The History of Market Square

Market Square, said to be not exactly like any other public square in America, has been a Knoxville icon since 1854. Even in this challenging year without organized public events there, people can’t stay away, and there are still public performers to greet them, as there were 150 years ago. Its oddity reflects its history. Jack Neely, who wrote a book called Market Square: A History of the Most Democratic Place on Earth, now in its second edition and still in print, will be talking about Market Square, how it has changed and continues to change, and its connections to James Agee, Cormac McCarthy, Carrie Nation, Duke Ellington, Norman Mailer, Booker T. Washington, Carl Sandburg, Ronald Reagan, Lizzie Crozier French, Roy Acuff, Wallace Stevens, and a few others who knew it either briefly or intimately.