Knoxville, Tennessee

**Knoxville** is the third-largest city in the state of Tennessee, in the United States of America. The largest city in the state is Nashville, followed by Memphis. Knoxville is the county seat of Knox County. In 2020, it had a population of 190,740.

The city has been often called "The Streaking Capital of the World" and "The Underwear Capital of the World".

Knoxville was founded in 1786 and is the second oldest of Tennessee's four major cities, after Nashville which was founded in 1779.  After Tennessee's admission into the Union in 1796, Knoxville was the state's first capital. In 1819, the capital was moved to Murfreesboro, prior to Nashville becoming the current capital. The city was named in honor of the first Secretary of War, Henry Knox.

Knoxville's economy is largely fueled by the regional location of the main campus of the University of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other Department of Energy facilities in nearby Oak Ridge, the National Transportation Research Center, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

## Modern Knoxville

Knoxville's textile and manufacturing industries were hurt by foreign competition in the 1950s and 1960s. After the building of the Interstate Highway system in the 1960s, the railroad—which had been largely responsible for Knoxville's industrial growth—began to decline.  Suburban shopping malls in the 1970s took retail revenues away from Knoxville's Downtown area.  So, the city sought to recover the massive loss of revenue by trying to annex neighboring communities in Knox County.  People fought these annexation attempts. Several efforts to combine all of the Knoxville and Knox County governments failed. But the city and county school boards merged on 1 July 1987.

Knoxville tried to improve its downtown.  The 1982 World's Fair—the most successful of these projects—became one of the most popular world's fairs in U.S. history with 11 million visitors.  The fair's energy theme was selected due to Knoxville being the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority and for the city's proximity to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  The Sunsphere, a  steel truss structure topped with a gold-colored glass sphere, was built for the fair and remains one of Knoxville's most prominent buildings, along with the adjacent amphitheater which underwent a renovation that was completed in 2008.

Ever since, Knoxville's downtown has been developing, with the opening of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Knoxville Convention Center, redevelopment of Market Square, a new visitors center, a regional history museum, a Regal Cinemas theater, several restaurants and bars, and many new and redeveloped condominiums. Since 2000 Knoxville has successfully brought business back to the downtown area. The arts in particular have begun to flourish, there are multiple venues for outdoor concerts. The Tennessee and Bijou Theaters were renovated.

## Sister cities

Knoxville has seven sister cities as designated by Sister Cities International:
- Chelm, Poland
- Chengdu, China
- Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Sister Cities International officially recognizes Taiwan as a division of China)
- Larissa, Greece
- Muroran, Japan
- Neuquen, Argentina
- Yesan County, South Korea

## Other websites

- City of Knoxville (official web site)
- Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation
- _Knoxville, Tennessee Local Guide and Search_
- _The Knoxville News Sentinel_
- _The South Knox•Seymour Times_
- _Knoxville Voice_ (independent alternative bi-weekly)
- _Metropulse_ (alternative weekly)
- _KnoxViews_
- _City View_ Magazine
- _Knoxville_ Magazine
- "About Knoxville"

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Knoxville
- **settlement type**: City
- **nickname**: Marble City, Heart of the Valley, Queen City of the Mountains, K-Town, Scruffy City, Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains, Knox Vegas.
- **seal size**: 85px
- **image flag**: File:Flag of Knoxville, Tennessee.svg
- **blank emblem type**: Logo
- **blank emblem size**: 200px
- **image map**: File:Knox County Tennessee Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Knoxville Highlighted 4740000.svg
- **mapsize**: 260px
- **map caption**: Location of Knoxville in Knox County, Tennessee.
- **pushpin map**: Tennessee#USA
- **pushpin map caption**: Location in Tennessee##Location in the United States
- **pushpin relief**: yes
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: United States
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision name1**: Tennessee
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in Tennessee, County
- **subdivision name2**: Knox County, Tennessee, Knox
- **government type**: Mayor–council
- **leader title**: List of mayors of Knoxville, Tennessee, Mayor
- **leader name**: Indya Kincannon (Democratic Party (United States), D)
- **leader title1**: City Council
- **established title**: Settled
- **established date**: 1786
- **established title2**: Founded
- **established date2**: 1791
- **established title3**: Incorporated
- **established date3**: 1815
- **founder**: James White (General), James White
- **named for**: Henry Knox
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **area total km2**: 270.01
- **area land km2**: 255.72
- **area water km2**: 14.30
- **area water percent**: 5.4
- **elevation ft**: 886
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 190740
- **population rank**: US: List of United States cities by population, 135th
- **population density km2**: 745.91
- **population urban**: 597,257 (US: List of United States urban areas, 72nd)
- **population density urban km2**: 533.9
- **population density urban sq mi**: 1,382.8
- **population metro**: 868,546 (US: List of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 64th)
- **population blank1 title**: Table of United States Combined Statistical Areas, CSA
- **population blank1**: 1,096,961 (US: List of Combined Statistical Areas, 50th)
- **population demonym**: Knoxvillian
- **timezone**: North American Eastern Time Zone, EST
- **utc offset**: −5
- **timezone dst**: Eastern Daylight Time, EDT
- **utc offset dst**: −4
- **postal code type**: Zip code
- **postal code**: 37901-37902, 37909, 37912, 37914-37920-37924, 37927-37934, 37938-37940, 37950, 37995-37998
- **area code**: area code 865, 865
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature ID
- **blank1 info**: 1648562
- **area total sq mi**: 104.25
- **area land sq mi**: 98.73
- **area water sq mi**: 5.52
- **population density sq mi**: 1931.90