Anderson County, Tennessee

Anderson County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Clinton
Year Organized: 1801
Square Miles: 338

Court House:

100 N. Main Street
County Courthouse
Clinton, TN 37716-3608

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Joseph Anderson (1757-1847), US senator, judge of the Superior Court of the Territory South of the River Ohio (later Tennessee) and US comptroller of the treasury.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Anderson County

Anderson County is located in East Tennessee, one of the states three "grand divisions", and was formed in 1801 from Knox and Grainger counties; named in honor of Joseph Anderson (1757-1847), US senator, judge of the Superior Court of the Territory South of the River Ohio (later Tennessee) and US comptroller of the treasury.

Anderson County was formed in 1801 from parts of Knox and Grainger counties. (Private Acts of Tennessee 1801, Chapter 45).

According to archaeological investigations, long before Tennessee became a state, Native Americans occupied lands in present-day Anderson County. Permanent white settlement dates to 1796, when Thomas Frost built a cabin. After statehood, settlements soon expanded, increased by the arrival of German immigrants in 1800. In December 1801 Anderson County was created from parts of Knox and Grainger Counties. The county was named after Joseph Anderson, a prominent U.S. senator and former territorial judge in Knoxville. The first seat of government in Anderson County was Burrville, named after Vice-President Aaron Burr. After Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in their famous duel and became implicated in a land speculation scheme, the Tennessee General Assembly changed the name of the Anderson County seat to Clinton in honor of either Vice-President George Clinton or his nephew DeWitt Clinton.

Find more from the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture: ANDERSON COUNTY

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 345 square miles (893 km²), of which, 338 square miles (874 km²) of it is land and 7 square miles (19 km²) of it (2.12%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Campbell County (north)
Union County (northeast)
Knox County (southeast)
Roane County (southwest)
Morgan County (west)
Scott County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Clinton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Lake City	town	Incorporated Area
- Norris	city	Incorporated Area
- Oak Ridge	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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