The History of Lyons Crossing

Lyons Crossing Subdivision is located on Northshore Drive one mile west of Morrell Road, three miles east of Ebenezer Road and four miles east of the Pellissippi Parkway.

The Lyons Crossing Crest stands in tribute to the prestige and achievement of the distinguished Lyon family, early settlers of the Tennessee River Valley. Being a man of great wealth, William Lyon came to Knoxville from Baltimore, Md., about 1809 and purchased several hundred acres of land. The extensive Lyon family’s estate marked the beginning of the Lyons View community, and their glorious panoramic view included grassy banks, cultivated lowlands, Lyons Old Mill and the celebrated Big Spring.

William Lyon, captain of the Eighth Cavalry Brigade in the Tennessee Militia, was the most widely known man of this section and achieved notable influence in our history. Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and a long line of distinguished warriors, statesmen and historians were entertained in the hospitable mansion of “Old Captain Lyon."
His son, Thomas C. Lyon was an organizer and controller of the Knoxville & Charleston Railroad Company.

The Knoxville & Charleston Railroad Company chartered in 1852. With economic and industrial developments in Knox County, and Fourth Creek or Lyons Creek, especially in railroad and river transportation, Knoxville achieved considerable importance as a merchandising center for the East Tennessee Valley and more distant areas.

His daughter, Mary Lyon returned in 1869 after the Civil War, to find Lyons View, in its entire grand and impressive loveliness had remained the same. Mary Lyon married John J. Craig, a pioneer marble dealer and quarry owner. He opened the door for a family trade which became the nation’s foremost producer of Tennessee Pink Marble and one of the largest importers of marble in the United States. Craig’s Pink Tennessee Marble was used in the United States Post Office in Knoxville, and The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

The 300-acre Thomas Lyon Farm, purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1873, was at Northshore Drive and Westland Drive and is the current site of Lakeshore Park.