Founding of the University of Tennessee
- When
- 1794
- Where
- Knoxville, Southwest Territory
- Episodes
- 1
On 10 September 1794, the legislature of the Southwest Territory chartered Blount College at Knoxville, naming it for Governor William Blount. Founded two years before Tennessee achieved statehood, the institution later became the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee system.
Episodes
Background and detail
Background. At a meeting of the legislature of the Southwest Territory held at Knoxville, delegates moved to establish a college bearing the name of Governor William Blount. The act of 10 September 1794 created Blount College by charter, predating Tennessee's admission as the sixteenth state by two years.
Institutional Identity. The Knoxville institution is a public land-grant research university and the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee system, which comprises fourteen colleges. Its founding in 1794 makes it older than the state it now serves, and it is known by names including UT, UT Knoxville, and colloquially UTK or Tennessee.
People involved
- William Blount · Namesake of Blount College, referred to in the chartering passage as Governor William Blount
Sources
- University of Tennessee Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-12
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.