The mission of the Knoxville History Project (KHP) is to research, preserve, and promote the history and culture of Knoxville, Tennessee. Through research and engaging programs, KHP tells the city’s stories, focusing on those that have not been previously told, and those that connect the city to the world. KHP’s stories, programs, and publications educate and help residents and visitors understand the city’s past and its complicated but dynamic heritage, and also to inspire an appreciation for the city’s culture.
Learning about a city’s history makes one more aware of its geography and its buildings, leading to a better sense of place. KHP’s downloadable driving tours of Near-West, North, East, and South Knoxville provide opportunities for residents to discover and appreciate the many historical landmarks found throughout Knoxville that can be seen easily from a vehicle or explored on foot.
The North Knoxville 8.2-mile tour starts on North Gay Street, winds through Emory Place, taking in two historic cemeteries before proceeding north along Central, east through the Lincoln Park community to Broadway and back to the starting point.
Download driving tours at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org/Historic-Knoxville-Driving-Tours/
The area's oldest institution, Old Gray Cemetery, established in 1850 as Knoxville’s first "garden cemetery" was designed to be a beautifully landscaped place, with trees and flowering shrubs that would attract visitors. It's the resting place of thousands of both prominent and forgotten Knoxvillians, especially of the Victorian era. Immediately adjacent, and in stark contrast to Old Gray, is Knoxville’s National Cemetery, established by Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside as an emergency of war in 1863. About 3,500 Union soldiers were buried here, both Black and white, and many marked "Unknown." The tall Union monument, originally built with a different design in 1900 was destroyed by lightning in 1904 and subsequently replaced by a statue of a Union soldier.
A pronounced dip on Central Street became known by 1910 as Happy Holler or Hollow. The name was apparently inspired by an Irishman named Kavanaugh who noticed how many farmers coming to market in a mule cart would break down at the bottom of the hill, get stuck in the mud or break an axle. It seemed to him a perfect place for a saloon, and he established one there in 1885, marking the start of a commercial center known for entertainment. Nearby Brookside Cotton Mills, established in 1885, was one of Knoxville's biggest employers, and many of its workers spent their spare hours in Happy Holler, which eventually became home to several bars and pool halls and a movie theater, the latter now housing Central Cinema. The Original Freezo on N. Central, may now be one of Knoxville’s oldest places to eat.
Sharps Ridge Memorial Park, just off Broadway,atop a long, linear ridgetop drive offers surprising views of downtown Knoxville. It was an attraction even in the 1800s, when it became a destination for a quick hunting trip or a scout camp outing. A "skyline park," first proposed in the 1920s, finally came to fruition in 1943, when the city purchased part of it as a war memorial park. The road was completed the following year. Soon after the war, the location attracted television and radio stations to build high antennas with regional reach. East Tennessee's first local television station, WROL-TV (later WATE) broadcast from here in 1953. Today, numerous mountain bike trails have been incorporated into the park.
Off Broadway, back towards downtown, is a neighborhood, once considered part of old North Knoxville but known since the early 1970s as Fourth and Gill. Noted for its modest-sized Victorian homes, the neighborhood makes for a pleasant stroll. Of special interest is Central United Methodist Church, a major brick and stone edifice built between 1925 and 1927 designed by R.H. Hunt of Chattanooga, then already famous for Atlanta's "Tabernacle."
Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org. Donations to support the work of the Knoxville History Project, an educational nonprofit, are always welcome and appreciated.