Goodspeed’s History of Dickson County, Tennessee

Situated in the Highland Rim region of Middle Tennessee, Dickson County has provided sustenance for humans since the time of the Paleo Indians. Dickson County was created by an act of the Tennessee General Assembly, meeting in Knoxville, on November 3, 1803, from portions of Robertson and Montgomery counties. The county was named for Dr. William Dickson. Many of its earliest settlers received Revolutionary War land grants from the State of North Carolina, predating Tennessee’s establishment as a state. In the antebellum years, farming and the iron industry provided steady economic growth. With the coming of the Civil War, Dickson County provided many men to the service, mostly to the Confederacy, and experienced Federal occupation during the war. In the postwar days, the county moved forward and social, religious, educational and economic development continued.