Editing Knoxville, Tennessee (section)

===Progressive Era and the Great Depression===
[[File:kingstonpike.jpg|thumb|right|Kingston Pike, {{c.}} 1910, with the former Cherokee Bridge]]

Knoxville hosted the Appalachian Exposition in 1910 and 1911 and the [[National Conservation Exposition]] in 1913. The latter is sometimes credited with giving rise to the movement to create a [[national park]] in the Great Smoky Mountains, some {{convert|20|mi}} south of Knoxville.<ref name="Jack Neely 2006">Jack Neely, "Knoxville, Tennessee". ''The Encyclopedia of Appalachia'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), 654.</ref> Around this time, several affluent Knoxvillians began purchasing summer cottages in [[Elkmont, Tennessee|Elkmont]] and began to pursue the park idea more vigorously. They were led by Knoxville businessman Colonel [[David C. Chapman]], who, as head of the Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission, was largely responsible for raising the funds for the purchase of the property that became the core of the park. The [[Great Smoky Mountains National Park]] opened in 1933.<ref>Carlos Campbell, ''Birth of a National Park In the Great Smoky Mountains'' (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1969), 13-18, 32.</ref>

[[File:Knoxville-gay-street-1900s.jpg|thumb|left|Gay Street in the early 1900s]]

Knoxville's reliance on a manufacturing economy left it particularly vulnerable to the effects of the [[Great Depression]]. The Tennessee Valley also suffered from frequent flooding, and millions of acres of farmland had been ruined by soil erosion. To control flooding and improve the economy in the Tennessee Valley, the federal government created the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] (TVA) in 1933. Beginning with [[Norris Dam]], TVA constructed a series of [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric dams]] and other power plants throughout the valley over the next few decades, bringing flood control, jobs, and electricity to the region.<ref name=wheelertva>W. Bruce Wheeler, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1362 Tennessee Valley Authority] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830171439/http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1362 |date=August 30, 2011 }}". ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: February 28, 2008.</ref> The Federal [[Works Progress Administration|Works Projects Administration]], which also arrived in the 1930s, helped build [[McGhee Tyson Airport]] and expand [[Neyland Stadium]].<ref name=wheeler/> TVA's headquarters, which consists of twin high rises built in the 1970s, were among Knoxville's first modern high-rise buildings.

In 1947, [[John Gunther]] dubbed Knoxville the "ugliest city" in America in his best-selling book ''[[Inside U.S.A. (book)|Inside U.S.A.]]'' Gunther's description jolted the city into enacting a series of beautification measures that helped improve the appearance of the downtown area.<ref name="Jack Neely 2006"/>