Charles McClung
| Charles McClung | |
|---|---|
Portrait from Rule's Standard History of Knoxville
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| Born |
May 13, 1761 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | August 9, 1835 (aged 74) Harrodsburg, Kentucky, USA |
| Resting place | Old Gray Cemetery, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA |
| Occupation | Surveyor |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret White |
| Children | Mary Lawson McClung (Williams) Hugh McClung Matthew McClung James White McClung Charles McClung Elizabeth Jones McClung (McGhee) Martha McClung Hugh Lawson McClung Margaret Ann McClung (Alexander) |
| Parent(s) | Matthew McClung and Martha Cunningham |
Charles McClung (May 13, 1761 – August 9, 1835) was an American pioneer, politician, and surveyor best known for drawing up the original plat of Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1791. While Knoxville has since expanded to many times its original size, the city's downtown area still roughly follows McClung's 1791 grid. McClung also helped draft Tennessee's constitution in 1796, surveyed and planned what is now Kingston Pike in 1792, and served as Knox County's first court clerk. His home, Statesview, still stands in West Knoxville, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
McClung was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Matthew McClung and Martha Cunningham McClung, both of Scots-Irish descent. McClung later claimed that due to his mechanical aptitude, his father gave him an unfair amount of work on the family farm. In 1778, McClung ran away to Philadelphia, where he found work as a clerk. His employer was impressed with McClung's penmanship and record-keeping ability, and McClung gradually accumulated over $1,000 in savings. He was fired, however, after he was caught flirting with his employer's daughter.
McClung subsequently returned home, and used his earnings to help his parents make improvements to the family farm. In 1788, he departed again, heading southwestward through the Great Valley until he reached White's Fort (modern Knoxville) that same year. In 1790, he married Margaret White (1771–1827), daughter of James White, the fort's builder.
After the creation of the Southwest Territory in 1790, the territory's governor, William Blount, selected White's Fort as the territory's capital. James White set aside land adjacent to the fort for a new town, named "Knoxville" after Secretary of War Henry Knox. White employed McClung, who had acquired rudimentary knowledge of surveying while in Philadelphia, to draw up lots for the new town, which were sold at auction on October 3, 1791.
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