Irish immigrants have played a significant role in the settlement of Knoxville and surrounding East Tennessee.

In the latter years of the eighteenth century, a small number of Irish born adventurers, about whom little is known, were living among and trading with the Cherokee Indians.

As permanent settlement took hold the predominant group among the pioneers were the Scotch-Irish or Protestant Irish from Ulster (Northern Ireland). Their culture established the pattern of life in Knoxville and throughout the region. Judge Oliver Temple, a prominent Knoxvillian of the mid nineteenth century, wrote of his Scotch Irish forbearers.

Wherever these Covenanters (another name for the Scotch-Irish) settled in East Tennessee, they got possession of the best lands, laid out the towns, framed and administered the laws, filled the public offices, and gradually gathered into their hands the greater part of the wealth of the country.

The Catholic Irish, immigrating from what is now the Irish Republic, were present in small numbers among the early pioneers. Beginning in the 1830s, they came in more significant numbers to work on building the railroads. In the years after the Civil War, these Irish immigrants and their first generation offspring established a distinct Irish enclave in Knoxville. Many established homes in the area around the old Southern Depot and for some years that area was known as "Irish Town". This small but cohesive group became a powerful force in the economic and political life of the community. Between the 1880s and the 1930s three men from this group, Martin Condon, John Paul Murphy and John T. O'Connor served as Mayor of Knoxville.

With the passage of the years these groups lost their distinct Irish identities and melded into culture of the broader community simply becoming Knoxvillians or East Tennesseans. Yet, the fact remains that these immigrants from the Emerald Isle played a significant role in establishing the life and culture of the region.

Written by: Laurence V. Gibney

Links:
East Tennessee Historical Society - First Families of Tennessee