Fort Sanders, Knoxville

Fort Sanders and the University of Tennessee campus straddle a hill that is bounded by Second Creek on the east, Third Creek on the west, the Tennessee River on the south, and a declivity now traversed by the Southern Railway tracks and Interstate 40 on the north. The university occupies the southern half of the hill, overlooking the river, while Fort Sanders occupies the northern half. Cumberland Avenue (part of U.S. Route 70), commonly called "The Strip," is the approximate boundary between the two. Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center occupies the western half of the Fort Sanders neighborhood. The World's Fair Park, the site of the 1982 World's Fair, lies opposite Second Creek to the east. The Mechanicsville neighborhood lies on the other side of I-40 to the north. West of the L&N tracks, Cumberland Avenue becomes Kingston Pike, which continues into West Knoxville. ==History==

Battle of Fort Sanders In November 1863, Confederate forces under General James Longstreet marched north from Chattanooga to Knoxville in hopes of dislodging Union forces under Ambrose Burnside, who had occupied Knoxville a few months prior. After a brief skirmish at Campbell's Station (Farragut), Longstreet's forces approached Knoxville from the west along Kingston Pike. Delaying maneuvers executed by General William P. Sanders gave Union forces in the city time to complete fortifications, although Sanders was mortally wounded on November 18, and died at the Lamar House the following day. With Union fortifications in place, Longstreet decided to surround the city and starve Union forces out. During the Siege of Knoxville, Confederate pickets stretched roughly along what is now Twenty-First Street between Cumberland and Forest avenues. Union fortifications included Fort Byington atop "The Hill," Battery Noble at what is now the intersection of Melrose and Seventeenth, and Battery Zoellner near the intersection of Highland and Eleventh. Fort Sanders, originally "Fort Loudon" but renamed in honor of the deceased General Sanders by occupying Union forces, was an earthen fort that spanned Seventeenth between Laurel and Clinch, and continued along Laurel and Clinch eastward to Sixteenth Street. On the morning of November 29, 1863, after a two-week siege, Longstreet ordered three brigades under General Lafayette McLaws to attack Fort Sanders, in hopes of breaching Union lines. With a need for city services, and bureaucratic issues preventing annexation by Knoxville, the Fort Sanders area incorporated as the separate city of West Knoxville on March 8, 1888. The city's boundaries were Second Creek on the east, Asylum (now Western) Avenue and the railroad tracks on the north, Third Creek on the west, and the river on the south. West Knoxville had an initial population of 1,520, and J.W. Yoe served as the first mayor. West Knoxville was annexed by Knoxville in 1897. Today, "West Knoxville" generally refers to the section of Knoxville along Kingston Pike, west of Third Creek and Alcoa Highway. Later development During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Fort Sanders was home to some of Knoxville's key industrial figures. Department store owner Max Arnstein, who built the seven-story Arnstein Building at the south end of Market Square, owned houses at 1403 and 1625 Laurel. Wholesaling tycoon Matthew McClung, a partner in Cowan, McClung and Company, built the house at 1625 Clinch. Marble quarry magnate John J. Craig lived at 1415 Highland, and Coca-Cola bottler J. Patrick Roddy lived at 1803 Clinch. Knoxville Journal founder and editor William Rule lived at 1604 Clinch. Artist Catherine Wiley lived at 1317 White in the 1910s while working as an instructor at UT. With the advent of the automobile in the 1920s, Knoxville's wealthier residents began to move to suburbs on the periphery of the city, and urban neighborhoods such as Fort Sanders began to decline. After World War II, the University of Tennessee's student body grew from just over 2,000 to almost 30,000 by 1975, and most of the homes in Fort Sanders were converted into student housing. The university's expansion (and more recently the expansion of Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center) led to the destruction of many of the neighborhood's early houses, and preservationists, namely the Fort Sanders Community Improvement Association, increased efforts to protect its historical resources. The Fort Sanders neighborhood provides the primary setting for Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family. The novel opens with Agee and his father taking a walk through downtown Knoxville, making stops on Gay Street and Market Square, and passing the Deaf and Dumb Asylum and the L&N Station as they made their way back to Fort Sanders. Agee mentioned a vacant lot along Forest Avenue where he and his father liked to look out on the lights of North Knoxville in the distance, and listen to the engines of the L&N, which "coughed and browsed" in the valley below. The book ends with Agee and his uncle conversing while standing over the "waste of briers and of embanked clay" of the ruins of the Civil War-era Fort Sanders. In 1999, Fifteenth Street was renamed "James Agee Street." In 2005, James Agee Park was established in a vacant lot (formerly the home of Mayor Samuel B. Luttrell) at the intersection of James Agee Street and Laurel Avenue. ==Fort Sanders today==

Fort Sanders, or "The Fort" as it is known by residents, remains a popular place for students. Most residents are in their twenties and many go home during the summer, leaving the neighborhood virtually empty compared to its very active, and sometimes belligerent, feel during the school year. Due to the area's younger population and proximity to a large university, the neighborhood is a hotbed for house parties and bars alike. The neighborhood is somewhat infamous in Knoxville for its party atmosphere, and residents have been known to throw multi-street block parties that can attract thousands. The biggest being on October 15, 2022, which was the night the Vols broke a 15-year losing streak to Alabama beating the Crimson Tide 52–49. The block of 13th and Laurel Ave was filled to the brim with people as they lit couches on fire listening to Dixieland Delight. Cumberland Avenue, or "The Strip", is a popular hangout for students, as it contains numerous bars, restaurants, and stores. During the Fall football season, Fort Sanders, along with the campus itself, serves as a headquarters for Tennessee Volunteers fans' tailgating and pre-game activities. The Knoxville Police Department and The University of Tennessee's Police Department jointly patrol Fort Sanders. The university operates a fully armed and operational police that helps protect students both on campus and in Fort Sanders. ==Fort Sanders Historic District==

The Fort Sanders Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1980, originally consisted of approximately 400 buildings, and covered a area bounded by White, Grand, Eleventh, and Nineteenth. Most of the district's contributing houses were built between 1880 and 1930, and the majority were designed in Victorian (especially Queen Anne) or Bungalow/Craftsman styles. The district also includes three churches and several commercial buildings. • Laurel Theater (1538 Laurel Avenue), originally the Fort Sanders Presbyterian Church; a two-story brick church built in 1898. • 1803 Clinch Avenue, a two-and-a-half-story Georgian Revival-style house built in 1912; this house served as a residence for J. Patrick Roddy, founder of the Roddy Coca-Cola Bottling Company. ==References==