This Lytle added fame to family name

Mike West, the Murfreesboro Post, January 10, 2010 The day before Christmas in 1902, a baby was born to Murfreesboros founding family, the Lytles.  He was the son of hard-working Robert Logan Lytle and Lillie Belle Nelson.  An ancestor, William Lytle, had donated the land for Murfreesboro in 1811, only…

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Dromgoole — a Rutherford Original

As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, December 20 and 27, 2009 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society There are two short Dromgoole pieces for Christmas; there were at least two Dromgoole Societies; the Murfreesboro city hall once had a Dromgoole; and in a Nashville convent there…

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French Trading Post Became Versailles

As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, December 13, 2009 By Greg Tucker, President Rutherford County Historical Society Although left off the turnpike and soon to be abandoned by postal authorities, the local folk in the 1890s were strong on community spirit and could deliver a Gay Nineties rag,…

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What Prompted Murfreesboro Mayor to head to Texas?

As published by the Murfreesboro Post, Sunday, December 13, 2009 By Mike West, Managing Editor What prompted Murfreesboro Mayor Henderson Yoakum to pack up and head to Texas in 1844? “Politics” is the basic answer. But there’s more to the story. Back in the 1840s, Texas was the land of…

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The President is coming to … old Murfreesborough

As published by the Murfreesboro Post, Sunday, November 29, 2009 By Mike West, Managing Editor The President’s coming … the President’s coming to little Murfreesboro. No, not President Obama. We are talking somewhat ancient history and about the president of an entirely different nation, the ill-fated Confederate States of America.…

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Caponizing Not Always that Successful…

As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, November 22, 2009 By Greg Tucker, President of the Rutherford County Historical Society The surgical procedure was part of the curriculum. The mortality rate evidenced the limited experience and skill of the “surgeons.” In the rural Christiana community in the mid-1930s, just…

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Does the Name Murfrees Spring Ring a Bell?

As published by the Murfreesboro Post, Sunday, November 15, 2009 By Mike West, Managing Editor Does the name “Murfree Spring” ring a bell? Perhaps it does when you apply it to “Discovery Center at Murfree Spring?” More than 110,000 youngsters and families explore that popular children’s museum each year, but…

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‘Brosie’ went beyond the call

As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, November 8, 2009 By Greg Tucker, President of the Rutherford County Historical Society   “There is no more familiar figure in Murfreesboro than Ambrose Crass,” observed Herndon McCain, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in 1944. “His patriotism is an example to…

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Hero of Revolutionary War Settled in Rutherford County

As published by the Murfreesboro Post, Sunday, November 8, 2009 By Mike West, Managing Editor One early Rutherford County resident was a hero at the battle of King’s Mountain during the American Revolution. Joseph Dickson served as a major at King’s Mountain with a group of men from Lincoln County,…

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“Fighting Forties” Battled on and off the Field

As published by the Daily News Journal, Sunday, November 1, 2009 By Greg Tucker, President of the Rutherford County Historical Society It was the most dramatic fall from competitive dominance in the history of Southern Interscholastic Athletic Conference football. The 1940 season was to be the “comeback year.” In 1935,…

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