KNOXVILLE

city, seat (1792) of Knox county, eastern Tennessee, U.S., on the Tennessee River, which is formed 4 mi (6 km) east by the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers. It is the centre of a metropolitan area that includes the cities of Maryville, Alcoa, and Oak Ridge. When a treaty of 1785 with the Cherokee Indians opened the region to settlers, Capt. James White, a former Revolutionary War officer, established a frontier outpost called White's Fort (restored as a historic site). It was renamed Knoxville in 1791, after Henry Knox, secretary of war in Pres. George Washington's Cabinet, and became the capital (179296) of Territory South of the River Ohio and of the state of Tennessee (17961812, 181719). During the Civil War, Knoxville was occupied by the Confederates until September 1863. In November 1863, Confederates under Gen. James Longstreet unsuccessfully besieged Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's Federal forces in the city's only major engagement. Two major events affected the city in the 20th century: creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) during the 1930s and the establishment of Oak Ridge (q.v.), the atomic city, 20 mi west, during the 1940s. The TVA headquarters are at Knoxville, and several of its projects (Douglas, Ft. Loudoun, Melton Hill, and Norris dams and lakes) are within a 30-mi radius; TVA electric power attracted industries, and its river navigation programs increased the city's transportation potential. Knoxville has developed a diversified economy based on agriculture (tobacco and livestock), manufacturing (notably textiles, clothing, auto seat belts, temperature controls, and chemicals), distribution, mining and quarrying (zinc ore and marble), lumbering, and educational facilities. Tourism, based on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (southeast) and the Cumberland Mountains (west), is an added source of income. The city is the seat of the University of Tennessee (established as Blount College in 1794), Knoxville College (1875), and Tennessee School for the Deaf. Historic buildings include the Confederate Memorial Hall (an antebellum mansion that served as Confederate headquarters during the siege of 1863 and is now maintained by the United Daughters of the Confederacy) and the colonial Blount Mansion (restored), built in 1792 for Gov. William Blount. The McClung Historical Collection in the LawsonMcGhee Library contains more than 12,000 volumes of regional history and genealogy. The Dogwood Arts Festival is an annual April event. The World's Fair in 1982 featured a number of restored and newly constructed buildings, among them the Sunsphere, a 266-ft (81-m)-tall structure, the U.S. Pavilion, the Tennessee Amphitheatre, a Technology and Lifestyle Center and a number of other structures. Inc. 1815. Pop. (1990) city, 165,121; Knoxville MSA, 604,816.