Knoxville is a city in Tennessee and the capital of Knox County. Knoxville was first settled in 1786 under William Blount, who named the town after his commanding officer, Secretary of War Henry Knox. The city suffered with geographic isolation throughout the early 19th century, but the arrival of the railroad in 1855 led to an economic boom. Following the American Civil War, it grew as a wholesale and manufacturing center, but its economy stagnated during the 1920s after the manufacturing sector collapsed. In 2016, Knoxville had a population of 186,239 people.

