History of Houston County Tennessee United States of America

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Houston County was erected on January 21, 1871, from parts of Dickson, Humphreys, and Stewart counties, and was named in honor of Sam Houston. The act provided for a part of the County of Montgomery to be included, also, subject to the vote of the people of the part in question. But these people voted against inclusion in the new county.

The first County Court was held in the Union Church, in Erin, on April 3, 1871. N. McKinnon was the chairman. On April 21, 1871, Arlington was selected as the county seat, and the courthouse was completed about a year later, and the County Court convened in it on May 6, 1872. In 1878, Erin became the county seat.

The first officers of the county were: J. S. Lee, clerk; J. J. Pollard, court clerk; R. C. Rushing, sheriff; J. W. Hall, trustee; S. T. Allen, trustee; C. S. Humphreys, register.

The first Circuit Court met on April 4, 1871.

The early settlements began about 1798 or 1799, when Henry Edwards and his family located at Stewart Station. Other pioneers followed in the next few years. One of them was the father of Judge Jo C. Guild, who speaks interestingly and affectionately of the people of Houston County in his book 'Old Times in Tennessee.' Other pioneers were Dred Boone, a relative of Daniel Boone, Daniel Buchanan, a man of tremendous strength, and Doctor Marable. It is said that William Murrell, a brother of John A. Murrell, taught school in what is now Houston County between 1820 and 1830.

Statistics of Houston County: Population, 1920, 6,212. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $3,111,066. Area, 210 square miles. Number of farms, 724. Railway mileage, twenty. Drained by the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. Surface hilly and soil fertile. Some sections well covered with timber. Staple products are corn, tobacco, grass, and fruits. Erin, the county seat, with a population of 855, is near the Cumberland River, twenty-eight miles from Clarksville. It has good churches and schools, a weekly newspaper, bank, and manufacturing establishments. Scholastic population of county, 2,454; high schools, one; elementary schools, thirty.

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

History of Houston County Tennessee

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