Knoxville was founded by Revolutionary War veteran James White.

Most of what is now call East Tennessee was originally claimed by the Cherokee nation.

When Tennessee became a state in 1796, Knoxville became its first capital.

In 1793, the settlement of Knoxville was attacked by Native Americans and 13 people were killed.

The University of Tennessee traces its origins to Blount College, a co-educational school, which was founded in Knoxville in 1794.

The 1982 World’s Fair took place in Knoxville.

The McClung Collection, located in the East Tennessee History Center in downtown Knoxville, is the foremost collection for East Tennessee history and genealogy research and one of the premier research libraries in the Southeast.

Knoxville was home to a strong pro-Union element during the secession crisis of the early 1860s, and remained bitterly divided throughout the Civil War.

Following the Civil War, Knoxville grew to become the third-largest wholesaling center in the South.

In the early 1800s, merchants acquired goods from Baltimore and Philadelphia via wagon trains.

Knoxville officially incorporated as a city on October 27, 1815.

Judge Thomas Emmerson was Knoxville's first mayor.

In 1854, land speculators Joseph Mabry and William Swan donated land for the creation of Market Square.

The first train rolled into Knoxville on June 22, 1855.

Knoxville's pre-1850s population consisted primarily of European-American (of mostly English, Scots-Irish, or German descent) Protestants and a small community of free blacks and slaves.

Racetrack and saloon owner Cal Johnson, born a slave, was one of the wealthiest African Americans in the state by the time of his death.

In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established with its headquarters in Knoxville, its initial purpose being to control flooding and improve navigation in the Tennessee River watershed, and provide electricity to the area.