Tiptonville was established in 1857, but was not incorporated until 1900. It was designated the county seat when Lake County was created in 1870.
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American Civil War
1862 Battle of Island Number Ten in the American Civil War. The monument for this battle is located on State Route 22 approximately three miles north of Tiptonville, since the island itself, the focal point of the battle, has been eroded by the flow of the Mississippi River and no longer exists.
Early 1900s
On March 19, 1901, Tiptonville was destroyed by a fire three days after a mob of white townsmen had lynched Ike Fitzgerald, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Whites speculated that the blaze, which burned 30 buildings and residences, including all of the stores on the main street, had been deliberately set by African Americans in reprisal for Fitzgerald's lynching.
In 1904, the Dyersburg Northern Railroad was chartered. This line connected Dyersburg to Hickman, KY, via Tiptonville, and began operating in 1910. The company changed their name to the Chicago, Memphis, & Gulf Railroad in 1909.
2000s-present day
In July 2025, the city gained attention nationwide when a man killed four people and left an infant abandoned in a random person's yard.