Blount and Beyond Online Magazine - Magazine - Page 12
Brief History of Anderson County Tennessee
The place we know as Anderson County, Tennessee originally belonged to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It was
settled by several pioneer families including the Freels, Frost, Gibbs, Tunnell and Wallace families. The Treaty of Holston
signed with the Cherokee in 1791 was intended to prohibit white settlements in the area. With more and more settlers
moving through the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia and North Carolina into Tennessee. The white settlers moved
into the Indian land, and this caused many skirmishes between the white settlers and the Indians. The tension between the
two eased after the Treaty of Tellico in 1798. The Cherokee agreed to give up their rights to the land making it easier to
settle the area.
Anderson County was partitioned from a portion of Grainger County, Tennessee as well as a portion of Knox County,
Tennessee, in 1801. Anderson County was named in honor of Joseph Anderson, a U.S. senator from Tennessee. Anderson
had also been the judge of the Superior Court of the Territory South of the River Ohio.
Like many East Tennessee counties Anderson Countians voted against Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession.
The first dam built by the Tennessee Valley Authority was the Norris Dam. brought major changes to the county in the
1930s. Construction began in 1933 and was completed in 1936. The town of Norris was built to house the workers
involved in the construction of the dam. As a result of the dam many people were displaced from their homes. Before the
dam was built a pearl industry flourished but with the completion and operation the dam the temperature of the
downstream Clinch Riverbed changed and the river was no longer able to sustain life in the changed climate, thus ending
the freshwater pearl industry in Anderson County.
During World War II, the federal government's Manhattan Project and the founding of Oak Ridge brought more change to
the county. It was known as the secret city and not even the workers knew what they were building, Security was tight.
The Museum of Appalachia in Norris tells the story of pioneer and rural life of past decades in Anderson County and the
surrounding region.
The city of Clinton is also in Anderson County, but did you know it was not originally named Clinton? The city was
founded in 1801 and named Burrville. It was named in honor of Aaron Burr, Vice President under Thomas Jefferson.
Burrville was designated as the county seat of the newly formed Anderson County.
On November 8, 1809, an act of Tennessee State Legislature changed the name. The town was renamed after Burr was
charged with treason for conspiring with the governor of the Louisiana Purchase, to form another country from part of the
Louisiana Purchase and part of Mexico. It is thought the name "Clinton" was to honor George Clinton or his nephew,
DeWitt Clinton. George Clinton succeeded Burr as the vice president for Thomas Jefferson, George Clinton also served as
James Madison's vice president. He was the first vice president to serve under two presidents and the first vice president to
die in office. George Clinton was vice president at the time of Burrville's name change and DeWitt Clinton was the mayor
of New York City. The name George Clinton would have been better known due to his position as vice-president than that
of the mayor of New York City. With no historical proof it is thought, due to his position of Vice President, Clinton was
named after George Clinton.
Information from: Norris - TVA.com, https://www.tva.com/energy/our-power-system/hydroelectric/norris.
Clinton 3 Anderson County Tennessee Genealogy & History - TNGenWeb, https://tngenweb.org/andersoncounty/2011/08/clinton/.
Clinton Founded in 1801, the town of Clinton was first named Burrville ..., https://andersontn.genealogyvillage.com/Clinton.html.