Harrison is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Hamilton County,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, United States. The population was 7,902 at the 2020 census. It is part of the

Chattanooga metropolitan area The Chattanooga, TN-GA metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is an area consisting of six counties – three in southeast Tennessee (Hamilton, Marion, and Sequatchie) and three in nor ...

Harrison Bay State Park Harrison Bay State Park is a state demonstration park developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s along the shores of Chickamauga Lake. Opened in 1937, the bay gets it name from the now partially submerged town of Harrison, Tennes ...

, the Hamilton County Landfill, Bear Trace Golf Course, a course designed by

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

, and Skull Island, a recreational area owned by

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

, are all located in Harrison.

Geography

Harrison is located at (35.119296, -85.149487). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it (20.57%) is water.

History

The town developed southeast of Vann's Ferry (Vann Town), a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

crossing established by

James Vann James Vann (c. 1762–64 – February 19, 1809) was a Cherokee leader, one of the triumvirate with Major Ridge and Charles R. Hicks, who led the Upper Towns of East Tennessee and North Georgia as part of the ᎤᏪᏘ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ (Uwe ...

, a prominent

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

trader and planter. It was later named Harrison after President

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

and became the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

of Hamilton County in 1840. The county seat was later moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, after the Civil War.Charles McGehee Wake of the Flood PhD diss 1985 The first post office was opened on June 16, 1841. In 1870 the Hamilton County Courthouse was moved from Harrison to

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. Harrison's borders were once larger than today. When the

Chickamauga Dam The Chickamauga Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiat ...

was completed on the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

by the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

in 1940, much of the city was flooded, as portrayed in the 1960 movie ''

Wild River A wild river (United States, Australia, & New Zealand) or heritage river (Canada) is a :river or a Drainage basin, river system designated by a government to be protected and kept "relatively untouched by development and are therefore in near n ...

''. Some parts of the old city, such as old building foundations, roads, and guard rails, can still be seen, especially in and around Harrison Bay, named for the submerged town.

is a

-built park in the area now.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,902 people, 3,132 households, and 2,321 families residing in the CDP.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 7,630 people, 2,856 households, and 2,281 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 2,956 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 84.59%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 12.94%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.35% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.26% from other races, and 1.15% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.17% of the population. There were 2,856 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.1% were non-families. 16.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.00. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.0 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $49,393, and the median income for a family was $55,412. Males had a median income of $35,332 versus $27,487 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $22,893. About 1.7% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.

Parks and recreation

is located in Harrison. It is a 1200-acre park that was developed in the 1930s and covers part of the

Chickamauga Lake Chickamauga Lake is a reservoir in the United States along the Tennessee River created when the Chickamauga Dam, as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority, was completed in 1940. The lake stretches from Watts Bar Dam at mile 529.9 (853 k ...

shoreline. Other recreation located nearby are: Skull Island (Birchwood), Booker T. Washington State Park (Bartlebaugh) and an assortment of Civil War Parks and other tourist attractions in and around Chattanooga.

Education

The

Hamilton County Schools Hamilton County Schools (or Hamilton County Department of Education) is the school district that serves Hamilton County, Tennessee, USA. After a 1995 referendum, the then-separate Chattanooga City Schools district was merged into the county dis ...

operates five schools in this area: Harrison Elementary School, Snow Hill Elementary School, Brown Middle School,

Chattanooga Central High School Chattanooga Central High School is a public high school in Harrison, Tennessee, operated by the Hamilton County Board of Education. Central High School opened in September 1907 on Dodds Avenue in Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in H ...

, and

Hamilton County High School Hamilton County High School (HCHS) is a public high school located at 5683 US Highway 129 in unincorporated Hamilton County, Florida, south of Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and ot ...

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Hamilton County, Tennessee Census-designated places in Tennessee Chattanooga metropolitan area Tennessee populated places on the Tennessee River Former municipalities in Tennessee Former county seats in Tennessee