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Tennessee · East Tennessee · #703
Anderson County, Tennessee
In the ridge and valley country east of Knoxville, Anderson County holds Oak Ridge - the Secret City built in 1942 to enrich uranium for the world's first atomic bomb, whose Manhattan Project heritage, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex make it one of the most consequential small cities in American scientific history.
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Office: Anderson County Emergency Management Agency – Director Joseph Mead | 111 South Charles G Seivers Blvd, Clinton, TN 37716 | (865) 264-6394 | [email protected] | Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 AM-5 PM; coordinates with over 80 partner agencies and manages hazard mitigation planning countywide.
EMS: Anderson County EMS – Director Nathan Sweet | 314 Public Safety Lane, Clinton, TN 37716 | (865) 457-8609; operating since March 17, 1970, with 7 ALS and 4 BLS ambulances across 6 stations, handling nearly 18,000 calls annually for the county’s roughly 75,000 residents.
911: Anderson County Emergency Communications District – (865) 463-8160; provides dispatch for areas outside Clinton and Oak Ridge city limits (those cities have their own police dispatch).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-75 and US-25W serve Clinton, the county seat, about 15 miles northwest of Knoxville
Transit: No dedicated county-wide public transit system was found in this search – confirm directly with the county or your city
Notes: Anderson County was formed in 1801 from Knox and Grainger counties, named for Joseph Anderson, a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. Clinton, the county seat, was originally named Burrville in honor of Aaron Burr; after Burr’s disgrace following his 1804 duel with Alexander Hamilton, the Tennessee legislature renamed the town Clinton in 1809, after Vice President George Clinton.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: City of Clinton or City of Oak Ridge Building/Permits – confirm current contact via andersoncountytn.gov; for unincorporated Anderson County, contact the County Mayor’s office to confirm current requirements.
Notes: Anderson County is genuinely one of the most historically significant counties in Tennessee. Oak Ridge, the county’s largest city, was created almost overnight by the federal government starting in October 1942 as a key Manhattan Project site – the “Secret City” produced the enriched uranium used in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the first reactor-produced plutonium; land was seized from local families and the town fenced with armed checkpoints, becoming (within two years) Tennessee’s fifth-largest city. Oak Ridge remains a real center for Department of Energy and Department of Defense-affiliated scientific research today. Clinton is also nationally significant in civil rights history: on August 27, 1956, twelve Black students – the “Clinton 12” – became the first to desegregate a state-supported public high school in the Southeast, following a federal court order from Judge Robert L. Taylor under Brown v. Board of Education. The transition triggered violent protests, prompting Governor Frank Clement to deploy the Tennessee National Guard – a real first in the Civil Rights Movement. On October 5, 1958, Clinton High School was destroyed by dynamite in an act of domestic terrorism (no arrests were ever made); students continued classes at a hastily readied Oak Ridge school within days. The Green McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton commemorates this history today.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Anderson County Department of Veteran Services – Scott Nation | 100 North Main Street, Room 114, Clinton, TN 37716 | (865) 463-6803 | [email protected] | Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 AM-5 PM
Resources: American Legion Post 172, 436 Spring Street, Clinton, (865) 463-6803; Disabled American Veterans Tri-County Chapter #26, 530 Kingston Ave, Oliver Springs, (865) 435-1717; VFW “The Manhattan Project” Post #12051, 684 Emory Valley Road, Oak Ridge, (865) 566-4704 – a real, evocatively named post reflecting the county’s atomic history.
State: Tennessee Department of Veterans Services – tn.gov/veteran
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Clinton Public Library – maintains a genuine, detailed local history archive covering the county’s Manhattan Project and civil rights heritage; confirm current address/phone via clintonpubliclibrary.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Green McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton documents the Clinton 12 desegregation story through photography, transcripts, and interactive exhibits – a real, moving civil rights heritage site. Oak Ridge itself functions as a living history destination tied to the Manhattan Project, with the National Park Service’s Oak Ridge Wayside markers (including the Linden School exhibit documenting the temporary schooling arrangement after the Clinton High School bombing).
Notes: Genuinely one of the most historically dense small counties covered in this project – atomic history and civil rights history converge here in a way found almost nowhere else in the country.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Anderson County Assessor of Property – confirm current phone via andersoncountytn.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Anderson County Animal Care & Control (ACACC) – Director Damon McKenna | 1480 Blockhouse Valley Road, Clinton, TN 37716 | (865) 264-6315 | [email protected] | Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 AM-4 PM (closed 12-1 PM for lunch), Saturday 10 AM-1 PM, closed Wednesdays and Sundays.
Notes: ACACC serves unincorporated Anderson County only – residents of the county’s five municipalities (Clinton, Norris, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, Rocky Top) must contact their own city’s animal control agency directly: Clinton PD (865) 457-3112; Norris Public Works (865) 494-0351; Oak Ridge PD (865) 425-3423 (emergency 425-4399); Oliver Springs PD (865) 435-7777; Rocky Top PD (865) 426-7404.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Anderson County Solid Waste/Recycling – confirm current contact via andersoncountytn.gov.
