Dyer County, Tennessee

Dyer County was founded by a Private Act of Tennessee, passed on October 16, 1823.{{cite web|url=http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/county/actdyer.htm|title=Tennessee State Archives — formation of Dyer county|access-date=December 1, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110111192545/http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/county/actdyer.htm|archive-date=January 11, 2011|url-status=dead}} The area was part of the territory in Tennessee that was previously legally recognized as belonging to the Chickasaw Native Americans as "Indian Lands".Bergeron, Paul H.; Ash, Stephen V.; Keith, Jeanette.Tennesseans and their history. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1999, p. 78.

The county was named for Robert Henry Dyer{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n111 112]}} (circa 1774–1826). Dyer had been an army officer in the Creek War and War of 1812, and a cavalry colonel in the First Seminole War of 1818 before becoming a state senator. He was instrumental in the formation of the counties of Dyer and Madison County, Tennessee.{{cite web|url=http://www.state.tn.us/sos/bluebook/05-06/44-counties.pdf#page=3 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.state.tn.us/sos/bluebook/05-06/44-counties.pdf#page=3 |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|title=Tennessee Blue Book — Dyer county|access-date=December 1, 2010}}

Around 1823, Louis Philippe I stopped briefly near the mouth of the Obion River and killed a bald eagle.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stategazette.com/story/1033306.html|title=John James Audubon and the 'Citizen King'|last=Willoughby Jr.|first=Earl|date=March 19, 2003|work=Dyersburg State Gazette|access-date=September 28, 2019}}

File:Map of Dyer County, Tennessee (1836).jpg

One of the earlier settlers to Dyer County was McCullouch family. Alexander McCullouch, a War of 1812 veteran who served as aid-de-camp under John Coffee at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, moved his family in the late 1820s to a plantation west of Dyersburg from northern Alabama.{{Cite book |last=Curter |first=Thomas W. |title=Ben McCulloch and the Frontier Military Tradition |date=1993 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0807860948 |location=Chapel Hill, NC}} McCullouch's children were also involved with the development of Dyer County and the nation at large. His youngest daughter, Adelaide, married Albert Pierce, a prominent steamboat agent on the Forked Deer and Mississippi Rivers in the Reconstruction era.{{Cite book |title=Goodspeeds History of Tennessee |date=1887 |publisher=Goodspeed Publishing Company |location=Nashville, TN}} McCullough also had multiple sons that served in the American Civil War; Alexander Jr. who served as a colonel and head of the Dyer County Militia, Benjamin, who (according to family lore) learned to hunt bears from Davy Crockett and tried to follow him the Alamo but failed and also was killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge, and Henry who served in the Texas Rangers and married into the Ashby family of True Women fame.

In 1869, three, possibly five, white men were lynched under suspicion of horse thievery.{{cite book |last=Vandiver |first=Margaret |title=Lethal Punishment : Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South |date=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=9780813537283 |pages=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpnRipS4ZA8C&pg=PA1 |access-date=December 20, 2021 |archive-date=February 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226152303/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lethal_Punishment/xpnRipS4ZA8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Julius+Morgan+negro&pg=PA44&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}

In May 1874, the Paducah & Memphis Railroad extended it's line from Troy to the Dyer/Obion county line.{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V. |title=Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1874 |date=1874 |publisher=HV and HW Poor |edition=VII |location=New York, NY |pages=408}} The town of Trimble was started as a station for the new terminus. A 54 mile railroad gap between Trimble and Covington (in Tipton County) continued to exist until 1882, when the Chesapeake, Ohio, & Southwestern Railroad finished construction on the line to give Dyersburg a rail connection.{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V |title=Manual for the Railroads of the United States for 1882 |date=1882 |publisher=HV and HW Poor |edition=XV |location=New York, NY |pages=492}} This line was leased to the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Railroad to operate two years later.{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V |title=Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1886 |date=1886 |publisher=HV and HW Poor |edition=XVIIII |location=New York, NW |pages=926}} In 1897, the line was deeded to the Illinois Central Railroad, who leased it to the Chicago, St. Louis, & New Orleans Railroad, who operated it as their "Louisville Division" (Elizabethtown, KY to Memphis via Paducah).{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V |title=Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1888 |date=1888 |publisher=HV and HW Poor |edition=XI |location=New York, NY |pages=469}}

In Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, Twain reported seeing a steamboat at the mouth of the Obion River bearing his name. He notes this is the first time he encountered something named after him.{{cite book |title= Life on the Mississippi |last= Twain |first= Mark |author2=Clemens, Samuel L. |year= 1883|publisher=Dawson Brothers |location=Montreal |page= 248}}
Facsimile copy of the First edition pg. 248 "Far along in the day, we saw one steamboat; just one, and no more. She was lying at rest in the shade, within the wooded mouth of the Obion River. The spy-glass revealed the fact that she was named for me - or he was named for me, whichever you prefer. As this was the first time I had ever encountered this species of honor, it seems excusable to mention it, and at the same time call the attention of the authorities to the tardiness of my recognition of it."

