The county is located at the geographical center of the Great Valley of East Tennessee.

In 1783, James White and Francis Alexander Ramsey led an expedition to explore the Upper Tennessee Valley, now within the boundaries of Knox County.

White moved to what is now the Riverdale community in the eastern part of the county in 1785, and the following year constructed a fort a few miles to the west.

Governor Blount designated the fort as the capital of the Southwest Territory in 1790, and gave the new town the name "Knoxville" after his superior, Henry Knox.

[9] John Sevier established a plantation, known as Marble Springs, in the southern part of the county in the 1790s.

[10] He was active in leading raids against the Cherokee people, who for years resisted with force American settlement in their territory.

Important railroad lines passed through Knox County, making it a strategic area both for Union and for Confederate forces throughout the Civil War.

The US 1860 census of Knox County showed a population of 20,020 white citizens and 2,370 enslaved African Americans.

[11] The lack of slavery combined with the vestiges of a once-strong abolitionist movement were two reasons most residents of Knox County, along with much of East Tennessee, were pro-Union.

In February 1861, 89% of Knox Countians voted for the pro-Union ballot in a statewide referendum on secession.

Oliver Perry Temple, a Knoxville lawyer, was named to a three-man commission to appear before the General Assembly in Nashville and request East Tennessee and pro-Union Middle Tennessee counties be allowed to secede from the state.

After the second state referendum for secession passed in 1861, Knox County and the rest of Tennessee joined the Confederacy.

[14] Knox County remained under Confederate control until September 3, 1863, when General Ambrose Burnside and the Union army marched into Knoxville unopposed.

Little children clap their hands and kiss it.With the success of Burnside's troops in the Knoxville Campaign, and especially during the decisive Battle of Fort Sanders, Knox County remained under Union control for the duration of the Civil War.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Knox County was an important venue for the quarrying and finishing of Tennessee marble, a type of limestone used in monument construction across the United States and Canada.

Eleven quarries were operating in Knox County in 1882, and within ten years that number had doubled.

Finishing centers were located in Lonsdale and at the Candoro Marble Works in South Knoxville.

[17] The county lies amidst the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, which are characterized by long, narrow ridges, oriented northeast-to-southwest, alternating with similarly shaped valleys.

House Mountain, at 2,064 feet (629 m), is the county's highest point, and is the focus of a state natural area.

It is currently called Cherokee Caverns, referring to the historic tribe who occupied this area at the time of European encounter.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 478,971 people, 191,925 households, and 118,160 families residing in the county.

Although it is somewhat conservative for an urban county, it is notably less Republican than most of the rest of East Tennessee.

[29] The government of Knox County, Tennessee operates under a home rule format.

[30] The mayor has the authority to veto resolutions and ordinances passed by the Knox County Commission.

[30] Executive branch departments The Knox County Board of Commissioners is the legislative body of Knox County and consists of 11 members: nine elected at the district level and two elected countywide to serve at-large.

[30] The Board of Commissioners approves resolutions, ordinances, honorariums, road names, as well as most county contracts and large expenditures.

Sheriffs Deputies shot him to death in a Turkey Creek parking lot after, allegedly, his vehicle moved towards them.

An autopsy revealed Binkley to have elevated levels of multiple illegal substances in his system at his time of death.