History of Franklin County Tennessee United States of America

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Franklin County was erected on December 3, 1807, from Warren and Bedford counties and was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin. The county seat was named Winchester for Gen. James Winchester. The site of Winchester was purchased from Christopher for $1. No courts, however, were held in Winchester until 1814. The first County Court was held at the home of Maj. Wm. Russell in 1808.

According to tradition the earliest settlers were: Maj. Wm. Russell, and Jesse Bean, both of whom arrived about 1800.

A large number of men eminent in the history of the state have been citizens of Franklin County. Among them may be mentioned: Judge Nathan Green, Thomas Fletcher, Edward Venable, Hopkins L. Turney, and his son, Governor Peter Turney, Dr. F. J. Campbell, A. S. Colyar, Governor A. S. Marks, Thos. Gregory, and Governor Isham G. Harris. The most famous educational institution of learning in the county and one of the most famous in the United States, is the University of the South, founded in 1857 by Bishop Leonidas Polk at Sewanee. Besides this, however, two other notable institutions were established in this county?the Winchester Normal, founded in 1878, and the Mary Sharpe College, founded in 1850.

Statistics of Franklin County: Population, 1920, 20,641. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $14,207,894. Area, 570 square miles. Number of farms, 2,230. Railway mileage, 63. This county is drained by the Elk River and numerous small streams. Surface is hilly or table lands with a fine growth of timber. Staple products are corn, wheat, tobacco, cotton, hay and live stock. The N. C. & St. L. Railway intersects the county. Winchester, the county seat, with a population of 2,203, is on a branch of the N. C. & St. L. Railway, eighty-five miles from Nashville, and has good schools and churches, a weekly newspaper, banks, manufacturing establishments and flourishing stores. Dechard, with a population of 815, is another flourishing town with good schools and churches and prosperous business establishments. Scholastic population of county, 7,691; high schools, 3; elementary schools, 74.

From: Moore, John Trotwood. Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL, USA: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1923.

History of Franklin County Tennessee

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