Industry

George R. Dempster, a leading twentieth-century Knoxville businessman and political figure, was born in Knoxville on September 12, 1887, to Scotland natives John D. and Ann Dempster. After his high school graduation in 1906, Dempster and his brother Tom went…

Development districts are regional planning and economic organizations owned and operated by the cities and counties of Tennessee. The nine development districts were established by the general assembly under the Tennessee Development District Act of 1965. The act was intended…

Congressman and industrial entrepreneur George G. Dibrell was born and raised in Sparta and returned to White County after attending East Tennessee University (now University of Tennessee) in Knoxville. In 1842 he married Mary E. Leftwich, and they had eight…

At the turn of the century, Chattanooga emerged as a textile manufacturing center, particularly for cotton hosiery. The 1913 introduction of the process of mercerizing, which gives yarn a fine silk finish, enhanced local industry and generated a new corporation,…

Born in Nashville on August 23, 1843, Mary Florence Kirkman Drouillard was the daughter of Hugh Kirkman and Eleanora C. Vanleer and granddaughter of ironmaster Anthony W. Vanleer and Rebecca Brady. Educated in local private schools, she completed her education…

The Ducktown Basin Museum is located in Polk County at the southeastern corner of Tennessee. The museum documents and interprets the copper mining history of the state. Located on the grounds of the former Burra Burra Mine Company overlooking the…

These Memphis-based firms were among the world leaders in cotton merchandising at the end of the twentieth century. Cotton marketing has been an important commercial activity in Memphis since the 1840s, thanks to the city's location on the Mississippi River…

Memphis cotton broker William Buchanan “Billy” Dunavant Jr. shaped the Bluff City’s commerce and the world cotton futures market during the late twentieth century. Dunavant was born on December 19, 1932, to William and Dorothy Dunavant. He was educated first…

One of Chattanooga's earliest industrial ventures, the East Tennessee Iron Manufacturing Company was a seminal force in the industrial development of the city and its surrounding area. Incorporated by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1847, the company benefited from the…

On March 12, 1929, Margaret Bowen, a worker at American Glanzstoff, led a walkout of 523 women operatives. After other shifts joined the walkout the next day, the plant closed on March 14. Four days later Bemberg workers struck in…

An early voice in Tennessee for abolition, Elihu Embree was the son of a Quaker minister who moved from Pennsylvania in 1790 to the northeast corner of what would become the new state of Tennessee. Elihu and his brother Elijah…

The small mountain community of Embreeville, located on the Nolichucky River in the southeastern corner of Washington County, has a long mining history. Ores in the Bumpass Cove area, about three miles southeast of Embreeville in Unicoi County, were first…

While New England is the birthplace of America's textile industry and the Carolinas are known for massive textile production, the small town of Englewood, Tennessee, serves as a reminder of the ties between industry, workers, and the resulting community. Covering…

Chattanooga businessman and politician Henry Clay Evans was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, to Jesse and Anna Single Evans. In 1844 his family moved to Wisconsin, where he attended public schools, and he graduated from a Chicago business training school…

The Fly Manufacturing Company in Shelbyville, which operated from 1916 to 1985, is representative of many other small textile mills that once were commonplace in Tennessee's small towns and county seats. Like many small southern towns, Shelbyville's economy benefited from…

The worst mine disaster in Tennessee history took place on May 19, 1902, at the Fraterville mine, near Coal Creek (now Lake City), Campbell County. At about 7:30 a.m., 184 men and boys entered the mine. Minutes later a horrendous…

Until it closed its doors in 2006, the John Geist and Sons Blacksmith Shop was thought to be Nashville’s oldest business in continuous family ownership and operation. From 1886 to 2006, three generations of Geists shod horses, crafted ornamental ironwork,…

This Nashville-based company, which grew from a small local shoe manufacturer to one of the nation's largest apparel companies, has been an important Tennessee enterprise for over seventy years. With sales exceeding one million dollars its first year in business,…

Located in Coffee County near Tullahoma, the George Dickel Distillery holds the distinction of being one of only two legal Tennessee distilleries that remain in operation, the other being the Jack Daniel Distillery in Moore County. In the late 1860s,…

Headquartered in Nashville, Gibson Guitars has been making high-quality stringed instruments since 1896. The company has impacted the music instrument business as well as music culture through its various innovations. Gibson Guitars builds a variety of instruments, perhaps the most…