Dickson County, Tennessee

Dickson County, Tennessee
Dickson County Courthouse in Charlotte
Location in the state of Tennessee
Tennessee's location in the U.S.
Founded	Oct. 25, 1803
Named for	William Dickson
Seat	Charlotte
Largest city	Dickson
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	491 sq mi (1,272 km²) 490 sq mi (1,269 km²) 1 sq mi (4 km²), .29%
Population  - (2010)  - Density	49,666 88/sq mi (34/km²)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.dicksoncountytn.gov

Dickson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 49,666. Its county seat is Charlotte. Its largest city is Dickson.

Dickson County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill on October 25, 1803, creating Dickson County, the 25th of Tennessee's 95 counties. Dickson was formed from parts of Montgomery and Robertson counties, and named for William Dickson, a Nashville physician and statesman who served in Congress at the time. Although Dickson never lived in the county named for him, his relatives played roles in its early development. William Dickson was also a close friend of President Andrew Jackson.

General James Robertson built the first iron works on Tennessee's frontier in Dickson County. In 1804, Robertson sold his furnace to Montgomery Bell, who became one of the state's wealthiest capitalists and industrialists.

The Ruskin Colony and The Coming Nation

Julius Wayland, publisher of The Coming Nation and the Appeal to Reason.

The Ruskin Colony (or Ruskin Commonwealth Association) was a 250-member, utopian socialist cooperative which existed near Tennessee City in Dickson County, Tennessee from 1894 to 1896. The Coming Nation, a socialist communalist paper established by Julius Augustus Wayland in Greensburg, Indiana that was relocated Ruskin Colony in Tennessee and was the forerunner to the The Appeal to Reason that was later to become a weekly political newspaper published by Wayland in the American Midwest from 1895 until 1922. The Kansas-based Appeal to Reason paper was known for its politics, lending support over the years to the Farmers' Alliance and People's Party before becoming a mainstay of the Socialist Party of America following that organization's establishment in 1901. Making use of a network of highly motivated volunteers known as the "Appeal Army" to spur subscription sales, paid circulation of the Appeal climbed to more than a quarter million copies by 1906 and half a million by 1910, making it the largest-circulation socialist newspaper in American history.

U.S. Route 70

In July 1917, A mass meeting was held in the Alamo Theatre in Dickson to raise $760 to pay for the surveying of the Bristol to Memphis Highway through Dickson County. The money was raised in less than 15 minutes by donations from those present at the meeting. State highway surveyors began surveying the route on August 14, 1917. The building of this highway put the county along the route from New York to San Francisco known as the “Broadway of America,” now Highway 70.

Governor Frank G. Clement

On November 4, 1952 Frank G. Clement of Dickson was elected Governor of Tennessee. He served as governor from 1953-1959 and again from 1963-1967.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 491 square miles (1,271.7 km²), of which 490 square miles (1,269.1 km²) is land and 1 square mile (2.6 km²) (0.29%) is water.

Dickson County is bordered on the northeast by the Cumberland River, and is drained by the Harpeth River.

Ruskin Cave, located 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Dickson.

Adjacent counties

• Montgomery County (north)
• Cheatham County (east)
• Williamson County (southeast)
• Hickman County (south)
• Humphreys County (southwest)
• Houston County (northwest)

Demographics

of 2000, there were 43,156 people, 16,473 households, and 12,173 families residing in the county. The population density was 88 people per square mile (34/km²). There were 17,614 housing units at an average density of 36 per square mile (14/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 93.25% European American, 4.58% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 1.01% from two or more races. 1.12% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Age pyramid Dickson County

As of the censusThere were 16,473 households out of which 35.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.30% were married couples living together, 11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.10% were non-families. 22.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.60% under the age of 18, 8.10% from 18 to 24, 30.70% from 25 to 44, 22.90% from 45 to 64, and 11.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $39,056, and the median income for a family was $45,575. Males had a median income of $32,252 versus $23,686 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,043. About 8.10% of families and 10.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.90% of those under age 18 and 11.80% of those age 65 or over.

By 2005 the county had a population that was 92.0% non-Hispanic white, 4.4% African-American and 1.7% Latino.

Populated places

• Burns
• Charlotte
• Dickson
• Slayden
• Vanleer
• White Bluff
• Tennessee City

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Dickson County, Tennessee
• Ruskin Colony

External links

• Official web site
• Dickson County, TNGenWeb - free genealogy resources for the county
• Dickson County at the Open Directory Project
• Tim Davenport, "The Appeal to Reason: Forerunner of Haldeman-Julius Publications", Big Blue Newsletter No. 3 (2004). Retrieved November 16, 2009.
• Appeal to Reason Spartacus Educational