In 1904, the Dyersburg Northern Railroad was chartered. This line connected Dyersburg to Tiptonville in Lake County and began operating in 1910. The company changed their name to the Chicago, Memphis, & Gulf Railroad in 1909.{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V |title=Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1910 |date=1910 |publisher=HV and HW Poor |edition=XXXXIII |location=New York, NY |pages=598}}

File:Dyer Country Newbern Depot.jpg

On February 1, 1916, a black man named Julius Morgan was accused of raping a white woman in Dyer County. In order to avoid a lynching at the hands of a local mob, Sheriff C.C. Dawson had Morgan sent to the jail in Jackson for safety, and again to jails in Union City and Nashville.{{cite news|author=|date=February 2, 1916|title=NEGRO IS TRAILED|work=State Gazette|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/dyer/newspaper/gz0216.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218184352/http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/dyer/newspaper/gz0216.txt|archive-date=February 18, 2015|url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Vandiver |first=Margaret |title=Lethal Punishment : Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South |date=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=9780813537283 |pages=1, 44–45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpnRipS4ZA8C&pg=PA1 |access-date=December 20, 2021 |archive-date=February 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226152303/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lethal_Punishment/xpnRipS4ZA8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Julius+Morgan+negro&pg=PA44&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }} His attorneys were able to secure a change in venue to Memphis for his trial. He was convicted and sentenced to death. On July 13, 1916, Morgan was the first person to be executed by electrocution in Tennessee.{{cite web|url=https://www.tn.gov/correction/statistics-and-information/executions/tennessee-executions.html|title=Tennessee Executions|website=Tennessee Department of Corrections|access-date=March 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314193637/https://www.tn.gov/correction/statistics-and-information/executions/tennessee-executions.html|archive-date=March 14, 2022|url-status=live}}

In the 1920s the Mengle Box Company of Louisville, KY operated a box manufacturing facility at the small town of Menglewood in the western part of the county on the Obion River. The town of Menglewood had over 1,200 people living in it at the height of the box factory's operations. By 1929, the Chicago, St. Louis, & New Orleans Railroad had abandoned the rail line to the small town, which was described as "almost abandoned."{{Cite news |year=1929 |title=To Abandon Railroad Line in Dyer County |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/605082525/?match=1&clipping_id=158598748 |work=Nashville Banner |location=Nashville, TN |pages=9}} Musician Noah Lewis was said to have named his song "Minglewood Blues" after the town of Menglewood.{{Cite web |title=The Minglewood Mural in Downtown Dyersburg, Tennessee |url=https://visitdyercounty.com/murals/minglewood |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=visitdyercounty.com}}

During World War 2, an auxiliary field of the Dyersburg Army Airbase, named for the town but located south in Lauderdale County, was constructed south of Dyersburg.{{Cite web |title=HISTORY - DCHS |url=http://www.dyerhistory.org/history.html#:~:text=During%20World%20War%20II%20the,from%20cotton%20into%20new%20crops. |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=www.dyerhistory.org}}

On April 2, 2006 a severe weather system passed through Dyer County, producing tornadoes that killed 16 in the county and 24 in Tennessee.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of {{convert|527|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|512|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|14|sqmi}} (2.7%) is water.{{cite web|url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/counties_list_47.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 4, 2015|date=August 22, 2012|title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files}}

The county is drained by the Mississippi River, which forms its western boundary. The confluences of the Forked Deer River into the Obion River, and the Obion into the Mississippi are located in the county. It is in the part of Tennessee called the "Mississippi bottomland" or the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.{{cite web|url=https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/tennessee/stories-in-tennessee/west-tennessee-agriculture-floodplains/|publisher=The Nature Conservancy|access-date=April 28, 2022|title=Floodplains and Farms|date=March 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114080144/https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/tennessee/stories-in-tennessee/west-tennessee-agriculture-floodplains/|archive-date=January 14, 2022|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/swap/coa/MAVCOA2015TNSWAP.pdf|publisher=Tennessee Wildlife Resource Association|access-date=April 28, 2022|title=Mississippi Alluvial Valley Conservation Opportunity Area|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123013232/https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/swap/coa/MAVCOA2015TNSWAP.pdf|archive-date=November 23, 2021|url-status=live}}

Dyer County is bisected by U.S. Route 51, the older major highway connecting Memphis with Chicago from south to north. When upgraded to interstate standards, this road will become Interstate 69. To the west, Dyer County is connected to Missouri by Interstate 155 over the Mississippi River, providing the only highway connection, other than those at Memphis, between Tennessee and the states to the west of the river.

• Lake County (north)
• Obion County (northeast)
• Gibson County (east)
• Crockett County (southeast)
• Lauderdale County (south)
• Mississippi County, Arkansas (southwest)
• Pemiscot County, Missouri (northwest)

• {{jct|state=TN|I|69}}
• {{jct|state=TN|I|155}}
• {{jct|state=TN|US|51}}
• {{jct|state=TN|US|412}}
• {{jct|state=TN|TN|77}}
• {{jct|state=TN|TN|78}}
• {{jct|state=TN|Sec|89}}
• {{jct|state=TN|Sec|103}}
• {{jct|state=TN|TN|104}}
• {{jct|state=TN|Sec|105}}
• {{jct|state=TN|TN|181}}
• {{jct|state=TN|Sec|182}}
• {{jct|state=TN|Sec|210}}
• {{jct|state=TN|Sec|211}}

{{US Census population

|1830= 1904

|1840= 4484

|1850= 6361

|1860= 10536

|1870= 13706

|1880= 15118

|1890= 19878

|1900= 23776

|1910= 27721

|1920= 29983

|1930= 31405

|1940= 34920

|1950= 33473

|1960= 29537

|1970= 30427

|1980= 34663

|1990= 34854

|2000= 37279

|2010= 38335

|2020= 36801

|estref={{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.2018.html|title=Population and Housing Unit Estimates|access-date=July 20, 2019}}

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=U.S. Decennial Census|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 4, 2015}}
1790–1960{{cite web|url=http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu|title=Historical Census Browser|publisher=University of Virginia Library|access-date=April 4, 2015}} 1900–1990{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/tn190090.txt|title=Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990|publisher=United States Census Bureau|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|date=March 27, 1995|access-date=April 4, 2015}}
1990–2000{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|title=Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|date=April 2, 2001|access-date=April 4, 2015}} 2010–2014{{cite web|title=State & County QuickFacts|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47045.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=November 29, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607141122/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/47/47045.html|archive-date=June 7, 2011}}

}}

{{Stack|Image:USA Dyer County, Tennessee.csv age pyramid.svg data]]}}

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 36,801 people, 15,120 households, and 10,566 families residing in the county.

As of the census{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=May 14, 2011 |title=U.S. Census website }} of 2000, there were 37,279 people, 14,751 households, and 10,458 families residing in the county. The population density was {{convert|73|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|people |people}}. There were 16,123 housing units at an average density of {{convert|32|/mi2|/km2}}. The racial makeup of the county was 85.40% White, 12.86% Black or African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. 1.16% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 14,751 households, out of which 32.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.20% were married couples living together, 13.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.10% were non-families. 25.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county, the age distribution of the population shows 25.70% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 28.60% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 13.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 92.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,788, and the median income for a family was $39,848. Males had a median income of $31,182 versus $21,605 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,451. About 13.00% of families and 15.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.00% of those under age 18 and 17.60% of those age 65 or over.

• Dyersburg State Community College - established 1969.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dscc.edu/about-dscc/about-dyersburg-state|title=About the College|website=www.dscc.edu|access-date=September 28, 2019}}
• Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Northwest - located in Newbern, established 1965.{{Cite web |title=About The TCAT - The College |url=https://tcatnorthwest.edu/about/college |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722161947/https://tcatnorthwest.edu/about/college |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |access-date=July 22, 2022 |website=tcatnorthwest.edu}}

There are two K-12 school districts in the county: Dyer County School District and Dyersburg City School District.{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st47_tn/schooldistrict_maps/c47045_dyer/DC20SD_C47045.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Dyer County, TN|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=2024-10-06}} - [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st47_tn/schooldistrict_maps/c47045_dyer/DC20SD_C47045_SD2MS.txt Text list]

State Gazette – 3 days/week (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday); general news. The paper has served Dyersburg and Northwest Tennessee since 1865.

Burks Broadcasting - 100 Jack-FM / Eagle 97.3 / WTRO{{Cite web |title=Burks Broadcasting - 100 Jack-FM / Eagle 97.3 / WTRO |url=https://business.dyerchamber.com/list/member/burks-broadcasting-100-jack-fm-eagle-97-3-wtro-2064 |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=business.dyerchamber.com}}

Interstate 155 (Missouri–Tennessee) connects Dyersburg and the communities of Lenox and Big Boy Junction with the Missouri Bootheel via the Caruthersville Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River at Boothspoint. This is also how U.S. Route 412 enters Tennessee from Missouri. The highway diverts south and travels through Bonicord before moving into Crockett County.

Tennessee State Route 78 connects Dyersburg with Nauvoo and Bogota before moving north to Lake County. U.S. Route 51 bisects Dyer County, connecting Trimble, Newbern, Dyersburg, Fowlkes, and Bonicord with Obion county to the north and Lauderdale county to the south. A bypass in Dyersburg, constructed in the 1970s, diverts traffic around the downtown core.

The Canadian National Railway's Gulf Division runs through Trimble, Newbern, and Dyersburg to connect with Memphis to the south and the wider CN rail network to the north. The TennKen Railroad connects Dyersburg with the communities in the western part of the county, like Lenox and Miston, and travels through Lake County to the north to terminate at Hickman, KY on the Mississippi River.

Dyer County holds one of two active passenger stations in Tennessee (the other being in Memphis). Amtrak's City of New Orleans stops at the historic Illinois Central Railroad depot in Newbern twice a day.

• Dyersburg (county seat)

• Newbern
• Trimble (partly in Obion County)

{{div col}}

• Bogota
• Finley
• Fowlkes
• Lenox
• Miston

{{div col end}}

{{div col}}

• Beech Grove
• Big Boy Junction
• Bonicord
• Boothspoint
• Hawkinsville
• Heloise
• Midway
• Nauvoo
• RoEllen
• Tiger Tail
• Tigrett

{{div col end}}

Like most of the rural South, Dyer County is presently overwhelmingly Republican. The last Democrat to carry this county was Bill Clinton in 1996. Being overwhelmingly secessionist during the Civil War due to the strong power of the slave economy in West Tennessee, Dyer County was overwhelmingly Democratic for a century after its blacks were disfranchised. Anti-Catholicism allowed Richard Nixon to carry the county narrowly in 1960, then after the massive revolt against the Civil Rights Act and race riots segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace carried the county in 1968 and Nixon defeated George McGovern three-to-one in 1972. Since then the county has become increasingly Republican except when Southerners Jimmy Carter and Clinton headed the presidential ticket.

{{PresHead|place=Dyer County, Tennessee|source={{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 10, 2018}}}}

{{PresRow|2024|Republican|11,603|2,707|99|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|2020|Republican|11,768|3,158|153|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|2016|Republican|10,180|2,816|340|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|2012|Republican|9,921|3,757|138|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|2008|Republican|9,859|4,411|180|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|2004|Republican|8,447|5,287|75|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|2000|Republican|6,282|5,425|134|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|5,059|5,602|713|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|5,668|5,845|1,274|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1988|Republican|6,508|3,690|45|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1984|Republican|6,610|3,991|41|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|5,475|5,713|219|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,391|5,937|150|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1972|Republican|6,066|1,600|322|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|2,826|2,033|5,842|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|4,517|4,717|0|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1960|Republican|4,097|3,868|238|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|2,682|4,524|201|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|3,231|4,531|61|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|989|3,503|872|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|1,190|3,368|18|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|961|3,374|45|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|557|3,355|87|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|389|3,805|28|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|842|2,661|0|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|478|2,336|10|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|1,166|3,181|10|Tennessee}}

{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|459|1,997|36|Tennessee}}

{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|318|1,469|430|Tennessee}}

• Emmet Kelly - American Clown born in Dyersburg in 1898
• Noah Lewis - American Blues musician who worked in Minglewood in the 1920s
• Julius Morgan - First person executed by electric chair in Tennessee
• Lation Scott - Last recorded victim of lynching in Dyersburg in 1919

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Dyer County, Tennessee

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.dyerchamber.com/ Dyersburg-Dyer County Chamber of Commerce]
• [http://www.dyercs.net/ Dyer County Schools]
• [http://www.tngenweb.org/dyer Dyer County, TNGenWeb] – genealogy resources

{{Geographic Location

|Centre = Dyer County, Tennessee

|North = Lake County

|Northeast = Obion County

|East = Gibson County

|Southeast = Crockett County

|South = Lauderdale County

|Southwest = Mississippi County, Arkansas

|West =

|Northwest = Pemiscot County, Missouri

}}

{{Dyer County, Tennessee}}

{{Tennessee}}

{{coord|36.06|-89.41|display=title|type:adm2nd_region:US-TN_source:UScensus1990}}

{{authority control}}

Category:1823 establishments in Tennessee

Category:Populated places established in 1823

Category:Tennessee counties on the Mississippi River

Category:Second Amendment sanctuaries in Tennessee

Category:West Tennessee