Knoxville, Tennessee
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Downtown_Knoxville.jpg
Downtown Knoxville
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. It is the county seat of Knox CountyTemplate:GR, and is the third-largest city in the state of Tennessee. Its nickname is the Marble City, from when it was a major centre of marble distribution in the early 1900s. It was named in honour 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 2004, the current mayor is Bill Haslam. Previous mayor of sixteen years Victor Ashe was named United States Ambassador to Poland in June 2004.
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History
Knoxville was founded in 1791 by Territorial Governor William Blount and named after George Washington's Secretary of War Henry Knox. Knoxville was the capital of the Southwest Territory from 1791 until 1797. In 1796, a constitutional convention was held in Knoxville to establish Tennessee as a state. When Tennessee entered the United States in 1797, Knoxville was the first capital of the state until 1815 when the capital was moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
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 (real name, 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 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.
Geography
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.
Transport is served by Interstate 40 to Asheville 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.
Nearby cities
Neighborhoods
- Bearden
- Burlington
- Concord
- East Knoxville
- Fort Sanders, also called "the Fort"
- Fountain City
- Halls Crossroads (annexation planned, often incorrectly referred to as "Halls", which is a small rural city in West Tennessee)
- Lovell
- Mechanicsville
- North Hills
- North Knoxville
- 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
Major Streets
- Alcoa Highway (US 129)
- Asheville Highway (US 11/US 25/US 70)
- Broadway (US 441)
- Central Avenue Pike
- Chapman Highway (US 441)
- Clinton Highway (US 25)
- Cumberland Avenue, also known as "the Strip" (US 11/US 70)
- Emory Road, formerly a wilderness trail for settlers, now part of Tennessee State Highway 131.
- Gay Street
- Henley Street
- James White Parkway, formerly called the Business Loop or Downtown Loop
- Kingston Pike (US 11/US 70)
- Magnolia Avenue (US 11/US 70)
- Merchant Road
- Middlebrook Pike
- Neyland Drive
- Parkside Drive / North Peters Road
- Rutledge Pike (US 11)
- Seventeenth Street
- South Knoxville Connector
- Washington Pike
- Western Avenue, formerly Asylum Street
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, making Knoxville the heart of the high-tech Tennessee Valley Corridor extending from Blacksburg, Virginia to Huntsville, Alabama.
Because of its central location in eastern half of the United States, many warehousing and distribution companies operate in and around Knoxville.
Media
Local TV stations are as followed-
- WBIR 10 - NBC Affiliate, owned by Gannett Corporation
- WVLT 8 - CBS Affiliate
- WATE 6 - ABC Affiliate, operated by WorldNow
- WTNZ 43 - FOX Affiliate, operated by WorldNow
- WBXX 20 - WB Affiliate
- WKOP 15 - PBS Affiliate
- WPXK 54 - PAX Affiliate
Companies headquartered in Knoxville
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- Bush Brothers and Company
- Goody's Family Clothing (Fortune 1000)
- Metron North America
- Petro's Chili & Chips
- Pilot Corporation
- Regal Entertainment Group
- Scripps Networks, producer of the HGTV and DIY television channels
- Tennessee Valley Authority (a government corporation)
- Ruby Tuesday is headquartered in nearby Maryville.
- IPIX, ORTEC and Nucsafe are headquartered in nearby Oak Ridge.
Colleges and universities
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The Knoxville area is home to many colleges and universities:
- The University of Tennessee [1] (http://www.utk.edu)
- Knoxville College [2] (http://www.knoxvillecollege.edu)
- Pellissippi State Technical Community College [3] (http://www.pstcc.edu)
- Maryville College [4] (http://www.maryvillecollege.edu/) (in nearby Maryville, Tennessee)
- Johnson Bible College [5] (http://www.jbc.edu/college/)
- South College [6] (http://kbcollege.edu/)
- Roane State Community College [7] (http://www.rscc.cc.tn.us/index.asp) (in nearby Harriman, Tennessee)
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 173,890 people, 76,650 households, and 40,164 families residing in the city. The population density is 724.6/km² (1,876.7/mi²). There are 84,981 housing units at an average density of 354.1/km² (917.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 79.71% White, 16.20% 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 are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 76,650 households out of which 22.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.3% are married couples living together, 13.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 47.6% are non-families. 38.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 11.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.12 and the average family size is 2.84.
In the city the population is 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 are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 33 years. For every 100 females there are 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 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 have 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 are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 26.1% of those under the age of 18 and 12.0% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Famous Knoxvillians
- James Agee, author of A Death in the Family
- Polly Bergen, the Pepsi-Cola girl
- Kenny Chesney, musician (born in nearby Luttrel, Tennessee)
- David Farragut, Civil War admiral
- Nikki Giovanni, poet
- Todd Helton, baseball player
- Dennis Hwang, graphic artist for Google
- David Keith, actor
- Johnny Knoxville
- Brownie McGhee, blues musician
- Chad Pennington, American football player (quarterback, New York Jets)
- Brad Renfro, actor
- Quentin Tarantino, film director (birthplace)
- Jake Thomas, actor
- Bob Thomas, actor, radio announcer, writer
- Dr. Jerry Punch, ESPN Analyst
Famous non-native residents include:
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of Little Lord Fauntleroy
- Alex Haley, author of Roots
- Cormac McCarthy
Sites of interest
- Blount Mansion
- Frank H. McClung Museum
- James White Fort
- Knoxville Museum of Art
- Knoxville Zoo
- Neyland Stadium
- Tennessee Theatre
- Volunteer Landing
- Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
- World's Fair Park
Yearly events
- Dogwood Arts Festival (http://www.dogwoodarts.com/)
- GreekFest (http://www.knox-greekfest.com/)
- Honda Hoot (http://www.hondahoot.com/)
- Kuumba Festival
- Sundown in the City (http://www.sundowninthecity.com/)
External links
- Restore Knoxville (http://www.restoreknoxville.com/)
- Official city of Knoxville website (http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/)
- Knoxville-Oak Ridge Regional Network (http://korrnet.org/)
- Knoxville tourism site (http://www.knoxville.org/)
- Knoxville airport website (http://www.tys.org/)
- Knoxville News Sentinel (http://www.knoxnews.com/)
