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55-406: "West Knoxville" originally referred to the area immediately west of Second Creek, i.e., what is now Fort Sanders and the University of Tennessee (UT) campus, which were incorporated as the City of West Knoxville in 1888. This city was annexed by Knoxville in 1897, and Fort Sanders and UT are now part of downtown Knoxville. Continued improvements along Kingston Pike, namely the paving of the road to

110-506: A few months prior. After a brief skirmish at Campbell's Station ( Farragut ), Longstreet's forces approached Knoxville from the west along Kingston Pike. Delaying maneuvers executed by General William P. Sanders gave Union forces in the city time to complete fortifications, although Sanders was mortally wounded on November 18, and died at the Lamar House the following day. With Union fortifications in place, Longstreet decided to surround

165-534: A fully armed and operational police that helps protect students both on campus and in Fort Sanders. The Fort Sanders Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1980, originally consisted of approximately 400 buildings, and covered a 105-acre (42 ha) area bounded by White, Grand, Eleventh, and Nineteenth. Most of the district's contributing houses were built between 1880 and 1930, and

220-537: A hill that is bounded by Second Creek on the east, Third Creek on the west, the Tennessee River on the south, and a declivity now traversed by the Southern Railway tracks and Interstate 40 on the north. The university occupies the southern half of the hill, overlooking the river, while Fort Sanders occupies the northern half. Cumberland Avenue (part of U.S. Route 70 ), commonly called "The Strip,"

275-595: A house in the area), which stretched from the Tennessee River to what is now Laurel Avenue. Among the earliest to build mansions in White's Addition were candy manufacturer Martin Luther Ross and Tennessee attorney general George Pickle. During the same period, a number of factories sprang up along Second Creek, and the area known as Ramsey's Addition, which stretched northward from what is now Laurel Avenue to

330-546: A major highway for riverboats through the South, and today they are frequently used along the river. Major ports include Guntersville, Chattanooga , Decatur , Yellow Creek, and Muscle Shoals . This river has contributed greatly to the economic and industrial development of the Tennessee Valley as a whole. The economies of cities such as Decatur and Chattanooga would not be as dynamic as they are today, were it not for

385-739: A publication of the Tennessee Bar Association. In 2008, as a result of a serious drought and resulting water shortage, the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution directing the governor to pursue its claim in the United States Supreme Court . According to a story aired on WTVC-TV in Chattanooga on March 14, 2008, a local attorney familiar with case law on border disputes, said the U.S. Supreme Court generally will maintain

440-663: A shorter trip for river traffic going from the Tennessee to most of the Ohio River, and for traffic going down the Cumberland River toward Tennessee. The Tennessee River and its tributaries host some 102 species of mussel . Native Americans ate freshwater mussels. Potters of the Mississippian culture used crushed mussel shell mixed into clay to make their pottery stronger. A "pearl" button industry

495-560: A walk through downtown Knoxville, making stops on Gay Street and Market Square , and passing the Deaf and Dumb Asylum and the L&;N Station as they made their way back to Fort Sanders. Agee mentioned a vacant lot along Forest Avenue where he and his father liked to look out on the lights of North Knoxville in the distance, and listen to the engines of the L&;N, which "coughed and browsed" in

550-452: Is a popular hangout for students, as it contains numerous bars, restaurants, and stores. During the Fall football season, Fort Sanders, along with the campus itself, serves as a headquarters for Tennessee Volunteers fans' tailgating and pre-game activities. The Knoxville Police Department and The University of Tennessee's Police Department jointly patrol Fort Sanders. The university operates

605-697: Is also known for aggressive neighborhood advocacy groups, such as the Kingston Pike Sequoyah Hills Association and the West Hills Community Association. Notable people Betsy Henderson school board chair 35°55′54″N 84°00′12″W  /  35.93170°N 84.00322°W  / 35.93170; -84.00322 Fort Sanders (Knoxville neighborhood) Fort Sanders is a neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee , USA, located west of

