Alcoa, Tennessee

About Alcoa, TN

Alcoa TN is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, south of Knoxville. Its population was 10,978 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.

As its name suggests, Alcoa was the site of a large aluminum smelting plant owned and operated by the Alcoa corporation (Aluminum Company of America). Formerly known as North Maryville, the town was incorporated under its present name in 1919.

Shortly after the Pittsburgh Reduction Company changed its name to the Aluminum Company of America in 1907, the company began investigating the possibility of establishing a large smelting operation in East Tennessee. The hydroelectric potential of the Little Tennessee River, which exits the mountains about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Alcoa, was one of the primary incentives, as the company’s aluminum smelting operation would require massive amounts of electricity. In 1910, the company established a base camp at what is now known as Calderwood, initially known as “Alcoa,” and was known as such until the name was reapplied to the company’s operations in North Maryville a few years later.