in the early 1900s|left The Customs House is situated on what was originally Lot 11 of
James White's 1795 extension of Knoxville. An 1871 map of Knoxville shows the property as an open grove surrounded by a few small houses. Through the 1850s,
Congress was petitioned by cities across the country to provide courtrooms and post offices. Congress appropriated funding for Knoxville's Customs House in 1856, and reappropriated the funding in 1869. Construction of the original portion of the Customs House (at the corner of Clinch and Market), designed by U.S. government chief architect
Alfred B. Mullett (1834–1890), began in 1871 and was completed in 1874. and the building was enlarged in 1910. Knoxville's continued growth rendered the Customs House insufficient for the city's postal needs, and
a new post office was built on Main Street in 1934. Ownership of the Customs House was transferred to the
Tennessee Valley Authority. The society opened the Museum of East Tennessee History in 1993. In 2000, the second-floor corridor of the building was named Deaderick Hall in honor of librarian Lucile Deaderick (1914–2006). In 2004, a
BarberMcMurry-designed eastern extension to the Customs House was completed, extending the structure the length of Clinch Avenue from Market to Gay Street. This new complex, known as the East Tennessee History Center, includes the ETHS's headquarters, the Museum of East Tennessee History, the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, and the Knox County Archives. The Old Customs House is depicted in the ETHS logo. ==See also==