Early settlers to Franklin County claimed roots in Scotland, Ireland, and England and migrated across the mountains from the Carolinas and Virginia to Franklin County around 1800. The first settlers were Major William Russell, who settled on Boiling Fork Creek, and Jesse Bean, who settled near Beans Creek. The first county court was held at Major Russell's house, and Jesse Bean would be one of the first county commissioners. By 1807 enough families had moved into the area that the Tennessee General Assembly was petitioned to create a new county. On December 4, 1807, Franklin County, so named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, was created from lands that had been a part of Warren and Bedford counties. Since 1807, the Tennessee counties of Moore, Coffee, Grundy, and Marion have been created from the original boundaries of Franklin County.

     The business and social life of early Franklin Countains centered on the community of Salem, which was, and still remains, near Beans Creek and is situated ten miles below the present site of Winchester. This early activity in Salem was probably due to the fact that one of the main highways, or stagecoach roads from Huntsville, Alabama, came through the community of Salem and by 1810 Franklin County had become known as one of the leading cotton-producing counties of the state.

     It has been said that Franklin County became a major thoroughfare for merchants on horseback en route to Baltimore to purchase stocks of goods. Also it has been reported that a favorite spot for those Nashville-bound wagons was Caldwell's bridge in Franklin County, and as many as three hundred wagons had encamped there at one time. Such activity helped persuade the Tennessee General Assembly on November 22, 1809, to empower seven commissioners to purchase a tract of land for the county seat. An area that had been settled on a bluff overlooking Boiling Fork Creek, later to be named Winchester, was chosen as the county seat in 1810. On February 10, 1812, and for one dollar, the seven county commissioners purchased a twenty-six acre site for the county seat from properties owned by Christopher Bullard. In 1815, ten acres was added to Winchester, the county seat, through a donation of property deeded from Dr. Wallace Estill.

     The town of Winchester was named in honor of General James Winchester. General Winchester was a captain in the Revolutionary War, a member of the North Carolina Convention in 1788, and the first speaker of the State Senate when Tennessee became a state in 1796. He was also a solider in the War of 1812, and a commissioner responsible for running a line between Tennessee and the Chickasaw region, or what is now Mississippi.

     Winchester, which became known as the "only town of any importance" along the stagecoach road extending from Nashville to settlements in East Tennessee, was incorporated as a town on August 20, 1822. Through this act of incorporation, the municipal council was given the power to enact those ordinances necessary to govern the town. In 1835 the General Assembly authorized the mayor and alderman "to lay out the town into four wards and to provide for the election of a constable and two aldermen in each ward".

     By 1833 the town of Winchester had grown to a population of seven hundred people and offered a diversity of opportunity for its citizens. As early as 1830, there were known to be three hotels, as well as a diverse business, professional, and religious base in the town of Winchester. An early study of the period revealed seven lawyers, four doctors, one Methodist church, one Baptist church, one Presbyterian church, one academy for boys, and one for girls. There were eleven stores, four taverns, six carpenters, four cabinetmakers, four bricklayers, two hatters, twelve tailors, four shoemakers, fourteen blacksmiths, one silversmith, three carriage and wagon makers' shops, one coppersmith, two painters, two tanning yards, two saddlers' shops, and three groceries.

     By 1874 Winchester's population numbered between 1200 and 1500 people and the town began to mature with a full complement of lawyers, physicians, clergy, merchants, and artisans. It was around this period that such organizations as the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union began to evolve in the town of Winchester.

     The first boy and the first girl born in Franklin County became the first couple to be married in Franklin County.

POLITICAL YEARS

     As Winchester's citizenry became more aware of the political and legislative process, they became active in the secession movement prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. With the leadership of a lawyer named Peter Turney, Winchester/Franklin County citizens voted to petition the State of Tennessee to
secede from the United States. It had been decided that if the state would not secede, then Winchester/Franklin County wanted to become part of Alabama. However, before Franklin County could secede from the state, Tennessee's legislature voted to secede from the Union.

