Knoxville, Tennessee

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Template:Redirect Template:Infobox City Knoxville is a city located in Knox County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 173,890, with a metro population of 687,249. It is the county seat of Knox CountyTemplate:GR, and is the third-largest city in the state of Tennessee behind Memphis and Nashville. Its nickname is the Marble City, from when it was a major center of marble distribution in the early 1900s. It was named in honor of the first Secretary of War, Henry Knox.

Knoxville is also the home of the University of Tennessee's primary campus (UTK). The university's sports teams, called the "Volunteers" or "Vols," are extremely popular in the surrounding area. In fact, the area code comprising Knoxville and the surrounding counties is 865 (VOL). Knoxville is also the home of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, thanks partly to the popularity of Pat Summitt and the University of Tennessee women's basketball team.

As of 2005, the current mayor is Bill Haslam. Previous mayor of sixteen years Victor Ashe was named United States Ambassador to Poland in June 2004.

Contents

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History

White's Fort was settled in 1786 by James White, a militia officer during the American Revolutionary War. When William Blount, the territorial governor of the Southwest Territory, moved the territorial capital to White's Fort in 1791, he renamed it Knoxville in honor of Henry Knox, the American Revolutionary War general and Washington's Secretary of War. Knoxville served as the territorial capital until 1796, when a constitutional convention was held in Knoxville to establish Tennessee as a state. When Tennessee entered the United States in 1796, Knoxville was the first capital of the state until 1815, when the capital was moved to Murfreesboro.

During the American Civil War, the Battle of Campbell's Station was outside Knoxville on November 16, 1863. In that battle Confederate troops led by General James Longstreet unsuccessfully attacked Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside. The next day, the two week long Siege of Knoxville began when Longstreet placed Knoxville under siege. The siege, which culminated in the Battle of Fort Sanders, failed and Longstreet returned with his men to General Robert E. Lee.

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 the sherriff's stolen horse.

In 1933 during the Great Depression, the Tennessee Valley Authority was founded and headquarted in Knoxville by the U.S. government to help create jobs and attract manufacturing dependent on cheap electricity.

Knoxville hosted the 1982 World's Fair, from which the Sunsphere remains.

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Geography

Image:Knoxville-R.jpg Knoxville is located at Template:Coor dms (35.972882, -83.942161)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 254.1 km² (98.1 mi²). 240.0 km² (92.7 mi²) of it is land and 14.1 km² (5.4 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 5.54% 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 headwaters of the Tennessee River.

Transportation is served by Interstate 40 to Asheville, North Carolina, and Nashville and Interstate 75 to Chattanooga and Lexington. Knoxville and the surrounding area is served by McGhee Tyson Airport. Rail freight is offered by CSX and Norfolk Southern.

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Nearby cities

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Neighborhoods

Image:Downtown-knoxville.jpg

  • Arlington
  • Bearden
  • Burlington
  • Concord
  • Corryton
  • East Knoxville
  • Fort Sanders, also called "the Fort"
  • Fountain City
  • Halls Crossroads (annexation planned, often colloquially referred to as "Halls", which is the proper name of a small rural city in West Tennessee)
  • Karns
  • Lovell
  • Mechanicsville
  • North Hills
  • North Knoxville
  • Fourth & Gill
  • Old City, formerly known as the Warehouse district, site of 1919 race rioting.
  • Powell (formerly called "Powell's Station")
  • Rocky Hill
  • Sequoyah Hills
  • South Knoxville
  • West Hills
  • West Knoxville
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Major streets

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Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 173,890 people, 76,650 households, and 40,164 families residing in the city, and greater Knoxville (metro) has a population of 687,249. The population density was 724.6/km² (1,876.7/mi²). There were 84,981 housing units at an average density of 354.1/km² (917.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.7% White, 16.2% African American, 0.31% Native American, 1.45% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.72% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. 1.58% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

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. 20.8% of the population and 14.4% of families were below the poverty line. 26.1% of those under the age of 18 and 12.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

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Economy

Knoxville's economy is largely fuelled by the regional location of the main campus of the University of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the National Transportation Research Center, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. These make Knoxville the heart of the high-tech Tennessee Valley Corridor, which extends from Blacksburg, Virginia to Huntsville, Alabama.

Because of its central location in the eastern half of the United States, many warehousing and distribution companies operate in and around Knoxville.

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Major companies headquartered in Knoxville

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Education

Image:UT-McClungPlaza.jpg Knoxville is home to the main campus of the University of Tennessee. The area is home to other colleges and universities including:

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Culture

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Events

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Media

Local television stations are as follows:

  • WATE 6 - ABC affiliate, owned by Young Broadcasting
  • WMAK-DT 7 - Digital independent station, owned by Knoxville Ch 7, LLC (also seen on low-power analog WEZK-LP 28)
  • WVLT 8 - CBS affiliate, owned by Gray Television
  • WBIR 10 - NBC affiliate, owned by Gannett Corporation
  • WKOP 15 - PBS member station
  • WBXX 20 - WB affiliate, owned by ACME Television
  • WTNZ 43 - FOX affiliate, owned by Raycom Media
  • WPXK 54 - i affiliate, owned by Paxson Communications
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Nearby attractions

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Sites of interest

Image:Sunsphere.jpg

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Famous Knoxvillians

Famous non-native residents include:

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References

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External links

Template:Mapit-US-cityscale

Image:Flag of Tennessee.svg

State of Tennessee
Governors

Capital:

Nashville

Regions:

East Tennessee | Middle Tennessee | West Tennessee | Blue Ridge Mountains | Ridge-and-valley Appalachians | Cumberland Plateau | Highland Rim | Nashville Basin

Major Metros:

Chattanooga | Clarksville | Johnson City | Knoxville | Memphis | Murfreesboro | Nashville

Smaller Cities:

Athens | Bartlett | Bristol | Brownsville | Cleveland | Columbia | Cookeville | Crossville | Dickson | Dyersburg | Germantown | Greeneville | Harriman | Jackson | Kingsport | La Follette | Lawrenceburg | Lebanon | McMinnville | Morristown | Mount Juliet | Newport | Oak Ridge | Paris | Sevierville | Shelbyville | Tullahoma | Union City | Winchester

Counties:

Anderson | Bedford | Benton | Bledsoe | Blount | Bradley | Campbell | Cannon | Carroll | Carter | Cheatham | Chester | Clairborne | Clay | Cocke | Coffee | Crockett | Cumberland | Davidson | Decatur | DeKalb | Dickson | Dyer | Fayette | Fentress | Franklin | Gibson | Giles | Grainger | Greene | Grundy | Hamblen | Hamilton | Hancock | Hardeman | Hardin | Hawkins | Haywood | Henderson | Henry | Hickman | Houston | Humphreys | Jackson | Jefferson | Johnson | Knox | Lake | Lauderdale | Lawrence | Lewis | Lincoln | Loudon | Macon | Madison | Marion | Marshall | Maury | McMinn | McNairy | Meigs | Monroe | Montgomery | Moore | Morgan | Obion | Overton | Perry | Pickett | Polk | Putnam | Rhea | Roane | Robertson | Rutherford | Scott | Sequatchie | Sevier | Shelby | Smith | Stewart | Sullivan | Sumner | Tipton | Trousdale | Unicoi | Union | Van Buren | Warren | Washington | Wayne | Weakley | White | Williamson | Wilson

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