West Hills, Knoxville

West Hills lies just off Kingston Pike, approximately west of Knoxville's downtown area. The merged Interstate 40 and Interstate 75 passes between West Hills and Kingston Pike, running roughly parallel with the latter. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Papermill Road on the south, Weisgarber Road on the east, and Walker Springs Road on the west. West Town Mall dominates the south side of Kingston Pike, opposite the West Hills area. Bearden and Forest Heights lie opposite Northshore Drive to the east, and the Turkey Creek shopping centers lie to the southwest. ==History==

Before the 1950s, what is now West Hills consisted of several small family farms. The Will Walker farm stood at the intersection of Wesley Road and Kingston Pike, and farms owned by the Kirby and Hickey families stood west of Vanosdale Road. After World War II, the demand for new houses spiked, and vacant lots in Knoxville's older, pre-war neighborhoods quickly filled up. To meet the rising housing demand, developer Morgan Schubert purchased the Walker, Kirby, Hickey, and Van Osdale farms, and established the West Hills subdivision (the name "West Hills" was likely coined by Schubert). The development of shopping centers in West Knoxville in the late 1950s and 1960s brought increased threats of commercial encroachment into the West Hills neighborhood. In the early 1960s, several West Hills residents formed the West Hills Estates Civic Association— the forerunner of the West Hills Community Association— to strictly monitor development and zoning codes in the neighborhood and its vicinity. ==References==