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660-588: Is derived from the Cherokee town, Tanasi , which was located on the Tennessee side of the Appalachian Mountains. The river appears on French maps from the late 17th century with the names "Caquinampo" or "Kasqui." Maps from the early 18th century call it "Cussate," " Hogohegee ," "Callamaco," and "Acanseapi." A 1755 British map showed the Tennessee River as the "River of the Cherakees." By

715-413: Is known by residents, remains a popular place for students. Most residents are in their twenties and many go home during the summer, leaving the neighborhood virtually empty compared to its very active, and sometimes belligerent, feel during the school year. Due to the area's younger population and proximity to a large university, the neighborhood is a hotbed for house parties and bars alike. The neighborhood

770-492: Is no longer standing), but moved to Laurel Avenue after the death of Agee's father in 1915. Agee's maternal grandparents, Joel and Emma Tyler, lived on Clinch Avenue. Joel Tyler was a cofounder of the mill machinery company Ty-Sa-Man, where Agee's father worked. The Fort Sanders neighborhood provides the primary setting for Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family . The novel opens with Agee and his father taking

825-856: Is now Seventeenth Street. The University of Tennessee consisted of several buildings clustered around "The Hill." Factories located along Second Creek included the Knoxville Tannery, the Caswell Furniture Company, the Knoxville Ice Company, the Barker Bucket Factory, the Knoxville Button Factory, and the massive foundry of the Knoxville Iron Company (part of which still stands). The Samuels Keg Factory and

880-474: Is now the Ronald McDonald House at 1705 Clinch. Thomas Jordan, the school's dean in the early 1900s, lived at 1312 White, and mathematics professor Cooper D. Schmitt lived at 1302 White. Schmitt's son, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Bernadotte Everly Schmitt , lived in the house as a child. Artist Catherine Wiley lived at 1317 White in the 1910s while working as an instructor at UT. With

935-407: Is now the intersection of Nineteenth and Forest, southeastward across the intersection of Eighteenth and Highland, toward the fort's northeast corner at the intersection of Seventeenth and Laurel. They were unable to overcome a deep trench at the base of the fort, however, and retreated with heavy casualties. The battle, which lasted just twenty minutes, effectively ended Longstreet's chances of taking

990-493: Is now the southern half of Fort Sanders, then known as "White's Addition," while the northern half, known as "Ramsey's Addition," was developed to provide housing for plant managers and workers employed in factories along Second Creek. Fort Sanders was incorporated as the separate city of West Knoxville in 1888, and was annexed by Knoxville in 1897. In its early years, Fort Sanders residents included some of Knoxville's leading industrialists and politicians, as well as professors from

1045-423: Is projected to have a new lock built, but it has been delayed due to a lack of funding. The river not only has many economic functions, such as the boat building industry and transportation, but it also provides water and natural resources to those who live near the river. Many of the major ports on the river are connected to a settlement that was started because of its proximity to the river. On October 15, 2022,

1100-626: Is somewhat infamous in Knoxville for its party atmosphere, and residents have been known to throw multi-street block parties that can attract thousands. The biggest being on October 15, 2022, which was the night the Vols broke a 15-year losing streak to Alabama beating the Crimson Tide 52–49. The block of 13th and Laurel Ave was filled to the brim with people as they lit couches on fire listening to Dixieland Delight. Cumberland Avenue, or "The Strip",

1155-641: Is the approximate boundary between the two. Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center occupies the western half of the Fort Sanders neighborhood. The World's Fair Park, the site of the 1982 World's Fair , lies opposite Second Creek to the east. The Mechanicsville neighborhood lies on the other side of I-40 to the north. West of the L&N tracks, Cumberland Avenue becomes Kingston Pike , which continues into West Knoxville. In November 1863, Confederate forces under General James Longstreet marched north from Chattanooga to Knoxville in hopes of dislodging Union forces under Ambrose Burnside , who had occupied Knoxville

