Gainsboro administrative offices are located at 402 East Hull Avenue, (PO Box 594) Gainesboro, TN 38562. Phone:Ê931-268-9315.
Neighborhoods
The town of Gainesboro [†], located approximately sixty miles north of Nashville on the Cumberland River, has been the seat of Jackson County since 1820. Jackson County was formed in 1801 from a portion of Smith County and named in honor of General Andrew Jackson. During the early years of the county's history, the court convened at various locations. An act of the assembly established the county's first permanent seat at Williamsburg in 1806, but this location soon proved inconvenient for those residing in the eastern portion of the county. Residents demanded a more accessible seat of justice, and in 1817 an act of the county legislature provided for the removal of the county seat to the geographical center of the county. In 1819, another act of the county legislature formally established the town of "Gainesborough" as the new county seat.
Jackson County resident David Cox donated 40 acres of land for the new town near the mouth of the Roaring River, a tributary of the Cumberland. County Commissioners advertised the establishment of Gainesborough in the Knoxville Register and Carthage Gazette, and sixty-three lots were sold at auction. The proceeds from this sale were used to construct the county courthouse and jail. Residents chose to name their town after Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, commander of the Southern Department of the U.S. Army, who distinguished himself in the Seminole War of 1817. The courts were opened and the town was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1820. The spelling of the name was eventually changed to Gainesboro under postmaster Napoleon Bonaparte Young, who "could see no reason for wasting the ink and effort."
The history of Gainesboro has always been intricately connected to the Cumberland River. From its earliest days, transportation proved to be an issue of major concern to the residents of Gainesboro. The hilly terrain of the Cumberland Plateau left the Upper Cumberland region with few, if any, roads or turnpikes that connected its scattered settlements with markets. The railroads, too, were forced to bypass the unfavorable geography of the Upper Cumberland region. Although the area was rich in raw materials such as timber, residents found it difficult to transport agricultural and other products to market or to receive manufactured goods from outside the region.
In the nineteenth century, the steamboat traffic on the Cumberland River connected Gainesboro with Nashville and other markets, and brought the town considerable prosperity. Even without the benefit of roads and railroads, Gainesboro's advantageous position as a river town allowed it to achieve prominence as the commercial and agricultural center of Jackson County. By the mid-nineteenth century, Gainesboro had become an important part of the Upper Cumberland's "unexcelled steamboat empire." Gainesboro's steamboat years began with the arrival of the first "packet," which made the 141-mile trip from Nashville to Jackson County in 1831. From that date on the river was heavy with traffic as the vessels made weekly stops at the nearby landing. Gainesboro residents relied upon steamboats to bring them into closer contact with the outside world by providing not only a practical means of transportation for exports and imports, but also reliable passenger service to and from the town. Steamboats served continuously as Gainesboro's chief source of transportation until the 1920s.
By mid-century, civic improvements reflected Gainesboro's growing prosperity. The town's streets were macadamized in 1849, and an open drainage ditch running through the center of town was also filled and replaced. The town suffered its share of setbacks as well. A cholera epidemic broke out in 1850, and a large number of residents fell victim to the disease. Those who were not afflicted left their homes and businesses in the care of a few remaining residents and quickly fled. They remained away from town until after the first frost, a Gainesboro resident remembered in 1885, and returned to find "the streets grown up in grass and weeds." Once the epidemic had passed, however, Gainesboro quickly resumed its former growth.Steamboating made Gainesboro a prosperous town, but never a large one. In 1860, the town boasted eight lawyers, one shoemaker, four schoolteachers, eight merchants, five whiskey stores, a sheriff, two constables, one drugstore, and various weavers, spinners and tailors. Despite its small size, however, Gainesboro soon became one of the most important steamboat landings in the Upper Cumberland region. As historian Byrd Douglas points out, the significance of a particular steamboat landing was not necessarily determined by its size but by its trade area. Two thirds of the freight passing through a steamboat landing neither originated nor terminated there, but rather in communities located some distance from the river. Gainesboro boasted one of the region's most extensive trade areas, which covered several adjoining counties with communities not situated on the river. Gainesboro thus figured prominently in the region's steamboat trade.
