Greenwood School (aka ‘Seed Tick’) 1878-c1922
GREENWOOD SCHOOL, sometimes called SEED TICK 1878-c 1922, in the old fifth and new first District was first on a farm owned by Caleb Swain on Lamar Road about one mile north of the present Jefferson Pike. It was near the Fall Creek. GREENWOOD SCHOOL was next located about one-half…
Bryant’s Grove School (Black) 1880-c1940
BRYANTS GROVE SCHOOL BLACK 1880-c1940 was on the south side of Couchville Pike near the Davidson County line. It was on land given for a school and church by Henry Bryant and wife on August 28, 1880 and by Will Bryant and wife Hattie on January 13, 1913. The two…
Murfreeboro City Schools 50 year history – John Hodge Jones – March 3, 1990
TO: Murfreesboro City Board of EducationFROM: John Hodge JonesDATE: March 5, 1990RE: A Review of School and School System Organization—A Personal Statement Reflecting Upon the Past, Present, and Future INTRODUCTIONChanges are rapidly taking place in Rutherford County and Murfreesboro’s education institutions. The history of where we are is relatively young…
First United Methodist Church celebrates 200 years!
March 26, 2020, Jason Reynolds The Murfreesboro Post First United Methodist Church is celebrating its bicentennial throughout this year, with activities including tours at its original downtown sites and the Windrow Campground, where a revival once broke out in Rutherford County. “Two-hundred years is an extremely significant moment in the…
The Ransom School House, 1976
March 26, 2020, from the Digital Archives of the Rutherford County Historical Society The Ransom School House has been beautiful restored and maintained since this photo was taken c1976, most likely by Dr. Bealer Smotherman, longtime professor at Middle Tennessee State University and local historian. Bealer was alo an avid…
Tennessee College for Women, 1907-1946
TENNESSEE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN 1907-1946 was located on the north side of East Main Street in Murfreesboro. In October 1905, an Educational Commission was appointed by the Baptist State Convention of Tennessee with instructions to seek a location and establish a college for women. Murfreesboro, with a population of 6,000,…
WGNS Continues as Historical Radio Powerhouse
March 23, 2020, Susan Harber, The Daily News Journal Standby….and Action! WGNS Radio has 72 years of deep and time-honored history in Murfreesboro. There were 10,000 residents in the city when the station signed on the air on New Year’s Eve of 1946. At the time, there were no local…
2020 Show & Tell
March 16, Oaklands Mansion Wow – what to say about the 2019 edition of the annual RCHS Show & Tell. More than fifty local history enthusiasts enjoyed a meal provided by Carriage Lane Reception House on the grounds of the historic Oaklands Mansion.
February 3, 1999, The Murfreesboro Sun Newspaper
March 20, 2020 The Murfreesboro Sun was a wonderful weekly newspaper in Murfreesboro, Tennessee from c1994 till 2004. WHRT Channel 27, owned by Landmark Arts, began airing April 30, 1997.
Taylor School (Rockvale), 1874-1911
TAYLOR SCHOOL 1874-1911 was a district school on the north side of Columbia Road, now Mt. Pleasant Road, about one half mile west of the intersection of that road and Hant Hollow Road. On August 4, 1874, Nathaniel R. Taylor, son of Vincent Taylor, signed a gift deed to the…
Legendary MTSU Baseball Coach Steve Peterson Passes Away
March 12, 2020, WGNS Radio Steve Peterson, the all-time winningest coach in Middle Tennessee baseball history, has passed away. Peterson, 68, died at St. Thomas Hospital Wednesday night after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. A family spokesperson indicated there will be a private funeral ceremony for family…
Public Meeting On Downtown Mixed Use Development
March 9, 2020, WGNS Radio From www.wgnsradio.com: (MURFREESBORO) Around 150 residents were at Monday (3/9/2020) night’s Town Hall Meeting to learn more about the massive downtown project where the Methodist church once was located. The meeting was held across the street in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church. The development…
African-American Athlete Tommy Haynes Reigns as Prime Challenger in Track and Field at MTSU
March 9, 2020, Susan Harber, The Daily News Journal I thoroughly enjoy researching living history as much as ancestral narratives. A favorite athlete is an African-American Olympian from MTSU, who forged everlasting history for the college in 1976. Thomas Zarlef Haynes was born July 14, 1952 in Nashville to parents…
April 9, 1985 – Riverdale Tennis Team
You just never know what the dedicated volunteers at the Rutherford County Historical Society will come across when conducting research. The 1985 Riverdale High School Tennis Team: Patrick McFarlin, Chris Taylor, Mark Hardison, Phil Clark and Chris Bell. Back Row: Coach Martha LaLance, Hunter McFarlin, Rick Kinnard, Matt Byrnes, John…
Keeble School, c1860-1863
KEEBLE SCHOOL c1860-1863, was located in the community of Jefferson. A journal kept by Bettie Ridley Blackmore recorded in a March 1893 entry: “The Keeble school was burnt by Federal troops.” SOURCES: Bettie Ridley Blackmore, “Journal,” TheTennessee Historical Quarterly, March 1953, XII, no. 1. *Gene Sloan, “Jefferson Probably Had County’s…
Lack of Private Funds Ended Murfreesboro Hospital Plans
March 5, Greg Tucker,, The Rutherford County Historical Society With funding from the philanthropic Commonwealth Fund, the first hospital in Rutherford County opened in 1927, but the Rutherford Hospital facility was not the first planned for Murfreesboro. A private venture in 1911, Murfreesboro Hospital Company, may have been abandoned for…
A short story about the life of Henry Tecumseh Linebaugh
March 4, 2020, The Froe Chips, Mike J. Liles Henry Tecumseh Linebaugh died in Tampa, Florida December 17, 1943 at the age of 78. At the time of his death he was living in an eighteen room house on five acres of land on the northern outskirts of Tampa at…
Murfreesboro Mayors: 31-35
March 3, 2020, A Series by Barry Lamb Reed, Robert Donnell was born on May 3, 1832 in Rutherford County to James and Eleanor Rankin Reed. His paternal grandparents were Revolutionary War soldier John Nash Reed and Mary Barksdale Reed, who came to the Jefferson area of Rutherford County from…
Stickney and Griffis Drug Store
March 3, 2020, March/April Froe Chips, written by Richard Stickney My Grandfather, Richard H. Stickney, was a pharmacist and a chemist. He had a Drug Store on the square for sixty years. He made medications. He had shelves of chemicals and liquids. He also knew the history of each medicine…
Hillcrest, also known as, The Crest
March 3, 2020, March/April Froe Chips, written and researched by Barry Lamb “It was in this home, with its red brick walls and tall white columns, that five hundred persons attended what has been called the ‘most beautiful wedding celebration ever held in Murfreesboro’.” These words, written by Mary Boddie…