La Follette is located at 36°22'30" North, 84°7'39" West
Originally known as Big Creek Gap, LaFollette traces its history
to 1893, when Harvey LaFollette, an Indiana educator and engineer, purchased the
mountain land for its iron and coal reserves. In 1897 the town of LaFollette was
organized, and a railroad link to the Southern Railway was established. With
this railway link, LaFollette expanded its iron furnace to employ as many as
1,500 workers. The furnace closed in 1926.
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Sale of Liquor in Campbell
County
The act of 1877, prohibiting the sale of liquor near
institutions of learning, was broadened ten years later, but State-wide
prohibition, by amendment to the constitution, was defeated. Gradually,
following the act of 1899 which granted local option to towns of less than
2,000, the law was extended to cover communities up to 5,000, Gradually, most
small towns voted out liquor, and in 1907 even Knoxville did so, despite
the mayor’s opposition. By that point, only Nashville, Memphis,
Chattanooga, and LaFollette (in Campbell County, 45 miles north of
Knoxville) still served alcohol. This did not stop anyone from buying,
alcohol, of course. Illegal saloons called ‘blind tigers’ operated
all across the state, and nothing successfully stopped anyone from making
moonshine.
