William Rule (editor)

William Rule
Born(1839-05-10)May 10, 1839
Knox County, Tennessee, United States
DiedJuly 26, 1928(1928-07-26) (aged 89)
Resting placeOld Gray Cemetery
Knoxville, Tennessee
Occupation(s)Newspaper publisher and editor
Notable workStandard History of Knoxville (1900)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseLucy Ann Maxey
Parent(s)Frederick and Sarah Brakebill Rule

William Rule (May 10, 1839 July 26, 1928) was an American newspaper editor and politician, best known as the founder of The Knoxville Journal, which was published in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1870 until 1991. A protégé of vitriolic newspaper editor William G. "Parson" Brownlow, Rule established the Journal (initially called the Chronicle) as a successor to Brownlow's Knoxville Whig.

A Union officer in the Civil War, Rule twice served as mayor of Knoxville (in 1873 and 1898). He published the city's first comprehensive history, Standard History of Knoxville, in 1900.