Local History
Our Distinct Place in Tennessee History
A County of Firsts
Lawrence County's history begins with the Chickasaw and Cherokee peoples whose lands it once encompassed. The county formed in 1817 was named for Captain James Lawrence, a hero of the War of 1812, and saw early settlement by frontiersman David Crockett. Its rich past also includes being the birthplace of a new genre of Southern Gospel music, boasting one of the first radio stations in Tennessee, and being the site of a women's suffrage vote that preceded the 19th Amendment by over a year. The county also holds Civil War significance and is home to historic ironworks.
The Birth of Lawrence County
Lawrence County was created by an act of the Tennessee Legislature on October 21, 1817 from lands ceded to the United States government by the Chickasaw Nation. Lawrenceburg, the county seat, was established in 1819. The county and the county seat were both named in honor of Captain James Lawrence, who was at that time a household name for his heroic death in the War of 1812.
Crockett’s Legacy
Among our county's founders was the legendary frontiersman David Crockett, an early settler of the area who wrote "I became so well pleased with the country about there, that I resolved to settle in it." He served as one of Lawrence County's first justices of the peace, a colonel of the county's militia, one of the founding commissioners of Lawrenceburg, and one of the county's first representatives in the Tennessee General Assembly.
Enduring History
During the Civil War, Union soldiers who had taken Lawrenceburg's square prepared to burn the courthouse, but local citizens persuaded the commander to spare it. Although the building was later ransacked, a county clerk carried many record books home for safekeeping. Thanks to that good fortune and care, most of our county's records survive to its founding, and many are available to you in our Lawrence County Room in the form of microfilm, books, and online databases.
Building Up
Early manufacturing was slow-growing because there was no efficient way to move products to market. That changed in 1888 with the completion of the Columbia, Lawrenceburg & Florence Railroad, which opened access to iron ore deposits in southern Lawrence County and sparked the rise of towns such as West Point and Iron City. The area also became attractive to visitors, with Summertown's "magic spring" in particular once bringing as many as eight hotels to the area.
A Voice for the South
In the early twentieth century, Lawrenceburg's public square became the headquarters of a musical movement. James D. Vaughan, born in Giles County in 1864, put the first commercial gospel quartet on the road in 1910 to sell sheet music for his publishing house, and by 1925 he had sixteen full-time quartets touring the nation. His Vaughan School of Music, founded in Lawrenceburg in 1911, trained numerous gospel performers. In 1922 he bought WOAN, the first commercially licensed radio station in Tennessee, whose broadcasts reached listeners as far away as Canada
Into the Modern Era
The mid-twentieth century brought new neighbors and new industry. In 1944, Amish families from Mississippi and Ohio settled near Ethridge, and their community has grown into the largest in Tennessee. In 1956, Murray Ohio Manufacturing opened a bicycle plant in Lawrenceburg that grew into one of the largest of its kind in the nation before closing in 2005. Today, Lawrence County continues to grow, with a thriving tourism industry and agriculture still its oldest and largest industry.