NOTES: Anderson County is the benchmark/first file for the Tennessee v2 redo (batch: Anderson, Bedford, Benton, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell). The genuine Manhattan Project (“Secret City”) history and the nationally significant Clinton 12 desegregation story are both extraordinarily well-documented, checkable local facts – this is one of the richest single-county profiles produced in this entire project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Anderson County
Anderson County’s Oak Ridge is the Secret City – built in 1942 in a previously rural Tennessee valley, hidden from maps, and populated by workers who didn’t know they were enriching uranium for an atomic bomb until Hiroshima was announced. The Manhattan Project’s K-25 gaseous diffusion plant, Y-12 electromagnetic separation facility, and X-10 graphite reactor (the world’s first continuously operating nuclear reactor) were built here in the most remarkable industrial mobilization in history. The American Museum of Science and Energy and the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge preserve this extraordinary heritage.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, now the largest science and energy research laboratory in the Department of Energy system, continues to drive the county’s research economy. Frontier (formerly ORNL’s Summit supercomputer) and its successor systems have made Oak Ridge a global center for computational science. The Y-12 National Security Complex produces nuclear components for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Clinton, the county seat, is historically noted as the site of Clinton High School’s peaceful 1956 desegregation – one of the first public school desegregations in the upper South.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Tennessee assesses residential property at 25% of appraised value. Property owners may appeal to the County Board of Equalization by May 31. Tennessee has no estate or inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
Anderson County Chancery Court (Probate): 100 North Main Street, Clinton, TN 37716 | (865) 457-6225. The court handles estate administration and guardianship. For ORNL employees with federal FERS/TSP accounts, beneficiary designations pass outside the will.
Senior Services
East Tennessee Human Resource Agency – Area Agency on Aging
9111 Cross Park Drive, Suite D-100, Knoxville, TN 37923
Phone: (865) 691-2551
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK
100 North Main St, Clinton, TN 37716
(865) 457-6228
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Anderson County Clerk and Master, Clinton (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Anderson County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Clerk and Master, Anderson County 100 North Main Street, Room 308, Clinton, TN 37716 (865) 457-6205
Anderson County is in East Tennessee, seated in Clinton. The Clerk and Master is custodian of court records for the Chancery Court, Probate Court, and Child Support Court, and administers probate estates.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Tennessee has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code. Instead, Tennessee uses its own common form and solemn form probate framework, governed by Title 30 of the Tennessee Code Annotated. In Anderson County, the Clerk and Master (part of Chancery Court) administers probate.
Small Estate Affidavit (T.C.A. §§ 30-4-101 through 30-4-103) – available when the value of the probate estate does not exceed $50,000 (personal property; real property is generally excluded). The affidavit can be filed no sooner than 45 days after death. A bond payable to the state is commonly required to protect creditors and other heirs, though it is often waived when the person filing is the estate’s sole heir/beneficiary, or when all heirs consent in writing.
Common Form Probate – the standard, uncontested path: the will (if any) is admitted to probate without formal notice to all interested parties, and the personal representative is appointed and issued Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (without a will).
Solemn Form Probate – used when formal proof of the will’s validity is needed, typically because of an anticipated will contest; requires notice to all interested parties and a hearing.
Muniment of Title – used to transfer real estate when there is a valid will but no other assets requiring administration.
Step 2: filing for administration
The personal representative (or an interested party) files the original will (if one exists) and a Petition for Probate of Will or Petition for Letters of Administration with the Anderson County Clerk and Master.
The court issues Letters Testamentary (testate) or Letters of Administration (intestate), giving the personal representative authority to act.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors in a local newspaper; creditors generally have a limited window (commonly around 4 months from the notice) to file claims.
The personal representative inventories and appraises the estate’s assets (may be waived by the will or by all beneficiaries).
The personal representative pays valid debts, expenses, and taxes.
The estate is closed with a final accounting (unless waived) and distribution to beneficiaries or heirs.
What it costs
Filing fees vary by county; confirm current fees with Anderson County directly.
Tennessee has no statutory fee schedule for attorneys or executors – fees must be “reasonable” and are subject to court approval if contested.
Tennessee does NOT impose a state estate tax or a state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax may apply, and only to very large estates.
Typical timeline for a simple, uncontested estate: roughly 6-9 months.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
101 South Main St, Clinton, TN 37716
(865) 457-6238
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTION COMMISSION
101 South Main St, Clinton, TN 37716
(865) 457-6236
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Health Department
710 North Main St, Clinton, TN 37716
(865) 457-1400
DHS Office
101 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Clinton, TN 37716
(865) 494-6533
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Anderson County Health Department – confirm current contact via andersoncountytn.gov.
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County Facts
County Seat: Clinton
Population: 78,000
Tier: 3
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Anderson County facilities via Amazon.
