AAA East Tennessee History
1916: Knoxville Automobile Club founded
1920's: East Tennessee Automobile Club board and members active in forming Great Smoky Mountains National Park
July 31, 1922: Knoxville Automobile club affiliated with American Automobile Association
April 24, 1929: Name changed to East Tennessee Automobile Club
May 27, 1929: East Tennessee Automobile Club territory extended to include Campbell, Claiborne, Fentress, Grainger, Hamblen, Hancock, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Polk, Rhea and Scott counties. Pickett County was also included in the extended territory but later transferred to the AAA club headquartered in Nashville.
March 31, 1930: The Twin State Automobile Association headquartered in Bristol becomes an AAA affiliate.
January 9, 1933: AAA assigned to East Tennessee Automobile Club all counties served by Twin State Automobile Association, which had ceased operations November 30, 1932.Counties included in the assignment were: Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington.
1946: East Tennessee Automobile Club establishes World Wide Travel Agency
1950: Bristol office opens
1950: East Tennessee Automobile Club establishes insurance agency
May, 1956: First Safety Patrol Trip to Washington, which soon became an East Tennessee tradition taking thousands of safety patrolers in multiple generations to Washington.
1959: Kingsport office opens
November 26, 1963: Oak Ridge office opens. Closes April 1, 1967
January, 1960: Headquarters moves from Gay Street to Henley Street
October, 1973: Headquarters moves to 100 W. Fifth Avenue
September, 1984: West Knoxville office opens
September, 1984: Kingsport office relocates
November, 1989: Johnson City office opens
December, 1990: Kingsport office relocates
November, 1997: Bristol office relocates
Feburary 1997: Bearden office opens. Closes October 27, 2000
May 10, 2000: AAA East Tennessee and AAA Auto Club South cap four-year effort with signing of bill to improve driver licensing for teens.
November 6, 2000: Blount County office opens
March, 2000: AAA Driver Training opens in Knoxville teaching new and experienced drivers
2001: Approved Auto Repair program started in East Tennessee
2002: Club helps celebrate AAA Centennial
September 13, 2002: Bristol office closes
December, 2002: New West Knoxville office opens
Winter, 2003: AAA East Tennessee and AAA Auto Club South lead successful effort to strengthen Tennessee child restraint seat law.
November, 2003: AAA East Tennessee sets up statewide workshop for agencies and professionals dealing with new child restraint seat law.
2003: AAA East Tennessee begins mobile battery replacement service.
Winter, 2004: AAA East Tennessee and AAA Auto Club South lead successful drive to enact primary safety belt law.
August, 2005: AAA East Tennessee and AAA Auto Club South win Governors Highway Safety Association national award for successful efforts to pass primary safety belt law in Tennessee
July, 2005 – May, 2006: AAA East Tennessee leads partnership to create a pre-permit course for teens approaching driving age. Delivered to more than 1,500 students in Morristown, Jefferson and Cocke Counties. Program later adapted by AAA National office for nationwide use.
January 2007: AAA East Tennessee reaches milestone of 200,000 members while AAA nationally reached 50 million members, retaining the title as the largest public service, paid-membership organization in North America.
These are just some of the highlights of our offices. We hope you enjoy the many benefits you recieve as a AAA East Tennessee member. Here at AAA we thank all of our members for making it possible to continue serving you into the 21st century.