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1210-549: The Lee Highway . In recent decades, the construction of dozens of shopping plazas in West Knoxville, beginning with Western Plaza in 1957, and the completion of West Town Mall in 1972, caused Knoxville's primary retail corridor to shift from downtown Knoxville to Kingston Pike, where it remains. West Knoxville's most recent major shopping complex, the 358-acre (145 ha) Turkey Creek , opened in 2002. Throughout

1265-509: The Muscle Shoals area, and eventually forms a small part of the state's border with Mississippi , before returning to Tennessee. The river misses Georgia by about 250 feet (76 m). The Tennessee River's route northerly through Tennessee defines the boundary between two of Tennessee's Grand Divisions : Middle and West Tennessee . The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway , a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project providing navigation on

1320-683: The National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as the Fort Sanders Historic District. Fort Sanders is named for a Civil War -era Union bastion that once stood near the center of the neighborhood, which was the site of a key engagement in 1863. Before the Union occupation of Knoxville began, Fort Sanders was often referred to as “Fort Loudon” by the occupying Confederate troops. In the 1880s, several of Knoxville's wealthier residents built sizeable houses in what

1375-719: The Tombigbee River and a link to the Port of Mobile , enters the Tennessee River near the Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi boundary. This waterway reduces the navigation distance from Tennessee, north Alabama, and northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico by hundreds of miles. The final part of the Tennessee's run is north through western Kentucky , where it separates the Jackson Purchase from

1430-636: The 19th century, the Tennessee River was considered to start at the mouth of Clinch River (at Kingston ). An 1889 declaration by the Tennessee General Assembly designated Kingsport (on the Holston River ) as the start of the Tennessee, but the following year a federal law was enacted that finally fixed the start of the river at its current location. At various points since the early 19th century, Georgia has disputed its northern border with Tennessee. In 1796, when Tennessee

1485-401: The 20th century, West Knoxville was settled by affluent Knoxvillians and newcomers to the Knoxville area, many of whom held more liberal political views than residents in other parts of the city. The annexation of large parts of West Knoxville in 1962 brought into the city large numbers of voters who helped elect one of Knoxville's most progressive city councils in decades in 1964. West Knoxville

1540-499: The Knoxville Woolen Mills were located along the railroad tracks at the north end of Ramsey's Addition. With a need for city services, and bureaucratic issues preventing annexation by Knoxville, the Fort Sanders area incorporated as the separate city of West Knoxville on March 8, 1888. The city's boundaries were Second Creek on the east, Asylum (now Western) Avenue and the railroad tracks on the north, Third Creek on

1595-676: The Tennessee River to be more significant than the Mississippi. The Tennessee River begins at mile post 652, where the French Broad River meets the Holston River, but historically there were several different definitions of its starting point. In the late 18th century, the mouth of the Little Tennessee River (at Lenoir City ) was considered to be the beginning of the Tennessee River. Through much of

1650-429: The Tennessee River. Many companies still rely on the river as a means of transportation for their materials. In Chattanooga, for example, steel is exported on boats, as it is much more efficient than moving it on land. In addition, locks along the Tennessee River waterway provide passage between reservoirs for more than 13,000 recreational craft each year. The Chickamauga Dam , located just upstream from Chattanooga,

1705-466: The University of Tennessee Volunteers football team defeated the University of Alabama Crimson Tide 52–49 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on a game-winning field goal by Chase McGrath as time expired. In celebration of this victory, the fans stormed the field, tore down the goalposts, and threw them into the Tennessee River after an impromptu parade in which fans carried the goalposts around

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1760-440: The University of Tennessee. Fort Sanders was the childhood home of author James Agee , and provided the setting for his Pulitzer Prize -winning novel, A Death in the Family . A ten-fold expansion of U.T.'s student body after World War II brought about the need for student housing, and many of the old homes in Fort Sanders have since been converted into apartments. Fort Sanders and the University of Tennessee campus straddle

