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From the day it was finished in 1903 The Southern Railway Station on Depot Street was remarkable in several ways. It was overcrowded, for one thing, an unwelcome surprise to the architect, who had apparently miscalculated. The mortar had hardly […]

Every October, a historian is likely to encounter a little personal heartbreak. It’s not just the leaves falling from the trees, or the end of flip-flop weather. It’s the near-certainty that someone in the media is going to assume that […]

Whatever happens at Neyland Stadium this year, it won’t be much like what we’re used to. It might help to go back to a time when Knoxville existed without football. The last time was in the 1880s. Knoxville had a […]

By now we all know the story of Rep. Harry T. Burn, the representative from Niota who changed his mind on women’s suffrage and enabled the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote. Google his name, and you’ll […]

Police killing of unarmed suspects has a deep history in Knoxville, as nearly everything does. It’s impossible to say how many times it has happened. But one case stands out. It got more public attention than most. Will Lenoir was […]

Surely you’ve heard there’s a lot of anxiety about the census, about Congressional redistricting, whether undocumented immigrants are likely to be counted, whether the coronavirus curtailed it in general. Usually the census is like the Coast Guard, not famous or […]

One hard disappointment of the spring is word that the Farmers’ Market won’t come to Market Square soon, or for the foreseeable future. Of course it’s just a 10-minute walk away, on Mary Costa Plaza. But it will, at least […]

In 2020, a confessed Socialist running for president strikes some folks as a novelty, and something that surely would have shocked our grandparents. But maybe not as much as we might assume. On an unseasonably warm Thursday evening late in […]

By Jack Neely – October 2019 Some holidays haven’t changed much. Beginning in the 1790s, Fourth of July was always noisy, public, and hot. Easter was always centered around church. Thanksgiving has always involved a family meal. Christmas has changed […]