• Home
  • About
  • Advertise
    • Classifieds
    • Media Kit
  • Archives
    • Archived Editions
    • COVID-19
    • Ray Hill’s Archives
    • This Week’s Focus
  • Find Us
  • Links
  • Public Notices
  • Weather
[simple-weather location="Knoxville" show_current="yes"]
  • Columnists:
  • Black
  • Duncan
  • Ferguson
  • Hill
  • Hunley
  • Major
  • Mattingly
  • McKeehan
  • Nagi
  • Pratt
  • Rector
  • Steely
  • Williams
[simple-weather location="Knoxville" show_current="yes"]
  • Columnists:
  • Black
  • Duncan
  • Ferguson
  • Hill
  • Hunley
  • Major
  • Mattingly
  • McKeehan
  • Nagi
  • Pratt
  • Rector
  • Steely
  • Williams

Tennessee political legends: Kenneth D. McKellar & Cordell Hull, II

by design | Nov 14, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill The two most enduring political figures in Tennessee’s modern history are Kenneth McKellar and Cordell Hull.  McKellar holds the record in Tennessee for the longest tenure in Congress at forty-two years; K. D. McKellar remains Tennessee’s longest-serving...

Tennessee political legends: Kenneth D. McKellar & Cordell Hull

by design | Nov 7, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill I am oftentimes asked about Tennessee’s most enduring statesmen or politicians. Without a doubt, the two most enduring political figures in Tennessee’s modern political history are Kenneth D. McKellar and Cordell Hull. McKellar and Hull were contemporaries...

Colorful Knox Countians:   James A. Fowler and the Murder of Sam Parker

by design | Oct 31, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

  By Ray Hill It was James A. Fowler who helped to send a murderer to prison for an unusual and spectacular crime in 1906. One of the most prominent cases in Fowler’s long legal career involved a young lawyer, Sam Parker, who had been a stand-out athlete at the...

Colorful Knox Countians: Guy L. Smith, Jr.

by design | Oct 24, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

  By Ray Hill “Cry Aloud and Spare Not” That was the motto of the notorious “Parson” William G. Brownlow’s Whig newspaper. That same motto was adopted by the Parson and his partner, Captain William Rule, when they published the Knoxville Chronicle and Whig....

J. Carlton Loser of Nashville

by design | Oct 17, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

By Ray Hill Joseph Carlton Loser (pronounced Low-ser) enjoyed a successful career in law and politics for decades.  The long-time district attorney for Nashville and Davidson County, Loser eventually wound up in Congress and became associated with a spectacular case...

Colorful Knox Countians: A Big Man With A Big Heart, Hazen Kreis

by design | Oct 10, 2021 | Columnist, Hill, Ray Hill's Archives, Stories In This Week's Focus:

  By Ray Hill Hazen Kreis is likely a name unfamiliar to the readers of this column, but there was a time when the six foot, five inch gentleman was wildly popular in Knox County.  Kreis was elected to three two-year terms consecutively as Sheriff of Knox...
« Older Entries
Next Entries »

Categories

Recent Posts

  • Find your holiday spirit with a Candlelight Christmas tour at Mabry-Hazen House
  • Legal and public notices for the week of December 8, 2025
  • The Knoxville Focus for December 8, 2025
  • Publisher’s Positions
  • Carter freshman aiming for a TSSAA state title
Phone

865-686-9970

Email

staff@knoxfocus.com

Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
© 2025Knoxville Focus

Privacy Policy

Terms Of Use