The history of Knoxville

Fire destroyed the church's old home on Church Street

The Church Street United Methodist Church you see on Henley Street is not the building its congregation planned.

In February 1928, fire tore through the church's home on Church Street between Walnut and Market. The congregation had worshipped there since 1879, in a Victorian Gothic building some credited to local architect Alexander Campbell Bruce. The congregation had already been talking about a bigger building. Growth had outpaced the old sanctuary since 1921. The fire made the decision for them.

They bought land on Henley Street and stayed with Gothic Revival for the new building. They hired John Russell Pope, a New York architect known for Gothic Revival work at Yale and churches in New York and Ohio. He worked with local firm Barber & McMurry. Construction started in March 1930. The building was finished the next year. The congregation held its first service there in January 1931.

Roosevelt called the church the most beautiful he had seen

On Labor Day 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt drove past the church on his way to dedicate Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He noticed the building's stone tower and its stained glass, made by the studio of Charles J. Connick of Boston, the same workshop behind windows at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Princeton's University Chapel. Roosevelt asked what it was. He called it the most beautiful church he had ever seen.

The building has stood on Henley Street since 1931. An education wing was added in 1964. A further wing was built between 1986 and 1989. Both new wings match the original stone and roofline. In 2009, the National Register of Historic Places listed the church for its architecture and its glass. It stands thirty paces from where you are.

A domed courthouse gave way to its replacement

John Dameron built a three-story domed courthouse on Main Street in 1836. Knox County ran its business there for half a century. By 1886, the county wanted something bigger and more permanent. Workers tore the old domed courthouse down. The replacement went up directly across the street. It still stands there today. The Knox County Courthouse (Tennessee) does the job the 1836 building once did.

A wartime grudge ended in a street shooting

Some came from a grudge that outlived the war that caused it. In July 1868, Henry Ashby served the Confederacy. He exchanged heated words with Major Eldad Cicero Camp. Camp was a Union veteran. The argument happened in Camp's office near Main and Crooked Street. The argument spilled into the street. Camp shot Ashby multiple times in the head and chest. He was arrested and posted bail. He was later acquitted.

Creek and Cherokee forces nearly overran the town

In 1793, Creek and Cherokee forces attacked the young settlement of Knoxville. They also attacked the U. S. Army fort standing near Gay and Main streets. The attackers pushed hard enough to nearly overrun the town. They pulled back before finishing the job. Knoxville survived that year with its fort and its handful of buildings intact. The town was founded seven years earlier.

James White founded the town that outgrew him

James White founded Knoxville in 1786. He laid out the town that would burn, rebuild, and grow. It grew around a courthouse, a fort line, and eventually a Gothic church on Henley Street. He died in 1821. He is buried in First Presbyterian Church Cemetery. The cemetery is a half mile from where you stand. Senators John Williams and Hugh Lawson White were later laid to rest there too.

Knoxville outgrew every version of itself White ever saw.