Anderson County, Tennessee

A short history

Anderson County was created in December 1801 from parts of Knox and Grainger Counties and named for U.S. Senator Joseph Anderson. Its first seat was called Burrville, after Vice President Aaron Burr; after Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in their duel and was implicated in a land scheme, the legislature renamed the town Clinton. Coal mining became the leading industry once railroads arrived. In 1891 miners at Briceville rose against leased convict labor in the “Coal Creek War”; Tennessee’s convict-lease system ended in 1895.

TVA, signed into law in 1933, launched its first major construction project here: Norris Dam, the planned town of Norris, and public parks at Norris and Big Ridge. TVA notes Norris was its first dam, completed in 1936 and named for Nebraska Senator George Norris, author of the TVA legislation; its 1930s demonstration parks became the nucleus of Tennessee’s state park system.

During World War II federal planners chose the area for the atomic bomb project, and the new city of Oak Ridge (which extends into Roane County) became the fifth-largest city in Tennessee within two years. In 1956 Clinton High School opened its doors to Black students; a riot followed, Governor Frank Clement sent the National Guard, and in 1958 the building was bombed. Students attended classes in Oak Ridge while it was rebuilt.

Towns & communities

• Clinton — county seat, the former Burrville
• Oak Ridge — the Manhattan Project’s Secret City (also in Roane)
• Norris — TVA’s planned 1930s town beside Norris Dam
• Oliver Springs — once a mineral-springs resort where Anderson, Roane and Morgan meet
• Rocky Top — formerly Lake City
• Briceville — coal camp of the 1891 Coal Creek War

Our place stories in and near Anderson County

• Norris Lake — TVA dam history and clear water
• Oak Ridge — the Secret City and the Manhattan Project
• Windrock — off-road ridge country above Oliver Springs

Go deeper

• Tanasi: the town that named Tennessee — and the TVA waters
• When Tennessee was North Carolina

Neighboring counties: Knox County · Roane County · Morgan County · All counties →

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