During the Civil War, the steamboat traffic on the Cumberland River came to a virtual halt, disrupting Gainesboro's growth and development. The nearby presence of both Union and Confederate troops made merchants and steamboat owners apprehensive. Gunboats ran up and down the river, often shooting at innocent people on the shore, many of whom fired back. Some steamboats served as army supply vessels, but the shipment of livestock, produce, and timber declined to almost nothing. Following the war, however, steamboat traffic on the Cumberland recommenced its usual course.
After the Civil War, the citizens of Gainesboro took an active role in the introduction of log rafting into the region in the early postwar years. The timber industry dominated the economy of the Upper Cumberland from 1870-1930, and even steamboats could not accommodate the incredible number of logs the lumber industry began to harvest and sell. The majority of the dwellings in the district were constructed during this booming time. Historian Lynwood Montell argues that the importance of logging and rafting activities to the development of towns such as Gainesboro cannot be overstated. 10 At that time, Nashville represented the largest hardwood lumber center in the world. The Cumberland River became an artery on which timber from throughout the region was floated to Nashville. An extensive network of creeks and tributaries fed into the Cumberland at places such as Gainesboro and many other points along its route. Logs were driven or floated in rafts from all over the region into the river. In addition to having its own logging industry, Gainesboro received logs that were floated down the Roaring River from Overton County, which log buyers then purchased and sent on to Nashville. Rafting became big business during the 1870s, and Gainesboro, along with Carthage in Smith County and Celina in Clay County, became one of the region's three major regional rafting centers.
The heyday of steamboat traffic occurred at the same time as the timber industry boom in the upper Cumberland region. From 1890 to 1912, steamboats transported approximately ten million dollars of produce each year from the Upper Cumberland region to Nashville. Unlike in other areas, where the increasing dominance of railroads rendered steamboat transportation obsolete, Gainesboro's steamboat traffic worked together with the railroads to produce a functional transportation network. The geography of the Upper Cumberland region prevented the railroad from penetrating Gainesboro and other hinterland communities. Thus, steamboats carried cargo out of the region to places such as Carthage and Nashville, where it could continue its journey by train.
Due to the success of the steamboat trade, Gainesboro became home to a significant number of prosperous merchants and businessmen during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The town expanded as prosperous citizens built fashionable residences that reflected the community's prosperity. The Gainesboro Residential Historic District documents much of this residential growth. Around the turn of the century, for example, prominent banker J. Williams resided in the fashionable Queen Anne style dwelling at 300 East Cox Street. Merchant and banker William Gailbreath also enjoyed a comfortable residence at 218 East Cox. Despite Gainesboro's importance as a steamboat landing, however, the town's small size and relatively isolated location limited the available business opportunities. Evidence indicates that many businessmen took advantage of the commercial opportunities in Gainesboro to prepare for later business ventures. Local history sources mention numerous local merchants, including Russell Kinnaird, John Bransford, and Samuel Stone, who went on to become some of Nashville's most successful entrepreneurs during that period.
Gainesboro's economic boom came to an end in the 1920s, when the competition of trucks and automobiles rendered the steamboat all but obsolete as a mode of transport. Throughout the decade, Tennessee constructed its statewide network of bridges and highways, which even included connecting roads into the more remote areas of the state. Gainesboro no longer played the role of small regional trade center. Larger cities and markets were now within easy reach of the remote communities that had previously relied upon Gainesboro's steamboat traffic. Moreover, the speed and convenience of the automobile made the steamboat schedule appear slow and unreliable in comparison. By 1930, the steamboat traffic on the Cumberland River had ceased to exist.
Gainesboro's importance as a regional commercial center declined steadily in the decades following World War II. Modern highway improvements provided area residents with access to larger, more developed commercial centers such as Cookeville in Putnam County, which drained Gainesboro of both business and population. Local merchants, catering to an increasingly affluent and mobile clientele, found it difficult to compete with the larger retail locations. The construction of highway bypasses also stimulated the development of larger scale, auto-oriented businesses. Most of the area's commercial activity has moved out to Highway 56, further reducing Gainesboro's importance as a retail center. In recent years, the community has made a strong attempt to reverse this trend through the revitalization of its downtown district. This district, known as the Gainesboro Historic District, was listed on the National Register in 1990. Community leaders and residents hope to capitalize on the unique historic character of the commercial center to stimulate reinvestment and to create new business opportunities.
† Adapted from: Stacy Weber and Philip Thomason, Thomason and Associates, Gainesboro Residential Historic District, 2001, nomination document, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C., accessed April, 2025.