Rogersville is a town in and the county seat of Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. It was settled in 1775 by the grandparents of Davy Crockett. It is named for its founder, Joseph Rogers. Tennessee's second oldest courthouse, the Hawkins County Courthouse, first newspaper The Knoxville Gazette, and first post office are all located in Rogersville. The Rogersville Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Rogersville is part of the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Tri-Cities region.
As of the 2020 census, Rogersville had a population of 4,671.
History
Settlement background
In 1775, the grandparents of Davy Crockett, a future member of the United States Congress from Tennessee and hero of the Alamo, settled in the Watauga colony in the area in what is today Rogersville near the spring that today bears their name.Price, Henry, Old Rogersville: An Illustrated History of Rogersville, Tennessee. Vol. I. (Rogersville: 2001) chs. 1–2. After an American Indian attack and massacre, the remaining Crocketts sold the property to a Huguenot named Colonel Thomas Amis.Price, Henry, Old Rogersville: An Illustrated History of Rogersville, Tennessee. Vol. I. (Rogersville: 2001) ch. 2.
In 1780, Colonel Amis built a fort at Big Creek, on the outskirts of the present-day town, with the assistance of fellow Scots-Irish settler John Carter. That same year, about above downtown Rogersville, Amis erected a fortress-like stone house, around which he built a palisade for protection against Native American attack. The next year, Amis opened a store, erected a blacksmith shop, and built a distillery. He also eventually established a sawmill and a gristmill. From the first he kept a house of entertainment.
Founding of the town In 1785, the State of Franklin organized Spencer County (which includes the area of present-day Hawkins County, Tennessee) and declared the seat of county government to be located at what is today Rogersville.Price, Henry, Old Rogersville: An Illustrated History of Rogersville, Tennessee. Vol. I. (Rogersville: 2001) chs. 2–3 Thomas Henderson was chosen county court clerk and colonel of the militia. William Cocke and Thomas King were elected representatives to the Franklin General Assembly. The remaining county officers are unknown.
In November 1786, North Carolina began once more to contend with the Franklin government for control over the area, and that state's General Assembly passed an act creating Hawkins County.Price, Henry, Old Rogersville: An Illustrated History of Rogersville, Tennessee. Vol. I. (Rogersville: 2001) ch. 3. It included within its limits all the territory between Bays Mountain and the Holston and Tennessee rivers on the east to the Cumberland Mountains on the west. The county court was organized at the house of Thomas Gibbons. As had the state of Franklin, North Carolina set the new county seat about the property of Joseph Rogers.Price, Henry, Old Rogersville: An Illustrated History of Rogersville, Tennessee. Vol. I. (Rogersville: 2001) ch. 4.
Joseph Rogers
Joseph Rogers (August 21, 1764 – November 6, 1833) was born near Cook's Town, Ireland, the son of James Rogers and his wife, Elizabeth Brown. He traveled to the area, by then known as the State of Franklin (which had been carved out of far west North Carolina), by 1785. During a stay at a tavern adjacent to Colonel Thomas Amis' home, Rogers met the colonel's daughter, Mary Amis, whom he wed, on October 24, 1786. Her father ceded the lands near Crockett Spring to his son-in-law— the same land that Colonel Amis had purchased from the heirs of David Crockett.
When North Carolina considered where to establish the county seat for its new Hawkins County, Rogers successfully lobbied to have the government located near his home. He volunteered his tavern, which had been established about 1784–85, as the first county courthouse, where it was finally established in 1787. With the help of other local settlers, Rogers laid out a plan for the town, and the town of Rogersville was chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1789. The plan included a public square, deeded to the town government, which would host the town's public well and a county courthouse.
In November 1792, Rogers was appointed the first postmaster at Rogersville. The town's second post office, built by Rogers c. 1815, still stands at the corner of east Main Street and south Hasson Street.
Rogers was the father of fourteen children with Mary. He died on November 6, 1833, at Rogersville, and is buried in Rogers Cemetery. His wife, Mary, died a month later.
A town divided
In November 1863, during the Civil War, Rogersville was the site of a battle between occupying Federal forces and invading Confederate troops. Union forces had encamped just outside the town. The Confederates, led by Brigadier General William E. Jones, were able to surprise the Union forces and pursue them across the Holston River and into Greene County. The Confederates held the town for the remainder of the war.
