Business View Magazine | March 2020

317 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MARCH 2020 GREENEV I LLE , TENNESSEE “That’s when some of the smaller manufacturing companies came to Greeneville to fill in the gap. Our tax base is largely residential; we don’t have that one large manufacturing firm in town, but we’ve got a number of small- to medium- size manufacturing companies in town. We also have a federal courthouse, which covers all of Upper East Tennessee, and we have a national cemetery, where President Johnson is buried. So, there are not many other towns of our size that have the federal footprint that we do.” With a population over 15,000, Greeneville is now looking to attract more residents to its downtown. “Millennials are looking for that urban downtown feel, but so are Baby Boomers and retirees,” Smith notes. “And what I’ve learned in my 15 years in local government, what drives downtown redevelopment starts with residential projects. Once you get a core group of residents downtown, they demand services – restaurants, stores, and entertainment – and that drives your other business opportunities.” Dickson-Williams Mansion is one of the Civil War historic sites in Downtown G Town Hall