Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Rocky Top

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Rocky-Top-city-hall-tn1Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
CHistory
History · Rocky Top

Rocky Top dates to 1856, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1936 on, and the census since 1880.

1856founded
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rocky Top’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rocky Top began

When was Rocky Top founded?

1856

Rocky Top dates its founding to 1856 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 800 in 18802020 census: 1,628170 years

How historic is Rocky Top?

C

More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1868.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Rocky Top’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rocky Top is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rocky Top’s overall grade.
Founding era1856, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.4% of homes (±4.7) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical TN town 6.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 27%
NewerOlder

Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Rocky Top’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1856.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points).

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Rocky Top’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,335 in 1980; 1,628 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rocky Top’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rocky Top’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCross Mountain Mine 1917: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Rocky Top, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,335

Peaked at 2,335 in 1980; 1,628 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rocky Top’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Rocky Top came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rocky Top.

Read it all →

The town was originally named Coal Creek when it was founded in the early 19th century, after the 1798 Treaty of Tellico opened the area to settlement, taking its name from the stream that runs through the town. Coal Creek and the nearby town of Briceville were the sites of a major lockout of coal miners in 1891, which resulted in the town of Coal Creek being occupied by the state militia for over a year after miners attempted to force an end to the use of unpaid convict labor in the mines. This labor struggle, known as the Coal Creek War, was eventually resolved in the coal miners' favor with the abolition of Tennessee's convict labor program. The Fraterville Mine disaster of 1902 occurred nearby, in the village of Fraterville.

ChaptersFounding and Coal Creek eraLake City eraRocky Top era to present day

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rocky Top, 1856 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856
    FoundingRocky Top is established
  3. 1868Post officeThe Coal Creek post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910In the archiveCross Mountain Mine 1917
  6. 1933In the archive"Hanging bridge over a small stream near Coal Creek, Tenn. The steep hillside is characte…
  7. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1939Post officeThe Coal Creek post office closes
  9. 1939Post officeThe Lake City post office opens
  10. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 2,335
By decade

Rocky Top, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s2 items
Cross Mountain Mine 19171910Cross Mountain Mine 1917"Hanging bridge over a small stream near Coal Creek, Tenn. The steep hillside is characteristic of all the country in t…1933"Hanging bridge over a small stream near Coal Creek, …
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Coal-creek-lakecity-tn12009Coal-creek-lakecity-tn1Rocky Top 22007Rocky Top 2Rocky Top2007Rocky Toppanoramio - Epic Chill (14)2006panoramio - Epic Chill (14)
On the map

Rocky Top on the map, 1936 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rocky Top. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rocky Top on the 1936 USGS mapRocky Top on the 1947 USGS mapRocky Top on the 1952 USGS mapRocky Top on the 1973 USGS map1936Coal Creek sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rocky Top.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Cross Mountain Mine 1917
Retake this viewCross Mountain Mine 1917, 1910

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rocky Top’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Another post office, Coal Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Coal Creek
1868–1939
Lake City
1939–today
18601940today
1cemetery inside Rocky Top
Wilson

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Rocky Top’s history

What year was Rocky Top founded?

In 1856, according to Wikidata. Rocky Top’s post office opened in 1868, and the census of 1880 counted 800 people here.

How does Rocky Top rank for history?

Rocky Top is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Rocky Top?

10% of Rocky Top’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1972.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.