Capitalism, regional development, and place formation: an analysis of the upper Tennessee River Valley, 1860-1900

The full importance of investment and capital as a driving force in American life and the development of landscapes is only beginning to be understood by mainstream American geography. The regional approach, important in testing theories and uncovering linkages in life processes has the potential to contribute to the understanding of how capitalism shapes landscapes. It is perhaps in the formation of regional economies and landscapes that capitalism most thoroughly influences the worlds in which people live; it determines their housing, their jobs, their environs. This dissertation examines the impact of different phases of capitalism on the Upper Tennessee River Valley; present-day Roane and Loudon Counties, Tennessee. The Upper Tennessee River Valley in 1995 is in many ways a fairly ordinary rural area, similar to many locales in the Great Valley of the eastern United States: the region is not in the immediate hinterland of any major metropolitan area; agriculture and small-scale industry are predominant; employment opportunities are limited. Yet, if we take a look at the region's history, the period between the close of the Civil War and the turn-of-the-century emerges as one of interest and importance. It was during this time that factory-scale industrial production began in the region, and that its present-day central places -- Rockwood, Harriman, and Lenior City-- were established. The story of the Upper Tennessee River Valley reveals much about late nineteenth and early twentieth century America, and especially about how regions and cities develop during different phases of capitalism.