Preserve and Promote OUR local history!
History buried too long
April 7, 2021, Tayla Courage, The Murfreesboro Post Murfreesboro resident Kenneth Sawyer is raising money to restore the neglected resting place of two Rutherford County families from the Antebellum era buried near his home. Sawyer, an independent truck driver, bought his home in Murfreesboro last August. The day of the…
American Legion Bob Brown Post 16
Ernie Johns, Air Force ROTC Cadet
August 5, 1955, The Rutherford Courier Ernest ‘Ernie’ King Johns lived a most incredible life from October 14, 1934 till March 12, 2016. Ernie raised a family, became a home builder, a Rutherford County Commissioner. But most of all, Ernie became a leader in the local history community.
1970 Map of Smyrna, Tennessee
April 3, 2021, Baker Raborn Many thanks to Smyrna resident Baker Raborn for providing this 1970 map of Smyrna, Tennessee:
The McFadden Family Slaves: The story of Hollie McFadden and her family
Carol Berning, Froe Chip, March/April, 2021 McFadden Farm was the site of the battle’s final action, where over 1800 Confederates were killed or wounded. As drawn as I am to their story, I am more compelled to learn about the enslaved people who labored on her farm and the farms…
Robert Lee Jones was First President of Middle Tennessee State Normal School in 1911
March 1, 2021, Susan Harber Robert Lee Jones was an outstanding first president of present-day Middle Tennessee State University from 1911-1922. He was born in 1867 on a farm in White County on Pinhook Road near Sparta. Robert was of Welsh descent and has a fascinating heritage of colonels in…
Uxor Hill was Renamed Bellwood and Stood Tall as Finest Home in mid-19th century in Murfreesboro
March 29, 2021, Susan Harber, The Daily News Journal Uxor Hill was Renamed Bellwood and Stood Tall as Finest Home in mid-19th century in Murfreesboro. Uxor Hill, known in Latin as ‘Wife’s Hill’ was identified as a home obtained through the property of a wife. The brick home was a…
Who was the Rutherford County mortgage innovator?
Frow Chips, March/April, 2021, Greg Tucker, Rutherford County Historian During the first half of the 20th Century, Andrew L. Todd was Rutherford’s most influential businessman, lawyer, educator, farmer, landowner, politician and socialite. See “Rutherford Ramblings” (RCHS 2014), pages 125-8. In or about 1915, Todd developed an innovative proposal to use…
“Unconstitutional” 231 School Had Short History
Frow Chips, March/April, 2021, Greg Tucker, Rutherford County Historian In 1962, eight years after the U. S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that segregated education was unconstitutional, the Rutherford County school system opened a new segregated school facility on U. S. Highway 231 South. The all black faculty taught black students…
The McFadden-Eagleton-Kerr-Wilson-Spain Place
Researched and by Barry Lamb and Carol White, Froe Chip, March/April, 2021 The impressive Greek Revival style home of William Ralph McFadden, formerly located at 632 East Main Street on western corner of Hancock Street, was built for McFadden and his wife, Clementine Brock McFadden, around 1860. Mr. McFadden was…
Primitive Mills are a Cornerstone to the Heritage of our County
March 8, 2021, Susan Harber, The Daily New Journal The earliest mills of Rutherford County carry a birthright and are a relic to our culture today. With abundant falls on Stones River, power was produced for grist and sawmills as a thriving industry. The forks had narrow lanes of water…
‘It’s beyond time’: Effort underway to honor those enslaved at Murfreesboro’s Oaklands Plantation
March 10, 2021, Nancy DeGennaro, Daily News Journal In a far corner of Evergreen Cemetery on Highland Avenue near Murfreesboro Police Department headquarters is an open field. It’s lumpy in some places where the ground is visibly sunken. Beneath that fertile soil are the unmarked graves of at least 30 people once enslaved…
The House of Aldermen
Researched and Written by Barry Lamb, Froe Chip, January/February, 2021 Many of you aficionados of local history are familiar with the home known as the House of Mayors, located at 500 North Spring Street. It was known by that moniker due to the fact that four Murfreesboro mayors resided in…
President’s Grandpa Spoke his Peace
Greg Tucker, Rutherford County Historian, Froe Chips, January/February, 2021 James K. Polk had some close ties to Rutherford County. He attended school in Murfreesboro in 1814, and in 1824 married Sara Childress, daughter of a prominent Murfreesboro family. Shortly before his marriage, Polk was elected to the Tennessee General Assembly.…
William Holland—Hero of the American Civil War
Carol Berning, RCHS Frow Chips, January/February, 2021 Just outside the Hazen Brigade Cemetery wall at Stones River National Battlefield stand two military grave stones. They mark the resting place of William Holland (1834-1909) and William Harlan (1895-1979). William Holland began his life as a slave. I have created a brief…
Cross Lanes School (Christiana) 1868-1908
CROSS LANES SCHOOL, sometimes called CROSS ROADS and KATY’S ACADEMY f 1. 1868-1908, was located about four miles southeast of Christiana on the south side of Wayside Road at its intersection with Woodfin and Sledge Roads. Judge Tillman Davis Johnson wrote in his “Memoirs”: “During that same period I went…
Big Springs School, 1918-1941
BIG SPRING SCHOOL 1918-1941 was built on the site of the former school. In 1918 there was a dire need for a new school. Will Newman was the teacher and his father owned the sawmill nearby. After the people of the community had brought their logs to be sawed, the…
Big Spring School, 1874-1918
BIG SPRING SCHOOL 1874-1918 was two miles east of the Manchester Highway on the south side of Big Spring Road. It was a lower school, just west of the Big Creek and across from the intersection of the present Cobb Road. On March 2, 1874, Wesley Lowe deeded to School…
Big Spring School, 1881-1899
BIG SPRING SCHOOL 1881-1898 or 1899 was an upper school about one mile east of Big Spring on the south side of Big Spring Road and west of the Baptist church. On August 22, 1881, W. D. Mankin signed a deed for a school to School Commissioners W. B. Mankin,…
Beech Grove Male and Female Academy, aka Beech Grove College, 1869-c1892
BEECH GROVE MALE AND FEMALE ACADEMY, frequently called BEECH GROVE COLLEGE chartered Dec. 9, 1869-c 1892, was located on College Hill on the north side of Garrison Road about one-half mile east of Beech Grove and the Manchester Highway. The land, overlooking the Garrison Fork, was given by Alfred Jacobs.…