1815-430: The advent of the automobile in the 1920s, Knoxville's wealthier residents began to move to suburbs on the periphery of the city, and urban neighborhoods such as Fort Sanders began to decline. After World War II , the University of Tennessee's student body grew from just over 2,000 to almost 30,000 by 1975, and most of the homes in Fort Sanders were converted into student housing. The university's expansion (and more recently

1870-509: The city and starve Union forces out. During the Siege of Knoxville, Confederate pickets stretched roughly along what is now Twenty-First Street between Cumberland and Forest avenues. Union fortifications included Fort Byington atop " The Hill ," Battery Noble at what is now the intersection of Melrose and Seventeenth, and Battery Zoellner near the intersection of Highland and Eleventh. Fort Sanders, originally "Fort Loudon" but renamed in honor of

1925-722: The city of Knoxville. The river has been dammed numerous times since the 1930s by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) projects. The construction of TVA's Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River and the Corps of Engineers' Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River led to the development of associated lakes, and the creation of an area called the Land Between the Lakes . A navigation canal located at Grand Rivers, Kentucky , links Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley . The canal allows for

1980-460: The city, and he retreated shortly afterward. Knoxville's industrial growth after the Civil War led to a rapid increase in the city's population. During the 1880s, pollution from an ore smelting operation drove residents in the upscale Summit Hill area to seek new homes elsewhere. Several chose the hillslope west of Second Creek known as White's Addition (after Hugh Lawson White , who once owned

2035-470: The county line in 1892 and the laying of trolley tracks to Lyon's View Pike in 1913, encouraged westward expansion. Sequoyah Hills and Lyon's View Pike were annexed in 1917, and Bearden and West Hills were annexed in 1962. West Knoxville's first economic boom came in the 1920s and 1930s, when Kingston Pike was part of a merged section of two popular cross-country tourist routes, the Dixie Highway and

2090-418: The deceased General Sanders by occupying Union forces, was an earthen fort that spanned Seventeenth between Laurel and Clinch, and continued along Laurel and Clinch eastward to Sixteenth Street. On the morning of November 29, 1863, after a two-week siege, Longstreet ordered three brigades under General Lafayette McLaws to attack Fort Sanders, in hopes of breaching Union lines. The attackers marched from what

2145-480: The disputed portion of the river entirely in Tennessee. Georgia made several unsuccessful attempts to correct what Georgia felt was an erroneous survey line "in the 1890s, 1905, 1915, 1922, 1941, 1947 and 1971 to 'resolve' the dispute", according to C. Crews Townsend, Joseph McCoin, Robert F. Parsley, Alison Martin and Zachary H. Greene, in their May 12, 2008, article for the Tennessee Bar Journal ,

2200-494: The downtown area and immediately north of the main campus of the University of Tennessee . Developed in the late 19th century as a residential area for Knoxville's growing upper and middle classes, the neighborhood now provides housing primarily for the university's student population. The neighborhood still contains a notable number of its original Victorian-era houses and other buildings, several hundred of which were added to

2255-526: The expansion of Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center) led to the destruction of many of the neighborhood's early houses, and preservationists, namely the Fort Sanders Community Improvement Association, increased efforts to protect its historical resources. Author James Agee (1909–1955) spent his early childhood in the Fort Sanders neighborhood. The Agees initially lived at 1505 Highland Avenue (the house

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2310-485: The founder of the Whittle Trunk and Bag Company, lived at 1802 Highland. Fort Sanders was also home to a number early University of Tennessee professors and administrators. Weston Fulton , inventor of the sylphon (used in the manufacture of thermostats), lived at 1202 Clinch in the early 1900s. William Waller Carson, founder of the school's civil engineering department, lived at 1310 Clinch, and later built what

2365-406: The issue once and for all. The Atlantic Wire , in commenting on Georgia's actions stated: "The Great Georgia-Tennessee Border War of 2013 Is Upon Us Historians, take note: On this day, which is not a day in 1732, a boundary dispute between two Southern states took a turn for the wet. In a two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly by the state senate, Georgia declared that it, not its neighbor to

