Sevierville History
The legislative act that established Sevier County in 1794 also called for a commission to select a county seat, and in 1795, a site at Forks of Little Pigeon River (present-day Sevierville) was chosen and also named in honor of the state’s first governor, John Sevier. The community was based on a 25-acre tract of land that featured a primitive courthouse and jail. Over the years, several courthouses were built in the center of downtown, and the structure that stands today is the city’s fifth, dating all the way back to 1896.
Sevierville underwent a significant period of population growth in the early 1800s, in the wake of the War of 1812. Just as with the area’s original settlers, veterans of that war were awarded land grants and put down roots in the town. Sevierville, like East Tennessee in general, was only minimally involved in the Civil War in the 1860s. Although Tennessee was technically a Confederate state, most of East Tennessee was sympathetic to the Union, and many citizens made their way to Kentucky to fight for the northern armies. The only major Civil War battle to take place in the county was the Battle of Fairgarden, which occurred about seven miles east of Sevierville.
Although it was established in the late 1700s, Sevierville actually did not become an incorporated town until 1901. The city thrived in the first half of the 20th century, functioning as a healthy, self-sufficient community that was impacted by two world wars and, notably, the construction of Douglas Dam in the 1940s. The dam flooded a lot of local farmland, but it brought TVA electricity to an area that had either depended on small, private electric companies or had gone without power altogether.
Things really started to change after World War II, when the interstate system made it easier for more and more Americans to start visiting the Great Smoky Mountains. That’s when Sevierville began to transform from just a stopover on the way to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg—which were already popular tourist towns—into a destination in its own right.
Today, parts of Sevierville are virtually indistinguishable from Pigeon Forge thanks to an abundance of commercial activity like outlet malls, music theaters, local and chain restaurants and attractions.
However, Sevierville is distinctive from Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg in its normality, having managed in many ways to retain much of the character of Small Town U.S.A. In fact, the local chamber of commerce bills Sevierville as “Your Hometown in the Smokies,” and there’s a lot of truth to that. Even though it is intertwined with the tourism industry, much of Sevierville is still like the typical small Tennessee town. It’s the only city in the county that has a traditional movie theater, new-car dealerships, a hospital, factories, an airport and a good ol’ small-town main street.
The city’s population continues to show patterns of growth. In 1980, the full-time population was only 4,556, but by 2000, it had skyrocketed to more than 12,000. A 2004 estimate placed the number at over 14,000, and projections for 2010 have the population at more than 17,000 permanent residents.