city, Blount county, eastern Tennessee, U.S., about 15 miles (25 km) south of Knoxville and adjacent to Maryville. The city is a gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which lies to the southeast. It was founded in 1913 by the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) on a tract of land known as North Maryville. In 1910 the first of a series of power dams was begun on the nearby Little Tennessee River and its tributaries. The purchase of these dams by the company led to the procurement of land north of the city of Maryville for plant sites. The community was developed as a planned industrial centre for the production of aluminum products, which remains the basis of the economy. Inc. 1919. Pop. (1990) 6,400; (2000) 7,734.