NORRIS

city, Anderson county, eastern Tennessee, U.S. It lies along the Clinch River, 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Knoxville. Built in the 1930s by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to accommodate construction workers on the Norris (originally Cove Creek) Dam, the company town was sold by public auction in 1948 to private investors. Properties were broken up and resold to individuals, and Norris was incorporated as a city in 1949. Norris Dam (1936; the first major dam to be built by the TVA), 5 miles (8 km) northwest, is 265 feet (81 m) high and 1,860 feet (567 m) long; it impounds the Clinch River for power, flood control, and recreation to form a 129-mile- (208-kilometre-) long lake with 800 miles (1,300 km) of shoreline. The area is now a state park. Like the dam, the city is named for Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska, who cosponsored the act that established the TVA. The city, which is mainly residential, prohibits traffic lights, neon signs, billboards, and through truck traffic. Pop. (1990) 1,303.