Moore County, Tennessee

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

County Seat: Lynchburg
Year Organized: 1871
Square Miles: 129

Court House:

P.O. Box 206
County Courthouse
Lynchburg, TN 37352-0206

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of William Moore (1786- 1871), early settler, Lincoln County justice of the peace, War of 1812 officer, turnpike company president, state legislator.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History of Moore County

Created 1871 from Bedford, Lincoln and Franklin counties; named in honor of William Moore (1786- 1871), early settler, Lincoln County justice of the peace, War of 1812 officer, turnpike company president, state legislator.

Moore County was formed in 1871 from Bedford, Franklin and Lincoln counties. (Acts of Tennessee 1871, Chapter 96).

With a total area of only 129 square miles, Moore County is the second smallest county in the state. Set in the heart of agrarian Middle Tennessee, Moore County contains a diverse landscape, with nearly one half of the county lying along the Highland Rim and most of the remaining area part of the Central Basin. The Elk and Mulberry Rivers create fertile, heavily timbered ridges and farmland that contribute to the agricultural production as well as the lucrative whiskey industry that remains an integral part of the county's heritage.

The first settlements in modern-day Moore County were initially part of Lincoln, Bedford, Franklin, and Coffee Counties. After the Civil War, residents of the remote parts of these contiguous counties petitioned the state legislature for the creation of a new county. To support their demand for a new county, the rural petitioners pointed to the distances to the county seats and described the treacherous road system that made travel difficult, and very often impossible. They argued that the distances and hazardous road conditions made legal protection offered by the courts and grand juries inaccessible to rural residents.

The Tennessee General Assembly established Moore County in 1871 in honor of General William Moore, who was one of Lincoln County's first settlers and a long-time member of the general assembly. The new county originally surveyed at 300 square miles, but the Constitution of 1870 stipulated that no established county should contain less than 275 square miles, and that no new county line could be closer than 11 miles from the courthouse of an old county. Since the Moore County boundaries reduced Lincoln County to 255 square miles, the new act violated the constitution. Lincoln County sued to reclaim its land, and Moore County was reduced to a mere 129 square miles

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

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 130 square miles (338 km²), of which, 129 square miles (335 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.93%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Coffee County (northeast)
Franklin County (southeast)
Lincoln County (southwest)
Bedford County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Lynchburg (County Seat)

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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