     Early in their history, the citizens of Winchester/Franklin County seemed to understand the importance of active participation in government. Four of Winchester's citizens served as governors of Tennessee. Isham G. Harris was elected governor in 1857, and in 1861 was elected to the United States Senate. Albert Smith Marks who moved to Winchester in 1855, was elected Chancellor of the Fourth Chancery Division in 1870 and later in 1878 elected governor for one term. Peter L. Turney was elected to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1870 and was the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court until he was elected governor in 1892. Peter L. Turney was elected for a second term in 1894. Henry Horton, who was the Speaker of the State Senate in 1927, became governor when then Governor Austin Peay died in office on October 2, 1927. Henry Horton was re-elected both in 1929 and in 1931. In the early years, two other Winchester citizens achieved fame on an international scale. Sir Francis Joseph Campbell, the "Blind Knight," founded the first school for the blind in England and was knighted by King Edward VII for his efforts. Lady Ida Beasly Elliott, a female native of Winchester, was awarded her title by the British government for her missionary work in Burma.

     In 1828 Andrew Jackson owned 1000 acres of land, part of which was where the old 288 service station now stands in Winchester (Winchester Tourism Bldg.). In 1830 he bought an additional 600 acres in the area that joined his property.

EDUCATION

     In 1877 the Tennessee General Assembly passed the "Four Mile Law", which prohibited the sale of liquor within four miles of an incorporated institution of learning. This law had been sponsored by citizens of Franklin County. The citizens of Winchester however, found themselves in a peculiar situation. Winchester had been an incorporated town since 1822, and Winchester also had two incorporated schools in 1877, Mary Sharp College and the Winchester Normal. Winchester's citizens solved their dilemma by repealing its Charter of Incorporation on March 13, 1883, in order to rid the town of its saloons. The town of Winchester did not have its charter re-granted until around 1900. As indicated
by their actions, education was an area of high priority, which the citizens actively participated.

     In 1809, only two years after forming a county, the citizens of Franklin County received a charter from the Tennessee General Assembly to establish Carrick Academy. Carrick Academy stood on the site presently occupied by Clark Memorial School. Professor R. A. Clark was headmaster of Carrick Academy from 1871 until 1878 when the school was incorporated as a co-educational school under the name of "The Winchester Normal". The Winchester Normal School closed around 1910 or 1911 when Professor R. A. Clark, who also served as the school's second president, resigned due to ill health. The building was then transferred by the trustees to the City of Winchester where it was renamed the "Winchester School" and public education was conducted there until 1915. The building functioned as a high school for the City and was later demolished when Clark Memorial School was erected on the property.

     The Cumberland Presbyterian Church founded the "town's first institution of learning established exclusively for women" in 1834 and operated under the name of "Winchester Female Academy" from 1835 until December 21, 1857, until the school's charter was registered in the name of "Winchester Female Seminary". The school's name was later changed to "Robert Donnell University" and was incorporated under that name on March 21, 1860. On January 7, 1881, the building was purchased by the "first school district of Franklin County", and operated on the site as a free school from 1881 to 1894, when the school burned. On January 20, 1899, the school system sold the lot and remains of the building to a prominent Winchester banker, S. M. Alexander, Sr. in 1845.

     Later, in 1848 interested people in Winchester established a board of trustees, and they elected Peter Turney as president of the board and received a charter for The Tennessee and Alabama Female Institute in 1850. In 1853 the female academy was able to
move into its completed three-story building and was renamed "Mary Sharp College" in honor of Mrs. Mary Sharp, a childless widow who had given the greatest amount of money in establishing the college. The motto of this all female college read, "Educate the mothers and you educate the world". Because of low enrollment and a nationwide crisis, one of the most famous colleges of its type, "Mary Sharp College," closed its doors forever in 1896.

