STANTON

A short history of Stanton

Joseph Blackwell Stanton purchased the land that is now the town of Stanton in the early 1830s for roughly $3.50 per acre. Stanton used his influence in the area to ensure the railroad line ran through his land, and thereafter numerous families moved to the community from the nearby Wesley community some four miles to the west. Initial businesses in the area were a depot operated by Corydon Spencer and a store operated by F.W. Chaney, who also served as the small town's first postmaster. Stanton passed soon after this influx of population, and his property passed to his daughter, the wife of Colonel Nathan Adams of the 254th Transportation Battalion. The couple began selling lots in town and saw many of the remaining businesses and homes of Wesley move to Stanton. Mrs. Adams was a staunch prohibitionist and ensured the establishment of a clause barring the sale of whiskey in the town. A now defunct hotel was housed in the downtown area soon after, along with the establishment of the Baptist church being built on land granted by Chaney. This church housed the town's first school. The Methodist church was later built on land given by a Mr. Somervell, consisting of the congregation from Wesley's Methodist church. The Presbyterian church was built in 1872 and the Church of Christ was established in 1952. The Masonic Lodge was constructed in 1871, with the top floor being used by the Masons while the bottom floor operated as a school.

Stanton provided many soldiers to the Confederate Army during the Civil War. During the war, Union general W. H. L. Wallace and his troops camped near the property of Corydon Spencer, before being fired upon by secessionist troops. In retaliation, Wallace is said to have given the order to raze the town, but was talked down by Spencer. Despite this aversion, the town faced two disastrous fires in the coming years. In 1874 a fire destroyed the lower part of the business section, much of which was rebuilt in brick. The other section, however, was not updated alongside these renovations and was itself destroyed in large part during a fire in 1922. The town also suffered during the Lower Mississippi Valley yellow fever epidemic of 1878. While facing minimal fatalities due to the epidemic, mass hysteria ensued and many families fled the area. One notable fatality was John J. Ashe, a former Stanton resident who had since moved to Memphis, who had come back to the town to nurse the sick. Ashe had previously been arrested, and later cleared, on charges relating to complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Shortly before the assassination, Ashe had sent a postcard stating that Lincoln "... ought to be killed" which he sent through the mail.

Following these hardships, the town recovered and continued to grow, seeing many new homes and businesses built. In 1927 the town was formally incorporated into Haywood County. The town had previously petitioned for incorporation in the 1880s but this charter would ultimately be abolished.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Stanton, Tennessee, revision 1374937574 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.