About Knoxville, Tennessee:
The History of Knoxville, Tennessee, began with the establishment of James White’s Fort on the Trans-Appalachian frontier in 1786. The city, named for Secretary of War Henry Knox, became the first capital of the State of Tennessee in 1796.
While a Southern city, 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. The city was occupied by Confederate forces until September 1863, when Union forces entered the city unopposed. Confederate forces laid siege to the city later that year, but retreated after failing to breach the city’s fortifications during the Battle of Fort Sanders.
Following the war, business leaders, many from the North, established major iron and textile industries in Knoxville. As a nexus between rural towns in Southern Appalachia and the nation’s great manufacturing centers, Knoxville grew to become the third-largest wholesaling center in the South. Tennessee marble, extracted from quarries on the city’s periphery, was used in the construction of numerous monumental buildings across the country. The city grew steadily during the early 19th century as a way station for westward-bound migrants and as a commercial center for nearby mountain communities. The arrival of the railroad in the 1850s led to a boom in the city’s population and commercial activity.
Catholic places of interest in Knoxville, Tennessee:
Knoxville was home to a small Catholic congregation by the early 1800s. Father Stephen Badin traveled to the city on several occasions to visit this congregation. Railroad construction in the late 1840s and early 1850s brought scores of Irish immigrant laborers to the city, considerably boosting the number of Catholics in the city.
The Diocese of Knoxville was founded on May 27, 1988, from the eastern counties of what was then the Diocese of Nashville. The Diocese of Knoxville covers a large territory, including 36 counties in East Tennessee. The diocese has 51 parish and mission churches spread throughout rural areas, small towns, and larger cities such as Knoxville, Chattanooga, Crossville, Kingsport, and Johnson City. We have listed two of the most visited of the churches in the Diocese of Knoxville.
Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: located in the west Knoxville community of Bearden, this is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese.
Church of the Immaculate Conception: the city’s first Catholic parish in the city was founded in 1855 on the site of the current church. The name of the church was inspired by Pope Pius IX’s elevation of Immaculate Conception to official church doctrine the previous year.
Holy Ghost Catholic Church: Beautiful church that also offers Latin Mass.
Traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee:
By air: The airport in Knoxville, McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), is just 12 miles south of downtown Knoxville, offers nonstop flights to 30+ destinations through six airlines.
By car: I-40 (which stretches from Barstow, California, to Wilmington, North Carolina) passes through Knoxville—and serves the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most-visited national park in the United States.
By train: There is no train service to Knoxville.