Historical and Educational Development of Community

Formerly, the 318 square miles now known as Jefferson County were included in those of Greene County.  In 1783 the first settlers came to Jefferson County, and these included the following men and their families:  Robert McFarland, Alexander Outlaw, Thomas Jarnigin, James Hill, Wesley White, James Randolph, Joseph Coperland, Robert Gentry, and James Hubbard. The first two men mentioned located in the area known now as Hamblen County.  The last seven settled in what is now called Sevier County.  About four miles above the mouth of the Chucky River and on the north side was the site chosen by Captain Jarnigin for his homestead.  James Hill lived about a mile below Captain Jarnigin, and Wesley White settled immediately opposite Taylor's Bend.  Robert Gentry located four miles above Dandridge, and Joseph Copeland seven miles above Dandridge on the south side of the French Broad River.  After this period of settling during 1783, the population grew rapidly.

Some very important events occurred during the decade following the year 1783.  In 1785 the Franklin government divided the area then known as Greene into three distinct and separate counties.  One of the new counties formed by this division was Caswell, which included the area now known as Jefferson and Sevier counties.  Jefferson and Knox counties were created on June 11, 1792, by Governor Blount.  During the following year he had these counties formed into the Hamilton Judicial District.  Sevier County was created in 1794 by dividing Jefferson County, and in 1797 the county was divided again, a part of it becoming Cocke County.⁷  The remaining area of 318 square miles is the present Jefferson County.⁸  

The formation of the judicial system in Jefferson County was not long in coming.  In just one year, one month, and eleven days following the formation of Jefferson County, the first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Jefferson County Court met at the home of Jeremiah Matthews, about four or five miles west of Dandridge, and north of the French Broad near the river.  This meeting took place on July 22, 1793.  A short time later Dandridge became the county seat.  Today, more than 169 years later, Dandridge remains the seat of justice in the county.  In 1810 the Circuit Court was organized, and about a quarter of a century later the Chancery Court.  Law and order were held in a sort of sacred trust, and the religious duties of individuals and communities were given, perhaps, greater emphasis than before.⁹

By 1810 churches were organized in all parts of the county, and religious services were held in homes whenever buildings for worship were not available.¹⁰  Religion and education have been vital influences in the lives and activities of the people since its beginning.  The oldest church in the county is the Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Dandridge.  It was organized in 1785, eight years before the town was established.  The people are practically all Protestants, largely Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist.

Education has been a major concern of the people since before the organization of the county. Efforts to establish outstanding educational facilities were made in various communities.¹¹  After the church buildings were erected, somewhat later came the construction of various schools.  During the beginning of the educational system in the county, both public and private schools flourished.  The first academy was located in a log house at Dandridge.  The trustees were appointed in 1806, and the academy was opened in 1818.  A brick building was erected later, and the academy became a co-educational institution.

Subsequently, a frame building was erected and a school for girls established.  In 1850 the Dandridge Female Academy was incorporated with a board of nine trustees.  A large, three-story building was erected.  The third floor was occupied by the Sons of Temperance, the second floor by the Masonic Lodge, and the first floor by the school.  The school was opened in the fall of 1851 under the religious influence of Reverend William Harrison, a Presbyterian minister.  This building was used until it was considered unsafe, when it was replaced by another brick building by the Masonic Lodge in 1887.  This building was used until January 1, 1951, as an elementary school for pupils of Dandridge and vicinity.  At this time a completely modern building was ready for the high school pupils, and the elementary pupils were moved to the old high school building.

In 1825 the Holston Conference of the Methodist Church decided to establish a manual labor training school at New Market.  A farm was purchased, the necessary buildings erected, and in 1830 the Holston Seminary was opened.  The manual labor feature of the institution was never put into operation, and the farm was sold.  However, the school was maintained until about 1885 when it was replaced by a seminary controlled by the Presbyterian Church.

In 1848 Strawberry Plains College was founded by Reverend Curd Fulton working under the direction of Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  It gained a wide reputation and was considered an excellent school.  The college was destroyed during the Civil War and was never replaced.

Edwards Academy was built by the United Brethren Congregation at White Pine in 1883.  This school continued in operation until 1911 when it became a part of the Jefferson County School System.

Carson-Newman College, located at Jefferson City, had its beginning in two separate schools, one for boys and one for girls.  Unlike the other institutions of higher learning in the county, at that time, it continued to grow and prosper.

