A History of Rutherford County
The Tennessee General Assembly established Rutherford
County on October 25, 1803. This
legislative act came in response to a petition by two hundred citizens.
Those citizens believed that the population of the area (then
divided between Davidson, Wilson, Williamson, and Sumner counties) had
increased to a point justifying a separate political existence that would
provide a more accessible local government and court system.
Long before white settlers and black slaves moved into the area, the region that now comprises Rutherford County had served several different Native American tribes as a hunting ground. After the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, white explorers and hunters began venturing into what is now middle Tennessee. A royal edict from King George III of England, however, forbade permanent settlements beyond the Appalachians. Native American tribes also posed a formidable threat to those who would encroach on their lands. But when the tide of the American Revolution turned in favor of the colonists, the prospect of vast tracts of western lands became too enticing to resist for North Carolinians confronted with increasingly scarce and expensive land within the established boundaries of their colony.
In
1779-1780, James Robertson and John Donelson led a group of North
Carolinians west and established on the banks of the Cumberland River a
settlement that would eventually blossom into the city of Nashville.
From that location, settlers gradually fanned out along the
tributaries of the Cumberland, including the Stones River.
White settlers, accompanied by slaves, poured into what was then
western North Carolina. The
Native American tribes who had claimed the region as hunting lands for
millennia retreated against the relentless onslaught of the settlers.
In 1796, citizens of the region applied for statehood.
The United States Congress granted their request and the state of
Tennessee was born. Just
seven years later, the Tennessee General Assembly carved a new county out
of Davidson, Williamson, Wilson, and Sumner counties.
They named the new entity Rutherford County after General Griffith
Rutherford, who had commanded the colonies’ western military forces
during the Revolution.
State law
invested local legislative power in the county courts.
Thomas Rucker, Colonel John Thompson, James Sharp, Peter Legrand,
Charles Ready, John Hill, and John Howell served as the first members of
the Rutherford County Court. Court
sessions rotated among the homes of the members until they selected a site
for the county seat and raised funds to construct a courthouse.
The newly established town of Jefferson, at the confluence of the
east and west forks of Stones River, became the first county seat in 1804;
a courthouse was completed in 1806. In
1811, however, county leaders decided to shift the county seat to a
location more geographically central to the population.
A new town called Cannonsburgh was established on sixty acres
belonging to William Lytle. On
November 29, 1811, shortly after the death of Lytle’s close friend,
Colonel Hardy Murfree, the General Assembly changed the town’s name to
Murfreesborough (later shortened to Murfreesboro).
The town, located almost exactly at the geographic center of the
state, served as Tennessee’s capitol from 1818 to 1826.
It has remained the county seat to the present day.
Farming
served as the economic basis of Rutherford County until World War II.
Farmers grew tobacco, cotton, and corn and raised dairy cattle.
The breeding and sale of horses first emerged as an important
economic activity in the 1820s. More
than one-third of landowners in the county operated their farms through
slave labor. In the early
years, barges on the Stones River served as the major route to market for
the county’s agricultural production.
The water level of the river, however, became increasingly
unreliable and alternative methods of transportation became necessary.
The first road to Nashville was completed around 1810. The economic life of the county, and especially of the county
seat, received a tremendous boost when construction began on the Nashville
& Chattanooga Railroad in 1848. The
first train stopped in Murfreesboro on July 4, 1851.
Rutherford
County’s central location and congenial terrain made it a highly
productive agricultural region and a transportation hub.
During the Civil War, it also made it a battleground.
Tennessee cast its lot with the Confederacy by seceding in
May of 1861. When the
war broke out in 1861, Union forces quickly sought to gain control of the
river system and railroad lines of the Upper South in an effort to limit
the Confederacy’s ability to move food and supplies.
The Union gained control of Murfreesboro early in the war.
In July of 1862, Confederate forces led by Nathan Bedford Forrest
regained control of the Rutherford County seat after the Battle of
Murfreesboro. The Union’s
Army of the Cumberland, led by General William S. Rosecrans, bided time in
Nashville, waiting for just the right moment to try to regain control of
Murfreesboro and solidify their hold on Middle Tennessee.
The Confederate Army of Tennessee, led by General Braxton Bragg,
encamped for the winter on the banks of the Stones River just outside of
Murfreesboro, confident in their ability to hold the territory.
On December 26, Rosecrans marched his troops from Nashville towards
Murfreesboro. The two sides
met in the Battle of Stones River on December 31.
Bragg’s Confederate troops quickly gained the upper hand, but the
tide turned the following day. On
January 1, 1863, Rosecrans dealt the Confederates a stunning defeat,
forcing the Army of Tennessee to retreat to Tullahoma.
Union soldiers constructed Fortress Rosecrans on the banks of the
river shortly thereafter. For
a few short months, the fortress and the town of Murfreesboro served the
Union as an important supply center.
By the end of 1863, however, Union forces had moved south, plunging
deeper into the heart of Confederate territory.
The earthworks that comprised Fortress Rosecrans were left to the
forces of nature. Their
remnants can still be viewed at Old Fort Park in Murfreesboro.
The Civil
War reached its conclusion in 1865, with the Union restored.
The end of the Confederacy also brought the end of slavery, which
in turn resulted in significant changes in the economy of Rutherford
County. With slavery
abolished, farmers adapted to the new economic conditions by diversifying
beyond the major cash crops and concentrating on the production of
foodstuffs: potatoes, beans,
wheat, oats, barley, and (later) soybeans.
Dairy farming grew dramatically during this period.
Murfreesboro and the surrounding towns and villages thrived.
The state legislature even designated Murfreesboro as the site for
one of the three new teachers colleges they were establishing to meet the
growing demand for educators in the state.
Middle Tennessee Normal School (now Middle Tennessee State
University) opened its doors in 1911.
The agricultural economy thrived until after World War I. While much of the nation prospered in the “Roaring Twenties,” agricultural producers suffered from high inflation. The Great Depression of the 1930s only added to the struggles of farmers, forcing many into bankruptcy. Sadly, it took World War II to pull Rutherford County, and the nation, out of the economic slump. Hundreds of young men left the county to serve their nation. At the same time, thousands of others arrived in the county to train for their military service. Lured by the mild weather, suitable terrain, and central location, the federal government placed a flight training school in Smyrna. Following a brief period of inactivity immediately after the war, the facility reopened in 1950 as Sewart Air Force Base. The base remained in operation until 1968, an important contributor to the economic life of the county during that time.