Houston County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Erin
Year Organized: 1871
Square Miles: 200

Court House:

P.O. Box 366
County Courthouse
Erin, TN 37061-0366

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Sam Houston (1793-1863), US congressman from and governor of Tennessee, Texas war for independence commander, president of the Texas Republic, US senator from Texas.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Houston County

Created 1871 from Dickson, Humpheys, Montgomery and Stewart counties; named in honor of Sam Houston (1793-1863), US congressman from and governor of Tennessee, Texas war for independence commander, president of the Texas Republic, US senator from Texas.

Houston County was formed in 1871 from Dickson, Humphreys and Montgomery counties (Acts of Tennessee 1870-71, Chapter 46).

The Tennessee General Assembly established Houston County on January 21, 1871, and named it in honor of Sam Houston, governor of Tennessee and hero of Texas. The people voted to establish the new county in 1871 because they were too far from their respective courthouses in Dickson, Humphreys, and Stewart Counties to properly conduct business. Even after Houston County formed, however, a kindred social, historical, and economic relationship remained between Houston and these parent counties.

Well's, Guise's, and Yellow Creeks of present Houston County attracted many settlers in the late eighteenth century. After Chickasaw land cessions, many residents were ready to cross the Tennessee ridge to divide and claim lands on White Oak, Cane, and Hurricane Creeks. There they had downhill access to both the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers for shipment of natural and manufactured products such as whiskey, tobacco, cotton, Indian hemp, and timber. Settlers also shipped iron products made at local forges on Well's Creek, Yellow Creek, and Hurricane Creek; an 1806 iron furnace on Well's Creek is the first mentioned in the area. A type of clay suitable for fire brick for furnaces was found on what is now Booster branch of Well's Creek (Byron Forge Creek), and the fire brick no longer had to be imported.

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 206.92 square miles (535.92 km²), of which, 200.21 square miles (518.54 km²) of it is land and 6.71 square miles (17.38 km²) of it (3.24%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Stewart County, Tennessee - north
Montgomery County, Tennessee - northeast
Dickson County, Tennessee - east
Humphreys County, Tennessee - south
Benton County, Tennessee - west

Cities and Towns:

- Erin (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Tennessee Ridge	town	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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