Sentiment in Rogersville was divided. Many supported the efforts of twenty-six East Tennessee counties seceding from the state (much as the State of Scott had done) and re-joining the Union. Others saw President Lincoln's invasion of Tennessee as an unprecedented invasion of their homes and an incursion by Federal power; these people became strong Confederates. Rogersville was spared destruction during the war. In fact, structures such as the Hale Springs Inn were used by the different occupying armies.
Cradle of Tennessee journalism
George Roulstone was Tennessee's first printer. He was encouraged to settle in Rogersville by William Blount, the new governor of the Southwest Territory. Roulston printed Tennessee's first newspaper on November 5, 1791. Because Knoxville, the intended seat of the new territorial government, had not yet been established, Roulstone published the first year of his paper near the Rogers tavern. Roulstone called the newspaper The Knoxville Gazette and in October 1792, he moved his press to Knoxville, where he continued to publish the Gazette as well as other papers until his death in 1804. After the Gazette was moved, there was no newspaper in the area until 1813, when John B. Hood began publishing The East Tennessee Gazette at Rogersville. Other papers shortly followed, including The Western Pilot, c. 1815, and The Rogersville Gazette from the same era.
Specialty publications emerged during these early days, including The Rail-Road Advocate, The Calvinistic Magazine, and The Holston Watchman. Numerous other newspapers have been published in Rogersville over the years, most surviving only a short time and having modest circulation. Among them were The Independent, The Rogersville Spectator, The Weekly Reporter, The Rogersville Gazette, Rogersville Press and Times, Holston Journal, Hawkins County Republican, Hawkins County Telephone, and The Rogersville Herald.
Rogersville's longest-lasting newspaper is The Rogersville Review, which began publication as The Holston Review in 1885 by William T. Robertson. A year later, Robertson changed the name to the present banner. The Review'''s closest competitor in lifespan was The Rogersville Herald, which was published from 1886 to 1932.
The town's printing heritage is chronicled by the Tennessee Newspaper and Printing Museum, located in the town's historic Southern Railway train depot, c. 1890.
Modern day In 2020, the Rogersville Town Council acquired a three-acre site of a vacant shopping center with plans to turn the site into a civic service campus, consisting of a new community center, town hall, and a concessions area for users of Rogersville town park, which borders the complex site.
Geography
Rogersville is located slightly southwest of the center of Hawkins County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. The town is in the valley of Crockett Creek, a southwest-flowing tributary of the Holston River. The elevation of Rogersville is . Via U.S. Route 11W (see below), it is southwest of Kingsport and northeast of Knoxville.
Rogersville is located in the Ridge and Valley Ecoregion, part of the Appalachian Mountains.
Climate
Transportation
Major highways , Lee Highway Primary state highways , Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Secondary state highways , Memphis to Bristol Highway
Airports The Hawkins County Airport is a county-owned public-use airport located six nautical miles (7 mi, 11 km) northeast of the central business district of Rogersville.. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective August 25, 2011.
Demographics
2020 census +Rogersville racial composition Race Number Percentage White (non-Hispanic) 4,214 90.22% Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 149 3.19% Native American 11 0.24% Asian 35 0.75% Other/Mixed 168 3.6% Hispanic or Latino 94 2.01% As of the 2020 census, Rogersville had a population of 4,671. The median age was 43.6 years. 21.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 24.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 85.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males age 18 and over.
99.4% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.6% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,995 households in Rogersville, including 1,150 families. Of those households, 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 31.0% were married-couple households, 20.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 41.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 40.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 2,297 housing units, of which 13.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.4%.
2000 census
Population As of the census of 2000, there were 4,240 people, 2,060 households, and 1,155 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 2,268 housing units at an average density of .
Ethnicity The racial makeup of the town was 94.13% White, 4.06% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 0.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.06% of the population.
Age distribution There were 2,060 households, out of which 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.9% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.9% were non-families. 40.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.97 and the average family size was 2.63.
In the town, the age distribution of the population shows 17.8% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 23.2% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 26.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 76.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.1 males.
Economic statistics The median income for a household in the town was $23,275, and the median income for a family was $32,236. Males had a median income of $30,226 versus $22,482 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,940. About 14.9% of families and 21.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.0% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.
Culture
Notable people Listed chronologically by date of birth: Hardrock- world wide traveler and the greatest hitch hiker of all-time. Detcie- Street performance specialist in front of Big John’s Restaurant on E. Main Street in Rogersville, dressed in an evening gown or prom dress, with a boom box in tow, dancing to her music.