The college began with a dream of Reverend William Rogers and Reverend C. C. Tipton to build a Baptist college on the banks of Mossy Creek.  The necessary funds for a building were collected, and on August 7, 1851, the school was opened by Reverend Rogers and R. R. Bryan and soon after chartered as the Mossy Creek Baptist Missionary Seminary.  In 1856 the name was changed to Mossy Creek Baptist College; again in 1880 the name was changed to Carson College in honor of James H. Carson of Dandridge who made a bequest of $20,000 to support ministerial education.

A female seminary was established in 1880 under the patronage of the Baptist Church and named Newman College in honor of William C. Newman, who made liberal donations for its upkeep. In 1889, Carson College, composed of men, and Newman College, composed of women, were consolidated into a co-educational institution, "Carson-Newman College," and is now operated by the Southern Baptist Association.  Today, it is a four-year, co-educational college.  It is a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, The American Association of Colleges, and the Tennessee College Association.  Its work is recognized by graduate schools, professional schools, and state departments of education.

The influence of Carson-Newman College has been felt to a great extent in the educational life of the entire county, and it now trains the majority of teachers who work in the Jefferson County public schools.¹²

As was true of all East Tennessee, the established academies served as a basis on which the present high school system was established.  Along with the schools appeared other organizations such as fraternities and anti-slavery and temperance movements.  One theatre house was opened in 1819 at Tuckertown, now New Market.¹³

Development of towns and communities.  The second oldest town in Tennessee, and the first to be laid out in Jefferson County, was Dandridge.  The town was named in honor of Martha Dandridge, the wife of George Washington.  Prior to the year of 1785, a few early settlers had floated down the French Broad River by raft and stopped along the banks at various spots.  Although a few of these settlers already mentioned lived along the river, Dandridge was selected as the site for the County Court in 1793.¹⁴  The fact that it probably was already a meeting point for the people of the county, since it had a church and burial ground as well as a splendid stillhouse, and its position on the bank of the French Broad, undoubtedly influenced the commissioners to make it the seat of justice.  The town was laid off on a site of fifty acres of land which was donated by a resident of the community.

Little is known of the first buildings in Dandridge, but, following the building of homes, the jail was erected next.¹⁵  It was built in 1793 and was replaced by a double log wall filled between with rock in 1846; the same year the courthouse was erected.¹⁶

Shady Grove, a settlement located three miles west of Dandridge and settled about 1785, was one of the early settlements along the French Broad.  After Dandridge was made the county seat of justice, the town did not increase very much in size.

In 1788 Mossy Creek, now Jefferson City, received its first settler.  It was five years later and ten miles to the west of Dandridge that Jefferson County was settled from the southeast from the French Broad River.  Adam Peck built his house just below Mossy Creek, named because of the abundant floating moss on the creek and along its banks at that time.

About 1819 James Tucker opened a house of entertainment ten miles northwest of Dandridge on the stage route from Knoxville to Abingdon, Virginia.  The place became known as Tuckertown, and during the next few years a small village grew up in the vicinity.  As the town became established it provided a new market for produce and passengers on the stage route and was later given the name of New Market.  About 1831 a newspaper, The New Market Telegraph, was established by McAfee and Bunker.  It continued only a few years.¹⁷  The other villages or towns that were of any importance in Jefferson County were Leadvale and White Pine.  Leadvale was originally established in 1848 by Major L. D. Franklin, who built a store and residence.  To the surrounding area, this little town was one of the most important villages during the nineteenth century, principally because lead had been discovered there and because a main railroad made it the loading station for livestock and goods going east.  It was finally discovered that the deposits of lead were not so abundant as supposed and many of the residents moved to a neighboring settlement which is now called White Pine.

For several years only a few people lived in White Pine.  In approximately 1870, Esquire Leeper was employed to lay out a town.  For several years previous to this, it had been called Dandridge Crossing, due to the Dandridge and Greeneville stage road crossing the railroad tracks at this place.¹⁸  When the town was laid off and the United States Government Post Office was erected, a government agent wrote and asked for a name by which it should be called, Esquire White looked out of his window and saw an eighty-five foot pine and wrote that White Pane should be the name.

White Pine was incorporated in 1893.  It suffered a severe loss from fire in April, 1905.  It was reincorporated in 1915 with D. L. Reynolds as its first mayor.  The first bank was built in 1906.  This bank grew from assets of $7,500 in cash to over $50,000 in the first four years of existence.²⁰

Of all the towns and communities mentioned, Mossy Creek, now Jefferson City, has surpassed them all.  This city now has a population of 4,550, as compared to the population in 1950, which was 3,633.²¹  This increase as compared to the population of a century ago is probably due to the progress of the development of its resources and the growth of Carson-Newman College.