LaFollette is a city in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 7,456 at the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2018 of 6,737. It is the principal city of the LaFollette, Tennessee micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Campbell County, and is a component of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. While the city's official spelling is one word ("LaFollette")—after its founders, Harvey Marion LaFollette and his younger brother Grant LaFollette—several federal agencies spell the city's name with two words ("La Follette").
History
Harvey and Grant LaFollette purchased at Big Creek Gap, where the present community lies, around 1890. They founded the LaFollette Coal, Iron, and Railway Company to exploit mineral resources they had found. Although the business failed during the 1920s, the community continued to grow. The city of LaFollette was incorporated in 1897. On May 10, 1904, a major fire that started in the Cumberland Inn burned down most of the downtown area, with a reported 31 businesses destroyed.
Geography
LaFollette is located near the geographic center of Campbell County at (36.375006, −84.127623). The city is situated in Powell Valley, where the Appalachian Ridge-and-Valley province gives way to the Cumberland Plateau region. Cumberland Mountain, a ridge stretching from Cumberland Gap in the east to Bruce Gap in the west, rises north of LaFollette. Norris Lake dominates the area to the south. Jacksboro lies adjacent to LaFollette to the southwest. A leg of the Cumberland Trail is accessible off Tennessee Avenue at the north end of LaFollette.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.
2020 census
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+LaFollette racial composition
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)
| 6,898
| 92.84%
|-
!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 37
| 0.5%
|-
!scope="row"| Native American
| 14
| 0.19%
|-
!scope="row"| Asian
| 24
| 0.32%
|-
!scope="row"| Other/Mixed
| 299
| 4.02%
|-
!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino
| 158
| 2.13%
|}
As of the 2020 United States census, there was a population of 7,430, with 2,797 households and 1,821 families residing in the city.
2000 census
As of the census