Lake County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Tiptonville
Year Organized: 1870
Square Miles: 163

Court House:

229 Church Street
County Courthouse
Tiptonville, TN 38079-1162

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Reelfoot Lake, formed by a series of earthquakes in 1811 that dammed the Reelfoot River and altered the course of the Mississippi River, an area now part of the state park system.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Lake County

Created 1870 from Obion County; named for Reelfoot Lake, formed by a series of earthquakes in 1811 that dammed the Reelfoot River and altered the course of the Mississippi River, an area now part of the state park system.

Lake County was formed in 1870 from Obion County (Acts of Tennessee 1870, Chapter 30).

Located in the northwest corner of Tennessee, Lake County is bounded by Kentucky on the north, Reelfoot Lake and Obion County on the east, the Mississippi River on the west, and Dyer County on the south. The smallest county in the state, Lake County covers 210 square miles. Its flat terrain contains some of the richest soil in the state. The county was named for Reelfoot Lake, which was formed by a series of earthquakes that jolted the region from December 1811 to mid-March 1812. Despite popular legends that attribute the name of the lake to "Chief Reelfoot and his Indian Bride," the lake was named for Bill Jones, whose clubfoot gained him the nickname "Reelfoot Jones." Jones died in March 1839, when he slipped from a foot log, fell into Spring Creek, and drowned. Thereafter the creek was known as "Reelfoot Creek," and since it fed the lake, the shallow body of water acquired the name Reelfoot also.

The Tennessee General Assembly organized Lake County in June 1870, and Tiptonville was designated as the county seat. The first session of court was held on September 5, 1870. Settlers established homesteads along the river and the lake as early as 1827. Until the organization of Lake County, area residents were part of Obion County and traveled to Troy to conduct county business. In recognition of the difficulty associated with crossing the "scatters of the Lake" (a swampy area extending south from the lake to the Obion River), a special Circuit Court was established in 1858 for the portion of Obion County lying west of Reelfoot Lake. The first term of this court was held in June 1858 in the Masonic Hall in Cronanville, the largest village. The men living in this area were exempted from militia duty in Troy. The scatters of the lake were brought under control by digging a dredge ditch from the lake to the Obion River along the boundary line between Lake and Obion Counties. Bridges crossing the ditch replaced the earlier ferry boats.

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 194 square miles (502 km²), of which, 163 square miles (423 km²) of it is land and 30 square miles (79 km²) of it (15.68%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Fulton County, Kentucky (north)
Obion County (east)
Dyer County (south)
Pemiscot County, Missouri (west)
New Madrid County, Missouri (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Ridgely	town	Incorporated Area
- Tiptonville (County Seat)	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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