25 fun facts about Knoxville TN
· McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville is named in honor of Knoxville native and Fighter Pilot Lt. Charles McGhee Tyson who was shot down over Britain’s North Sea in WWI.
· The 2000 movie “Road Trip” with Tom Green had parts filmed at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
· Knoxville was home to the 1982 World’s Fair. The attendance was recorded at 11,127,786 visitors.
· Current NFL star Peyton Manning played for UT in Knoxville.
· Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the state of Tennessee.
· Knoxville was named after Henry Knox, President Washington’s War Secretary.
· William Blount selected the name for the city of Knoxville.
· In Knoxville on May 1, 1890, the first electric street car ran from Gay Street to Lake Ottossee (now Chilhowee Park).
· Indians were the first settlers on Knoxville and East Tennessee. By the time the first European settlers appeared, the Cherokees dominated the region.
· James White was the first known settler of Knoxville.
· Henley Bridge was named after Col. David Henley, a Revolutionary War hero sent to Knoxville in 1793 by President George Washington to represent the war department.
· The first train arrived in Knoxville in 1855.
· Seven lakes surround Knoxville: Cherokee, Douglas, Ft. Loudon, Melton Hill, Norris, Watts Bar and Tellico.
· Currently Knoxville’s city population is more than 177,000.
· The University of Tennessee is located in Knoxville with more than 26,000 students.
· The Sunsphere, built for the 1982 World’s Fair, is 266 feet tall and has 26 stories. The actual ball itself houses only five levels. The fourth floor of the ball opened in 2007 as an observation deck.
· Knoxville residents are treated to the largest Labor Day weekend fireworks display in the nation during the Chrysler Jeep Boomsday Festival.
· Smoky Mountain National Park is located within 45 minutes of Knoxville.
· Knoxville is home to cable TV’s HGTV, which is one of the fastest growing networks in cable history with nearly 89 million households in less than nine years.
· Famous country singer Kenny Chesney grew up in Knoxville.
· Knoxville is home to UT Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt, the all-time winnings coach in NCAA basketball history (men or women) with more than 900 victories.
· Knoxville was the birth site of Todd Helton, professional baseball player for the Colorado Rockies.
· MTV stuntman and actor Johnny Knoxville grew up in Knoxville.
· In 1901, Kid Curry, a member of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, shot a couple of deputies and escaped out the back window of a business on Central Avenue in what is now the Old City. He was captured, brought to the Knoxville Jail, but escaped and was last seen riding the sheriff’s stolen horse across the Gay Street Bridge.
· Downtown Knoxville is 936 feet above sea level.
Some of this information came from these websites http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/about/funfacts.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoxville,_Tennessee
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