     Afro-American citizens of Winchester also desired a university education for their children. Therefore, in 1890 a charter was granted to "Winchester University" by Tennessee's Secretary of State. Although the university did not totally succeed in its ambitious undertaking, later generations of Afro-American students received an education when the Winchester University building was used to house Townsend High School.

     The early inhabitants used the courthouse for public worship until approximately 1806 when the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was erected.

COMMERCE

     Since it was first settled, Winchester has had a business and professional community that is highly diversified. The first merchant was Thomas Wiggins, who sold a variety of goods out of a log cabin. Daniel Eanes and his son opened the first saloon in 1810 and by 1820, Winchester had three doctors. Winchester's first buildings were located on the bluff overlooking Boiling Fork River. In 1811 there were several buildings constructed on the south side of the present square, and by 1830 the Ballard House opened its doors as a hotel. Between 1810 and 1840, commerce and the mercantile community grew steadily; however, it was the 1850's that proved to be a time of prosperity in Winchester. In part, the prosperity that Winchester enjoyed was due to the area's status as a leading cotton producer, the presence of Carrick Academy, Mary Sharp College, and the Winchester and Alabama Railroad, which ran through Winchester.

     The Civil War halted the commercial growth of Winchester until the early 1890's, at which time the town began to regain its commercial strength. It was during this period that Winchester began to flourish again, largely in part due to the introduction of the nursery industry. One early newspaper account written as early as 1925 observes that more trees, shrubs, and roses have gone out of Winchester to make the South more beautiful than any other town below the
Ohio River. By 1890 Winchester had a population of twenty-five hundred, two banks, two factories, two sawmills, one large commercial flouring mill, marble works, and "many industrial establishments of lessor note". It should be noted that during this period Franklin County had the oldest commercial club in Middle Tennessee, outside of Nashville. Similar to today's Chamber of Commerce, the commercial club's purpose was to induce businesses and people to settle in the community.

     Winchester's commercial pinnacle was reached in the years between 1890 and 1930. This era revealed the opening, closing, and re-opening of many businesses
on the square, the construction of new commercial buildings, causing the eventual saturation of the local market. It was during this period that the merchants began to use the local newspaper, The Franklin Truth, to advertise their goods. Winchester, like many other American cities, has had its periods of prosperity and recession. Winchester was able to rebound from periods of recession, in large part, due to the town's active and imaginative citizens who had a vision and were willing to take necessary risks to see their town prosper once again. It was around the turn of the century when Winchester was introduced to the Tourism Industry. It was then that Winchester promoted the healing powers of the "cure all" mineral water springs that were abundant in the area. Visitors from throughout the world vacationed at these well-publicized healing mineral springs. Today, Winchester's citizens still realize the potential benefit from tourism, as they host many special events throughout each year and readily welcome all to their little town with a big heart, "WINCHESTER the HEART of it ALL!"

     Winchester idealizes the Old South with its beauty and southern hospitality. It also embraces today's south that emphasizes leadership with a vision for the future. If it had not been for the vision of its citizens, the "Town of Winchester" would not have achieved such significance as the site of an early co-educational school and as the site of the first female college in the nation to require Latin and Greek for its graduates. Winchester further became known as a center of the southern nursery industry, as well as, having four of its citizens elected as governors of the State of Tennessee. Winchester can again have a flourishing business and economic community, if its citizens are willing to recapture the vision of those early settlers and entrepreneurs in the late 19th century.

     The largest wooden faucet factory in the world at one time was at Beans Creek. They used local cedar to produce their product.

NOTES, CREDITS, AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

     The information contained in this brief writing "Winchester at a Glance" is not a complete history of Winchester, nor was it intended to be. We secured and condensed what historical information was available to us at the time in an attempt to provide the reader with a sampling of Winchester's past. Some of the information researched and used in the writing of this brief history may not be correct in every detail, but was used in good faith.

CREDITS:

Middle Tennessee State University: May 1981 Historic Preservation, Historic Zoning report.

Here and Growing: A Collection of Decherd's past.

Historic Winchester Walking Tour: Middle Tennessee State University.