unsuccessfully besieged General Ambrose E. Burnside’s Union forces in the city’s only major engagement.

Two major events that affected the city in the 20th century were the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) during the 1930s and the establishment of Oak Ridge, the site of a nuclear weapons research facility, 20 miles (30 km) west during the 1940s. The TVA headquarters are at Knoxville, and several of its projects (Douglas, Fort Loudoun, Melton Hill, and Norris dams and lakes) are within a 30-mile (50-km) radius; TVA electric power attracted industries, and its river navigation programs increased the city’s transportation potential. Knoxville has a diversified economy based mainly on manufacturing (including prebuilt homes, medical products, boats, clothing, and temperature-control devices), services (especially health care and education), and agriculture (livestock and tobacco). Tourism is also important; Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, and Obed Wild and Scenic River are all within 75 miles (120 km) of the city.

The city is the seat of the University of Tennessee (established as Blount College in 1794), Knoxville College (1875), Johnson Bible College (1886), Pellissippi State Technical Community College (1974), and Tennessee School for the Deaf. Knoxville has a symphony orchestra, ballet, opera, and community theatre. Historic buildings include Confederate Memorial Hall (also known as Bleak House), an antebellum mansion that served as Confederate headquarters during the siege of 1863 and is now maintained by the United Daughters of the Confederacy; the colonial Blount Mansion (restored), built in 1792 for Governor William Blount; and Ramsey House (1797), the first stone house in the region. The Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection in the Lawson-McGhee Library contains more than 4,000 volumes of regional history and genealogy. The Dogwood Arts Festival is an annual April event, and ArtFest is held August through October. The World’s Fair in 1982 featured a number of restored and newly constructed buildings, among them the Sunsphere, a 266-foot- (81-metre-) tall structure; the U.S. Pavilion; the Tennessee Amphitheater; a Technology and Lifestyle Center; and a number of other structures. The Knoxville Museum of Art is located at the fair site. Marble Springs State Historic Farmstead, just south of the city, is the preserved home (built about 1796) of John Sevier, Tennessee’s first governor. Inc. 1815. Pop. (2010) 178,874; Knoxville Metro Area, 698,030; (2020) 190,740; Knoxville Metro Area, 879,773.