Knoxville, Tennessee 1886. Drawn by H. Wellge. Beck & Pauli, litho. Published/Created in Milwaukee, Norris, Wellge & Co. This image is available thru the Library of Congress. |
10 Remarkable Historical Facts About Knoxville!
1.
Market Square, founded in 1854, has served the same purpose – a farmers’ market—with an array of associated purposes, including residences and evening attractions, for more than 170 years.
2.
Gay Street, downtown’s major thoroughfare has been Recognized by the American Planning Association, including two historic theatres within two blocks of each other: the Tennessee Theater and the Bijou Theatre.
Caption Image #4: Gay Street, seen here around 1900, is Downtown Knoxville’s most vibrant thoroughfare and regarded as one of America Great Streets.
3.
The University of Tennessee can trace its lineage back to Blount College established here in 1794. Later named East Tennessee College, the school received a major boost when it was the first former Confederate state to achieve Land Grant university status, becoming officially the University of Tennessee in 1879. It began accepting female students in 1893.
4.
Legendary newspaper publisher Adolph Ochs grew up here and learned the newspaper business before moving to Chattanooga and buying the Chattanooga Times, and then transforming the New York Times into the most respected newspaper in the nation after 1886.
5.
Known as the
Cradle of Country Music, Knoxville nurtured the early careers of luminaries such as Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins, Flatt and Scruggs, and Dolly Parton before they moved to Nashville.
6.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), founded in 1933 as an internationally famous part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, led major improvements to the region from Virginia to Mississippi in power generation, flood control, erosion abatement, healthcare, and recreational development. As a result, Knoxville became a center in planning, architecture, and conservation, attracting intellectuals who while they were living here made major contributions to the national environmentalist movement.
7.
Knoxville’s literary connections run deep, including several authors who grew up here or wrote well-known titles here: English author Frances Hodgson Burnett, (The Secret Garden, 1911); James Agee (A Death in the Family, 1957); African American poet Nikki Giovanni (Knoxville, Tennessee, 1994); and Cormac McCarthy (Suttree, 1979).
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8.
Several musicians helped
Knoxville play a role in the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, including blues innovators Brownie and Stick McGhee, and influential harmonists the Everly Brothers.
9.
Knoxville was once hailed as the
Underwear Capital of the World thanks to its 13 textile mills. Popular garments, including long-johns, jockey shorts, boxer shorts, and tee shirts and socks were produced made by the millions.
10.
Knoxville became known as the
“Scruffy Little City” when it surpassed major expectations to successfully host the
1982 World’s Fair, attracting 11 million visitors during its six-month run.
World’s Fair Park today features the iconic Sunsphere, an enduring symbol of the energy theme central to the 1982 cultural extravaganza.