Johnson City is a city in Washington County, Tennessee; however a small part of the city is located within Sullivan County, Tennessee, to the northeast and Carter County, Tennessee, to the southeast. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,469.

Contents 1 History 2 Government 3 Geography 4 Demographics 5 Education 5.1 Colleges and universities 6 Notable residents 7 Points of interest 8 See also 9 Television Stations 10 External links 11 References

 

History

Founded in 1856 by Henry Johnson as a railroad station called "Johnson's Depot," Johnson City became a major rail hub for the southeast, as three railway lines crossed in the downtown area. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Johnson City served as headquarters for the narrow gauge East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (the ET&WNC, nicknamed "Tweetsie") and the standard gauge Clinchfield Railroad. Both rail systems featured excursion trips through scenic portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains and were engineering marvels of railway construction. The Southern Railway (now Norfolk Southern) also passes through the city.

During the Civil War, before it was formally incorporated in 1869, the name of the town was briefly changed to Haynesville in honor of Confederate Senator Landon Carter Haynes. Henry Johnson's name was quickly restored following the war, with Johnson elected as the city's first Mayor on January 3, 1870. The town grew rapidly from 1870 until 1890 as railroad and mining interests flourished. However, the national depression of 1893, which caused many railway failures and a resulting financial panic, halted Johnson City's boom town momentum in its tracks.

In 1901, the Mountain Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (now the U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center and National Cemetery, Mountain Home, Tennessee[1][2] was created by an Act of the US Congress introduced by Walter P. Brownlow. Construction on this 450 acre campus, designed to serve disabled Civil War veterans, was completed in 1903 at a cost of $3 million. Prior to building of this facility, the assessed value of the entire town was listed at $750,000. The East Tennessee State Normal School was authorized in 1911 and the new college campus located directly across from the National Soldiers Home. Johnson City again entered a rapid growth phase becoming the fifth largest city in Tennessee by 1930.

Johnson City along with neighboring Bristol, Tennessee was noted as a hotbed for old-time music and hosted noteworthy Columbia Records recording sessions in 1928 known as the Johnson City Sessions. Native son "Fiddlin' Charlie" Bowman became a national recording star via these sessions.

During the 1920s, Johnson City's ties to Appalachian Mountains bootlegging activity gave the city the nickname of "Little Chicago" . Stories persist that the town was one of several distribution centers for Chicago gang boss Al Capone during Prohibition. Capone had a well organized distribution network within the southern United States for alcohol smuggling that shipped his products from the mountain distillers to northern cities. Capone was, by local accounts, a part-time resident of Montrose Court, a luxury apartment complex now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The annual "Little Chicago Blues Festival" is held commemorating the legends surrounding the Prohibition-era speakeasies and railroad glory days of Johnson City. As a young Johnson City newspaper publisher during the late 1930s, U.S. naval records cite that former U.S. Congressman Jimmy Quillen was also a resident of Montrose Court.

The city is featured in a song and video by Travis Tritt called "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde," although the line "rollin' north on 95," is fictionalized, as Interstate 81 and Interstate 26 intersect near Johnson City. As well, the lyrics, "We met at a truck stop, Johnson City Tennessee" are fictionalized as no truck stops exist within the boundaries of the City of Johnson City. The city is also mentioned in a song by Old Crow Medicine Show called "Wagon Wheel", in the lyric "Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke, I caught a trucker out of Philly had a nice long toke. But he¡¯s a heading west from the Cumberland Gap, to Johnson City, Tennessee." [1]. However, the song gets the geography wrong, as Johnson City is southeast of the Cumberland Gap.

A milestone was achieved in 2003 when Interstate 26 was extended from Asheville, North Carolina to Johnson City completing a 20-year half-billion dollar construction project through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Since 2000, the city has hosted a free music and arts festival every June, called the "Blue Plum Festival." [2] In 2007, over 60,000 people were reported to have attended the weekend festival.

The music video for Aerosmith's song "Rag Doll" was also partially filmed in the city on Hamilton Street, and in Freedom Hall Civic Center.

The city is also considered the hometown of football coaching legend Steve Spurrier.

 

Government

Johnson City is run by a five person commission. The offices as of April 2007 are as follows:

• Mayor: Dr. Phil Roe
• Vice Mayor: Jane Myron
• Commissioner: Dr. Jeff Banyas
• Commissioner: Stephen Darden
• Commissioner: Marcy Walker

• City Manager: Peter Peterson

The next election will occur in 2009.

 

Geography

Johnson City is located at 36¡Æ20¡Ç7¡ÈN, 82¡Æ22¡Ç22¡ÈW (36.335399, -82.372760)GR1. Johnson City shares a contiguous southeastern border with Elizabethton, Tennessee.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 102.5 km©÷ (39.6 mi©÷). 101.7 km©÷ (39.3 mi©÷) of it is land and 0.8 km©÷ (0.3 mi©÷) of it (0.78%) is water.

 

Demographics

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 55,469 people, 23,720 households, and 14,018 families residing in the city. The population density was 545.4/km©÷ (1,412.4/mi©÷). There were 25,730 housing units at an average density of 253.0/km©÷ (655.1/mi©÷). The racial makeup of the city was 90.09% White, 6.40% African American, 0.26% Native American, 1.22% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.69% from other races, and 1.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.89% of the population.

There were 23,720 households out of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.9% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the city the population was spread out with 19.8% under the age of 18, 13.7% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,835, and the median income for a family was $40,977. Males had a median income of $31,326 versus $22,150 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,364. About 11.4% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.

 

Education

 

Colleges and universities

East Tennessee State University, a public institution with an enrollment of over 12,000 students, is located in Johnson City. The university, which is under the authority of the Tennessee Board of Regents, includes a medical school, the James H. Quillen College of Medicine and a College of Pharmacy. ETSU also has a lab school called University School, where students teach younger children in grades K-12.

Milligan College, a Christian liberal arts college, is located nearby.

 

Notable residents

• Steve Spurrier, coach of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, also coached at the University Of Florida, and he coached the Washington Redskins. He attended Science Hill High School where he was a star in every sport. The city's football stadium is named after him.
• Mike Potter, NASCAR driver
• Timothy Busfield, actor, attended ETSU
• Kenny Chesney, singer, attended and graduated from ETSU
• Johnny Miller, NASCAR driver
• Mike Brown, AMA rider
• David Cole, founding member of C+C Music Factory
• Matt Czuchry, actor, attended Science Hill High School
• Aubrayo Franklin, defensive tackle, San Francisco Forty-Niners
• David Cash, professional wrestler
• Brad Teague, NASCAR driver [3]
• Del Harris, NBA coach, attended Milligan College [4]
• Ray Flynn, miler with 89 sub-four-minute miles. Graduated ETSU, owns Flynn Sports Management
• Samuel Cole Williams, noted historian, jurist, and first dean of the Emory University School of Law
• Robert Love Taylor and Alfred A. Taylor, brothers who were both Governor of Tennessee; each owned and resided in Robin's Roost, an historic house on South Roan Street [5]

 

Points of interest

• East Tennessee State University
• East Tennessee State University Arboretum
• Milligan College
• Hands On! Regional Museum
• The Mall at Johnson City

 

 

Television Stations

WJHL-TV CBS, News Channel 11