2420-543: The late 18th century, it had come to be called "Tennessee," a name derived from the Cherokee village named Tanasi . The Tennessee River is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers in present-day Knoxville, Tennessee . From Knoxville, it flows southwest through East Tennessee into Chattanooga before crossing into Alabama . It travels through the Huntsville and Decatur area before reaching

2475-595: The majority were designed in Victorian (especially Queen Anne ) or Bungalow /Craftsman styles. The district also includes three churches and several commercial buildings. Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River . It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley . The river

2530-471: The north, controls part of the Tennessee River at Nickajack . Georgia doesn't want Nickajack. It wants that water.". The Tennessee River is an important part of the Great Loop , the recreational circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water. The main channel is accessible to recreational watercraft at over 200 public access points along the river's course. The Tennessee River has historically been

2585-474: The original borders between states and avoid stepping into border disputes, preferring the parties work out their differences. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on March 25, 2013, that Georgia senators approved House Resolution 4 stating that if Tennessee declines to settle with them, the dispute will be given to the state attorney general, to take Tennessee before the Supreme Court to settle

2640-497: The railroad tracks, developed primarily as housing for factory managers and workers. Unlike the more exclusive White's Addition, residents in Ramsey's Addition ranged from wage workers to upper-level managers, and the neighborhood had a mix of houses ranging from impressive Victorian mansions to small, inconspicuous shotgun-style houses. An 1886 map of Knoxville shows development in the Fort Sanders area stretching as far west as what

2695-511: The rest of the state. It flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky . The river valley was once home to several Native American tribes. At Painted Bluff , in northeast Alabama, painted glyphs dating to ca. 1400 A.D. have been discovered among cliffs overlooking the river. The first major battles of the American Civil War occurred along the river in 1862. The commander in the western theater, General Henry Halleck , considered

2750-540: The seven-story Arnstein Building at the south end of Market Square, owned houses at 1403 and 1625 Laurel. Wholesaling tycoon Matthew McClung, a partner in Cowan, McClung and Company , built the house at 1625 Clinch. Marble quarry magnate John J. Craig lived at 1415 Highland, and Coca-Cola bottler J. Patrick Roddy lived at 1803 Clinch. Knoxville Journal founder and editor William Rule lived at 1604 Clinch. Ranson Whittle,

2805-523: The valley below. The book ends with Agee and his uncle conversing while standing over the "waste of briers and of embanked clay" of the ruins of the Civil War-era Fort Sanders. In 1999, Fifteenth Street was renamed "James Agee Street." In 2005, James Agee Park was established in a vacant lot (formerly the home of Mayor Samuel B. Luttrell) at the intersection of James Agee Street and Laurel Avenue. Fort Sanders, or "The Fort" as it

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2860-483: The west, and the river on the south. West Knoxville had an initial population of 1,520, and J.W. Yoe served as the first mayor. West Knoxville was annexed by Knoxville in 1897. Today, "West Knoxville" generally refers to the section of Knoxville along Kingston Pike, west of Third Creek and Alcoa Highway. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Fort Sanders was home to some of Knoxville's key industrial figures. Department store owner Max Arnstein, who built

2915-473: Was admitted to the Union, the border was originally defined by United States Congress as located on the 35th parallel, thereby ensuring that at least a portion of the river would be located within Georgia. As a result of an erroneously conducted survey in 1818 (ratified by the Tennessee legislature, but not Georgia), however, the actual border line was set on the ground approximately one mile south, thus placing

2970-405: Was established in the Tennessee Valley beginning in 1887, producing buttons from the abundant mussel shells. Button production ceased after World War II when plastics replaced mother-of-pearl as a button material. Mussel populations have declined drastically due to dam construction, water pollution, and invasive species . Tributaries and sub-tributaries are listed hierarchically in order from

3025-522: Was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as the Cherokee people had their homelands along its banks, especially in what are now East Tennessee and northern Alabama . Additionally, its tributary, the Little Tennessee River , flows into it from Western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, where the river also was bordered by numerous Cherokee towns. Its current name

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