Etowah is a city in McMinn County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 3,613 at the 2020 census.

Etowah was founded in 1906, primarily as a location for a depot upon the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) line as part of a more speak to route amongst Atlanta and Cincinnati. The etymology of the town reveal is unclear, but local folklore states that a train crew brought a sign reading “Etowah” from the Etowah River, and the say stuck. The word Etowah comes from the Muskogee/Creek word italwa meaning “town.”

In 1902, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad announced its try to build a more deal with line from Atlanta to Cincinnati in order to avoid the rugged mountains of North Georgia and East Tennessee bypassing the Great Hiwassee Loop. A reduction midway amid these cities was needed to relief cars and correct crews, and at the subside of 1904, land had been purchased in McMinn County to assistance as this site and the city of Etowah was planned. The L & N purchased 1,454 acres (5.88 km) for the main terminus (depot), maintenance and repair facilities (shops), railroad yards and proposed township to retain the railroad workforce. This land was purchased at $10 to $20 per acre and the L&N set practically building a major rail center and the town of Etowah.

Out of what was referred to then as a damp swampland, a boomtown sprung up in 1906 in the same way as the L & N Depot serving as the hub of the further town’s matter and social activities. Since then, the City of Etowah has ridden the waves of economic downturns and successes, such as the closing of the L & N shops in the 1930s and the recruitment of other industries, to development into the city that it is today. Etowah has seen sure growth in industry and retail beyond the with decade.