Editing Knoxville, Tennessee (section)

===1982 World's Fair and 20th century===
[[File: Nitrogen determination apparatus, part of research conducted during World War II by the Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee, 1942.jpg|thumb|upright|Research laboratory at U.T. in the early 1940s]]
Knoxville's textile and manufacturing industries largely fell victim to foreign competition in the 1950s and 1960s, and after the establishment of the [[Interstate Highway System]] in the 1960s, the railroad—which had been largely responsible for Knoxville's industrial growth—began to decline. The rise of suburban shopping malls in the 1970s drew retail revenues away from Knoxville's downtown area. While government jobs and economic diversification prevented widespread unemployment in Knoxville, the city sought to recover the massive loss of revenue by attempting to annex neighboring communities. Knoxville annexed the communities of [[Bearden, Knoxville|Bearden]] and [[Fountain City, Knoxville|Fountain City]], which were Knoxville's largest [[suburb]]s, in 1962.<ref name="big180">{{cite web |last=Neely |first=Jack |title=THE BIG 1-8-0 |url=https://knoxvillehistoryproject.org/the-big-1-8-0/ |website=The Knoxville History Project |access-date=February 22, 2021}}</ref> Knoxville officials attempted the annexation of the neighboring [[Farragut, Tennessee|Farragut]]-[[Concord, Tennessee|Concord]] community in western Knox County, but the city failed following the [[Municipal corporation|incorporation]] of Farragut in 1980.<ref name="smith40">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Wendy |title=Farragut at 40 |url=https://www.knoxtntoday.com/farragut-at-40/ |website=KnoxTNToday |access-date=February 22, 2021 |date=January 20, 2020}}</ref> These annexation attempts often turned combative, and several attempts to [[Consolidated city-county|consolidate]] Knoxville and Knox County into a metro government failed, while school boards and the planning commissions would merge on July 1, 1987.<ref name=wheeler/>

[[File:Sterchi.jpg|thumb|left|The Sterchi Lofts building, formerly Sterchi Brothers Furniture store, the most prominent building on Knoxville's "100 Block"]]
[[File:Sunsphere_03.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Sunsphere]], with riders aboard a nearby sky-lift during the [[1982 World's Fair]]]]
With further annexation attempts stalling, Knoxville initiated several projects aimed at boosting revenue in its downtown area. The [[1982 World's Fair]]—the most successful of these projects, with eleven million visitors—became one of the most popular expositions in U.S. history.<ref name="bie1982">{{Cite web|title=1982 Knoxville|url=https://www.bie-paris.org/site/en/1982-knoxville|access-date=July 12, 2020|website=bie-paris.org}}</ref> The [[Rubik's Cube]] made its debut at this event.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunsphere history |url=https://www.visitknoxville.com/listing/sunsphere/567/ |website=Knoxville, TN visitor info}}</ref> The fair's energy theme was selected because Knoxville was home to TVA's headquarters and for its proximity to [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]]. The [[Sunsphere]], a {{convert|266|ft|adj=on}} steel truss structure topped with a gold-colored glass sphere, was built for the fair and remains one of Knoxville's most prominent structures,<ref>W. Bruce Wheeler, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=754 Knoxville World's Fair of 1982] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427042704/http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=754 |date=April 27, 2012 }}". ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: February 28, 2008.</ref> along with the adjacent [[Tennessee Amphitheater]].

During the 1980s and into the 1990s, the city would see one of its largest expansions of its city limits, with a reported 26 square miles of "[[shoestring annexation]]" under the administration of Mayor [[Victor Ashe]]. Ashe's efforts were controversial, largely consisting of annexation of interstate [[Right-of-way (property access)|right-of-ways]], highway-oriented commercial clusters, and residential subdivisions to increase tax revenue for the city. Residents voiced opposition, citing claims of [[urban sprawl]] and government overreach.<ref name="deannex">{{cite web |title=Deannexation option could lead to smaller Tennessee cities |url=https://legallysociable.com/2016/03/17/deannexation-option-could-lead-to-smaller-tennessee-cities/ |website=Legally Sociable |publisher=[[WBIR-TV]] |access-date=October 23, 2021 |date=March 17, 2016}}</ref>