Kingston Pike, Knoxville

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Kingston Pike (part of U.S. Route 70; also designated but unsigned as Tennessee State Route 1) was the primary route from downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, formerly James White's Fort to the western edge of Knox County before Interstate I-40 was constructed in the 1960s.

According to Rule’s Standard History of Knoxville, the route began as an Indian trail. It then became a bridle path, going from downtown Knoxville to Sinking Creek. In 1792, Charles McClung surveyed Kingston Pike from Knoxville to Campbell’s Station, and the road was widened to thirty feet. He did this at the behest of Knox County’s first court. It is of note that Mr. McClung was the son-in-law of the founder of Knoxville, James White, and had previously laid out what is now Knoxville’s central business district.

While early settlers initially founded frontier communities along this road, the corridor soon became known for its affluence. From the founding of plantations such as Crescent Bend and Knollwood in the 19th century to the development of the wealthy neighborhoods of Sequoyah Hills and Lyons Bend in the early 20th century, the road became associated with the upper class. With the opening of West Town Mall in the 1970s, which resulted in the collapse of retail shopping in downtown Knoxville, the Kingston Pike corridor has also become the commercial center of Knoxville. Kingston Pike begins in downtown Knoxville, where it splits to become Main Street and Cumberland Avenue. It then cuts between the University of Tennessee campus and Fort Sanders, where it is known as Cumberland Avenue. It assumes the name Kingston Pike west of Crescent Bend.

In the early 19th century, the road became part of the national route that ran from Washington, D.C., through Knoxville and Nashville to New Orleans. Each segment of the road had its own name. For instance, the portion east of Knoxville was known as the Knoxville Road, and the road west of Knoxville was known as the Nashville Road. During this era, the road was widened to fifty feet.

In 1866, the Kingston Turnpike Company was founded. The road was further improved, and by 1892 Knox County had bought out the other shareholders and had exclusive ownership. The improvements were extended to Campbell’s Station in 1894. A streetcar traveled west on Kingston Pike as far as Lyons View Pike by 1913, allowing for residential expansion.

Kingston Pike remains a primary east-west county artery, cutting through affluent and commercial portions of west Knox County. Knox County communities linked by this road included Knoxville, Bearden, Ebenezer’s Mill, Farragut (formerly Campbell's Station), and Concord. West of the county the road runs through Dixie Lee Junction in Loudon County, losing the "Kingston Pike" name somewhere before it reaches Kingston (where the road has been known to locals as Knoxville Highway).

Several Civil War battles of the Knoxville Campaign tool place on the road, including the Battle of Campbell's Station and the Battle of Fort Sanders. Union Brigadier General William P. Sanders was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter on the road in 1863, near Second Presbyterian Church, and Union troops killed the owner of the Baker Peters House in his home as he tended to Confederate troops. Knollwood and Bleak House, both of which overlook Kingston Pike, were used by Confederate generals during the war. Kingston Pike is also mentioned in the song The Ballad of Thunder Road.