Shelbyvillle, Bedford County, Tennessee
Shelbyville, the capital of Bedford
County, is a beautiful town of about 3,500 inhabitants, situated
on the east bank of Duck River, and almost surrounded by that
winding stream, and at the terminus of the Shelbyville &
Wartrace branch of the Nashville A Chattanooga Railroad,
sixty-three miles southeast from Nashville by rail, and
fifty-five miles as the "crow flies." The immediate surrounding
country is most beautiful and picturesque, the town being
enclosed between ranges of hills on the east, south and north.
Shelbyville was established in 1810 by the commissioners
appointed by the General Assembly to locate the county seat of
Bedford County. The land upon which the town was located (100
acres) was donated to the commissioners by Clement Cannon, by
deed dated May 2, 1810, and registered June 22, 1811. The town
was at once laid off into lots and sold at auction to the
highest bidder, and the county seat was then named Shelbyville,
in honor of Col. Isaac Shelby, who commanded a regiment of 240
men in the storming of King's Mountain and capture of Col.
Ferguson and the British Army under him October 7, 1780.
Among those who purchased town lots of
the commissioners were:
Archibald
Alexander
Ben Brayford
Samuel Bell
Clement Cannon
George Cunningham
Dandy Howell
James Edde
Michael Fisher
Ben Gambell
Thomas Lordmore |
William Lack
Lewis Marshall
Robert Murry
Joseph Mengee
William Newson
Abraham Thompson
Jonathan Webster
Joseph Woods
Joseph Walker
Henry Winro |
The streets of Shelbyville, all of which
are macadamized, are ten in number, those running north and
south being Martin, Brittain, Depot, High, Thompson, Cannon and
Spring, and those running east and west are Dandy, Main and
Bridge.
The town was incorporated October 7,
1819, and has continued as an incorporated town up to the
present. At the first municipal election, held on the first
Monday in November, 1819, Thomas Davis, David McKissack, James
A. McClure, Giles Burdett, William O. Whitney, John H. Anderson
and Jacob Morton were elected aldermen, and by them Thomas Davis
was chosen mayor and James Brittain recorder.
The Eakin Library, containing over 1,000
volumes of choice literature, was founded in 1881 by the widow
of the late William S. Eakin, and from whom it takes its name.
Shelbyville Merchants 1840, 1860,
Present (1889)
Shelbyville
Manufactories
Shelbyville Banks
Shelbyville Merchants
Shelbyville Societies
Shelbyville
Churches
Shelbyville
Newspapers
Shelbyville Tornado
AHGP Tennessee
Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed
Publishing Company, 1886.
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