Editing Johnson City, Tennessee (section)

==History==
[[William Bean]], traditionally recognized as Tennessee's first white settler, built his cabin along Boone's Creek near Johnson City in 1769.<ref>Paul Hellman, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EQ-R4O2L3nEC&q=jacksboro,+tennessee+%22andrew+jackson%22 Historical Gazetteer of the United States]'' (Taylor and Francis, 2005), p. 1016.</ref> In the 1780s, Colonel [[John Tipton (Tennessee frontiersman)|John Tipton]] established a farm (now the [[Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site]]) just outside what is now Johnson City. During the [[State of Franklin]] movement, Tipton was a leader of the loyalist faction, residents of the region who wanted to remain part of [[North Carolina]] rather than form a separate state. In February 1788, an armed engagement took place at Tipton's farm between Tipton and his men and the forces led by [[John Sevier]], the leader of the Franklin faction.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/civilpoliticalhi00hayw/civilpoliticalhi00hayw_djvu.txt A civil and political history of the state of Tennessee"]; by John Haywood</ref>

Founded in 1856 by Henry Johnson as a [[railroad station]] called "Johnson's Depot",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hoss |first=Fred W. |date=21 May 1922 |title=Henry Johnson Realized His Dream |url=http://www.stateoffranklin.net/johnsons/henry.pdf |website=The Sunday Chronicle}}</ref> Johnson City became a major rail hub for the [[Southeastern United States|Southeast]], as three railway lines crossed in the downtown area.<ref>Graybeal, Johhny, [http://www.johnsonsdepot.com/tweetsie/graybeal.pdf "Riding the Rails: The Storied History of the ET&WNC Line"] {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619045154/http://www.johnsonsdepot.com/tweetsie/graybeal.pdf | date=June 19, 2012}}, ''Johnson City Press'', April 18, 2005</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Johnson City served as headquarters for the [[narrow gauge]] [[East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad]] (the ''ET&WNC'', nicknamed "Tweetsie") and the [[standard gauge]] [[Clinchfield Railroad]]. Both rail systems featured excursion trips through scenic portions of the [[Blue Ridge Mountains]] and were engineering marvels of railway construction. The [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] (now [[Norfolk Southern Railway|Norfolk Southern]]) also passes through the city.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.american-rails.com/etwnc.html|title=The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad|work=American-Rails.com|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], before it was formally incorporated in 1869, the town's name was briefly changed to "Haynesville" in honor of Confederate Senator [[Landon Carter Haynes]].<ref name=tnenc>Haskell, Jean. [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=712 Johnson City]. ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. Accessed: December 25, 2009.</ref>

Henry Johnson's name was quickly restored following the war, with Johnson elected as the city's first mayor on January 3, 1870. The town grew rapidly from 1870 until 1890 as railroad and mining interests flourished. But the national [[depression of 1893]], which caused many railway failures (including the [[Charleston, Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad]] or "3-Cs", a predecessor of the Clinchfield), and resulting financial panic halted Johnson City's boom town momentum.<ref>"[http://www.johnsonsdepot.com/typical_city.pdf Johnson City is a Typical American City] {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217063242/http://johnsonsdepot.com/typical_city.pdf | date=December 17, 2010}}", ''The Sunday Chronicle'' (Johnson City), 1922.</ref>

In 1901, the Mountain Branch of the [[National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers]] (now the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center and National Cemetery]]), [[Mountain Home, Tennessee]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mountainhome.va.gov/ | title=Mountain Home VA Healthcare System | author=((US Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Deputy Under Secretary for Operations and Management, Veterans Integrated Service Network 9, James H. Quillen VA Medical Center)) | website=www.mountainhome.va.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/mountainhome.asp | title=Mountain Home National Cemetery | publisher=National Cemetery Administration | website=www.cem.va.gov}}</ref> was created by an act of [[United States Congress|Congress]] introduced by [[Walter P. Brownlow]]. {{citation needed span|Construction on this {{convert|450|acre|km2|adj=on}} campus, which was designed to serve disabled Civil War veterans, was completed in 1903 at a cost of $3 million. Before the completion of this facility, the assessed value of the entire town was listed at $750,000. The [[East Tennessee State University|East Tennessee State Normal School]] was authorized in 1911 and the new college campus directly across from the National Soldiers Home.|date=January 2018}} Johnson City began growing rapidly and became Tennessee's fifth-largest city by 1930.<ref>[http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/10612982v3p2ch08.pdf ''Fifteenth Census of the United States – 1930 – Population: Volume III, Part 2: Montana-Wyoming''], p890</ref>

Together with neighboring [[Bristol, Tennessee|Bristol]], Johnson City was a hotbed for [[old-time music]]. It hosted [[Columbia Records]] recording sessions in 1928 known as the [[Johnson City Sessions]]. Native son [[Charlie Bowman|"Fiddlin' Charlie" Bowman]] became a national recording star via these sessions.<ref>[http://www.stateoffranklin.net/johnsons/oldtime/oldtime.htm "Old-Time Music Heritage"], Johnson's Depot Website</ref> The Fountain Square area downtown featured a host of local and traveling street entertainers, including [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]].

During the 1920s and the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] era, Johnson City's ties to the [[rum-running|bootlegging]] activity of the [[Appalachian Mountains]] earned the city the nickname of "Little [[Chicago]]".<ref>[http://www.stateoffranklin.net/johnsons/chicago/chicago.htm "Little Chicago"], Johnson's Depot Website</ref> {{citation needed span|Stories persist that the town was one of several distribution centers for Chicago gang boss [[Al Capone]] during Prohibition. Capone had a well-organized distribution network within the southern United States for alcohol smuggling; it shipped his products from the mountain distillers to northern cities. Capone was, according to local lore, a part-time resident of Montrose Court, a luxury apartment complex now listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].|date=January 2018}}

For many years, the city had a municipal "privilege tax" on carnival shows, in an attempt to dissuade traveling circuses and other transient entertainment businesses from doing business in town.<ref>[http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html "The Day They Hanged an Elephant in East Tennessee"] {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114104505/http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html | date=January 14, 2010}}, Blue Ridge Country, February 13, 2009</ref> The use of drums by merchants to draw attention to their goods is prohibited. Title Six, Section 106 of the city's municipal code, the so-called "[[Barney Fife]]" ordinance, empowers the city's police force to draft into involuntary service as many of the town's citizens as necessary to aid police in making arrests and preventing or quelling riots, unlawful assemblies, or breaches of peace.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mtas.utk.edu/public/municodesweb.nsf/5cde681dbdedc10f8525664000615fc4/07d9802362da8eb485256f9a006708a6?OpenDocument | title=Code of Ordinance for Johnson City | website=www.mtas.utk.edu | access-date=December 21, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320195421/http://www.mtas.utk.edu/public/municodesweb.nsf/5cde681dbdedc10f8525664000615fc4/07d9802362da8eb485256f9a006708a6?OpenDocument | archive-date=March 20, 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref>