Cookeville

History

Before European settlement, the Cookeville area was dominated by the Cherokee tribe since the Paleo-Indian era. The Cherokee used the region as hunting grounds. Cherokee claims to the land in the Cumberland Plateau ended after the Treaty of Tellico was signed in October 1805. Settlers arrived by Avery's Trace, which was known as the Walton Road in the area of present-day Cookeville. Putnam County was established in 1842, formed from parts of White, Overton, Jackson, Smith, and DeKalb Counties after the population increased sufficiently, straining those counties' abilities to support services to the isolated residents. The city was named Cookeville for Richard Fielding Cooke, a pioneer who settled in the area in 1810. The largely rugged landscape of the Cookeville area made it unsuitable for large-scale farming operations compared to most of the larger Middle Tennessee region. Still, several farming institutions operated in the region, some using African slave laborers. Economic and cultural growth in Cookeville stagnated as a result of the political divide over secession, causing animosity among neighbors and families. The investment made by railroad companies placed Cookeville on a path of considerable economic and industrial development with the Nashville and Knoxville railroad, which became the Tennessee Central Railroad. With this growth, Cookeville officially incorporated into a chartered city in 1903. In 1909, local religious leaders with the aid of the Tennessee state government established Dixie College, a private school deeded to the community. The state government seized the institution in 1915 following decline in enrollment and financial support. The government reestablished it as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, a public institute of technology focused…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and (0.77%) is water. Located on the Highland Rim, Cookeville's elevation (1100 ft AMSL) is a few hundred feet higher than Nashville's or Knoxville's. As a result, temperatures and humidity levels are generally slightly lower in Cookeville than in either the Nashville Basin or the Tennessee Valley. Cookeville is in Tennessee's Upper Cumberland region near the crossroads of I-40, SR 136, and US 70N-SR 24. Three man-made lakes maintained by the Corps of Engineers are near Cookeville. They were built to help flood control in Center Hill Lake, Cordell Hull Lake, and Dale Hollow Lake in the Cumberland Plateau's narrow valleys. Two smaller man-made lakes, City Lake and Burgess Falls Lake, lie along the Falling Water River, which flows through southeastern Putnam County. Cane Creek Lake, created by an earthen dam built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is in western Cookeville. Cookeville has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) or oceanic climate (Trewartha climate classification: Doa) depending on the classification system used, with relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation through the year. Summers are typically hot and humid and winters are mild and cool. The highest temperature recorded in Cookeville since 1896 is on June 29, 2012, and the lowest temperature recorded is on January 21, 1985. Average annual precipitation is , with the highest recorded precipitation at on September 29, 1964. Average annual snowfall is with the highest recorded snowfall at on November 3, 1966.

Race & ethnicity