History of Rhea County Tennessee United States of America

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Rhea County was erected on December 3, 1807, from Roane County, and named for John Rhea,12 a member of Congress from Sullivan County, Tennessee, from 1803 to 1823. The Cherokees had relinquished their claim to the lands in the county by treaty in 1805.

In January, 1808, the first County Court was organized at Big Springs, in the home of William Henry, about three or four miles north of Dayton. James Campbell was elected chairman; Daniel Rawlings, clerk; Miller Francis, sheriff; Thomas Woodward, coroner; Alex. Ferguson, register; Joseph Brooks, trustee; Thomas G. Brown, ranger; William Brown, solicitor. The justices at the time of organization were: James Campbell, Jonathan Fine, Abraham Howard, John Henry, Joseph Brooks, Daniel Rawlings, and William Long.

On February 12, 1812, a committee, appointed to select the county seat met at the home of Judge David Campbell and chose Washington at the head of Spring Creek. The site for the courthouse was on a grant of land owned by Richard G. Waterhouse, but Judge Campbell, having a claim upon a part of the grant, made a deed to the commissioners. The first courthouse was built in this year. The first Circuit Court was held in 1810.

Dayton, the present county seat, was previously Smith's Cross Roads, and grew to a town of 3,000 inhabitants in three years after a company of English capitalists, headed by Sir Titus Salts, located great iron furnaces in Rhea County in 1884.

Famous educational institutions of Rhea County are: Mars Hill School, afterwards changed to Tennessee Academy; Lorraine School; Tennessee Valley College; Dayton Masonic College; Dayton University.

Early settlers were: James C. Mitchell, teacher of Hopkins L. Turney, father of Governor Peter Turney; John Hackett, a famous land speculator; John Locke, cashier of the loan office of the old Bank of Tennessee; James Roddye, the Cash family, Heiskells, Capt. J. H. Johnson, Captain Cawood, the Robinsons, Holloways, Frank Marsh, and the Foust brothers.

Statistics of Rhea County: Population, 1920, 13,812. Assessed valuation of taxable property, $8,947,220. Area, 360 square miles. Number of farms, 1,201. Railway mileage, 32. Drained by the Tennessee River. Surface partly mountainous. Cattle, corn, wheat, grass and fruits are staple products. There has been remarkable development and advance in the cultivation of small fruits, a large annual business being done in the shipment of strawberries. This county is noted for its fine apples. Coal and iron ore are found in the county, and there are fine forests of marketable timber. The county is traversed by the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. Dayton, the county seat, has a population of 1,701. It is on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, thirty-eight miles from Chattanooga. It is a flourishing town, with good business houses, churches, schools, weekly newspapers, banks, and several manufacturing establishments. Spring City and Grand View are flourishing towns with good schools. Scholastic population of county, 5,246; high schools, 4; elementary schools, 50.

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

History of Rhea County Tennessee

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