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Knoxville is capable, under development, of supporting easily as large a population as the best of the States. The population of East Tennessee (34 counties; area, 13,112 square miles) is 537,744 or an average of 41 to each square mile. The population of Massachusetts (area, 8,040 square miles) is 2,238,943, or 278 persons to the square mile; that of Rhode Island (area, 1,085 square miles) is 345,506, or 318 to the square mile; that of Wales (area, 7,362 square miles,) is 1,201,034, or 203 to the square mile. If the same proportion of persons to the square mile as exists in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wales be applied to East Tennessee, there is yet room for two millions more of population.
At the close of the [Civil] war, the town [Knoxville] contained not more than four thousand people. In 1870 there had been considerable increase above this number, and the census of 1880 found nearly ten thousand (9,693 U. S.).
Present Population
It is from this last period the growth of Knoxville began in earnest, and it is of what has been accomplished during the past decade that we desire especially to speak. During this time the growth of the city has been what may justly be styled, phenomenal. Within this period she has increased her number four and one-third times, a showing which might well be the pride of any town in the United States.
The population of Knoxville, as shown by the U. S. Census, 1890 (22,535), is correct, so far as the corporate limits of the city are concerned. But the Government rule of counting for each city only such population as live within the corporate limits cut Knoxville in two, as the following will show:
Mr. Porter, Superintendent of Census, 1890, in a letter on "Southern Cities," published in the Manufacturers' Record, Baltimore issue, April 1891, says: "Knoxville (Tennessee) has a population of 22,535, but, with her suburbs, is entitled to 40,000."
A census of the entire city (including the suburbs to which Mr. Porter refers), taken by the writer, June 4, 5, 6, 1891, gave 40,385 as the correct population, divided as follows:
| White Population | 31,273 | 77.5 per cent |
| Colored | 9,112 | 22.5 per cent |
The suburbs of the city are as much a part of Knoxville as that conained in the corporate limits, the only separation being imaginary lines. The comparative growth of the city during the decade is as follows:
| Total population 1880 about | 10,000 |
| Total population 1880 about | 40,385 |
It will be noted that the per cent of colored population, 22.5, is smaller than that of any other Southern city.
Origin of Population
Origin of population is always a matter of interest to all. Outside of Tennessee the population of Knoxville, as made up with native-born citizens from other states, is quite large. The relative proportion furnished by each stands in the order named: (1) Virginia, (2) North Carolina, (3) Ohio, (4) Georgia, (5) Kentucky, (6) New York, (7) South Carolina, (8) Pennsylvania, (9) Indiana, (10) Illinois, (11) Michigan, (12) Alabama, (13) Maryland, (14) Mississippi, (15) Massachusetts, (16) Wisconsin, (17) Minnesota, (18) Missouri, (19) Texas, (29) New Jersey, (21) Connecticut, (22) Maine, (23) Kansas, (24) West Virginia, (25) Louisiana, (26) Iowa, (27) Vermont, (28) Florida, (29) Delaware, (30) District Columbia, (31) Arkansas, (32) New Hampshire, (33) Rhode Island, (34) California, (35) Colorado, (36) (37) Nebraska, (38) North Dakota, (39) Oregon, (40) Indian Territory.
Foreign countries have furnished only a very small per cent of Knoxville's population, the proportion being in the order named: (1) England, (2) Germany, (3) Ireland, (4) Switzerland, (5) Canada, (6) France, (7) Scotland, (8) Italy, (9) Russia, (10) Wales, (11) Australia, (12) West Indies, (13) Brazil, (14) Hungary, (15) China, (16) Bavaria, (17) Mexico, (18) Spain, (19) Africa.
The density of Knoxville's population is about 20 per acre for the oldest part of the city and 8 per acre for the whole. The density of other cities, per acre, is New York, 59; Chicago, 11; Minneapolis, 5; Denver, 11; Omaha, 9; Toledo, 6.
Longevity and Death Rate
Dr. S. B. Boyd, Secretary of the Knoxville Board of Health, in his last annual report, says:
"I herewith transmit the Annual Report of the Department of Health for the year ending December 31, 1891. Our population for the city proper, with North Knoxville, West Knoxville, South Knoxville, and the suburbs added, makes up a total of 40,385. White, 31,273; colored, 9112. During the year we had 710 deaths, being 57 less than the year previous. There were 243 white males and 212 white females, making a total of 455 whites. There were 135 colored males and 120 colored females, making a total of 255 colored. This gives us a total of 378 males and 332 females. If we leave out the, deaths by violence and also non-residents, or persons who have been here less than thirty days, we have 642. The death-rate, then, is 15.89 per 1,000 per annum for the whole population, and the death-rate for the whites is 13.20 per 1,000 per annum, while the death rate for the colored is 25.13."
During the year 1891, there were fifty-five persons over seventy years of age on the death roll. One of these had passed the century mark, while the average age was seventy-five years. It will be seen by the above report that Knoxville's death rate, counting all causes, was 17.65 to each one thousand inhabitants, or, by leaving out deaths by violence and the imported cases, the death rate is only 15.89 per thousand. The large mortality among the colored population, double that of the whites, is mainly attributable to their modes of living, which, if raised to the standard of the white population, would reduce the death rate still lower. The following comparative table is also taken from the same report:
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