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Strawberry Plains is an unincorporated community straddling
the boundary between Jefferson and Knox counties in the state
of Tennessee.
Strawberry Plains is located on the bank of the Holston River.
According to the United States Geological Survey, a variant
name is Straw Plains.
Strawberry Plains is said to be named for the wild strawberries
that grew there in abundance when white settlers from North
Carolina first arrived in the area. According to
a history of the community written by local high school students
circa 1935, the name Straw Plains was a shorthand name used
by railroad porters and flagmen on trains that passed through
Strawberry Plains, and that came to be used as the name of the
local railroad depot and on some local post office postmarks.
Early in the Civil War, in 1861, the railroad bridge at Strawberry
Plains was one target of Union sympathizers who aimed to burn
several East Tennessee bridges to hinder Confederate military
progress. The conspirators failed in their efforts to burn the
Strawberry Plains bridge, but succeeded in their attacks of
some of their other targets.
Through much of the 20th century, Strawberry Plains was the
site of a Tennessee limestone quarry and an underground zinc
mine. The zinc mine shut down in 2001, but reopened in
2006. In December 2008 it was announced that the
mine would close again in February 2009.
In September 2007 the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced
plans to build an office facility and crime lab in Strawberry
Plains, with an estimated cost of more than $10 million.
The Strawberry Plains exit of Interstate 40, exit 398 at Strawberry
Plains Pike (several miles southwest from Strawberry Plains
in Knoxville) has grown rapidly. There are several hotels and
restaurants, with more under construction.
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