Johnson City has developed as an industrial center, a retail and entertainment hub, and a burgeoning health care and educational center for the Tri-Cities and surrounding mountain area. East Tennessee State University, the largest institution of higher education serving the region, added a medical school in 1974, emphasizing primary and rural health care with medical outreach programs to surrounding communities. The medical school, the Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the growing number of specialty hospitals in Johnson City have led to plans for a biomedical-clinical research and industry corridor (the “Med-Tech” corridor) to be developed for the twenty-first century. The growth of the university, health care, business, and industry have led to a vision of the city’s future that includes a continuing education center, a new, technologically sophisticated public library, and a proposed cultural district.