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Jackson, Tennessee

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.144.1.227 (talk) at 21:35, 10 March 2009 (→‎Hometown celebrities: the wikipedia entry for the song "Jackson" cites numerous sources which make it clear that the song was not about Jackson, Tennessee). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jackson, Tennessee
City
Location of Jackson, Tennessee
Location of Jackson, Tennessee
CountryUnited States
StateTennessee
CountyMadison
Government
 • MayorJerry Gist (2007 - )
Area
 • Total49.5 sq mi (128.2 km2)
 • Land49.5 sq mi (128.2 km2)
 • Water0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation
410 ft (125 m)
Population
 (2006)
 • Total62,711
 • Density1,205/sq mi (465.3/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code731
FIPS code47-37640Template:GR
GNIS feature ID1289178Template:GR
WebsiteCity of Jackson Official Website

Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 59,643 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Jackson, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area. It is the county seat of Madison CountyTemplate:GR.

Geography

Jackson is located at 35°37′59″N 88°49′15″W / 35.63306°N 88.82083°W / 35.63306; -88.82083Invalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (35.633132, -88.820805)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.5 square miles (128.2 km²), all of it land.

  • (From Bottom) Carl Perkins Civic Center, State Office Complex, & Police Station
    (From Bottom) Carl Perkins Civic Center, State Office Complex, & Police Station
  • Historic Downtown Jackson
    Historic Downtown Jackson
  • South Highland Ave heading toward downtown
    South Highland Ave heading toward downtown

Government

Jackson's executive is a Mayor who is elected every four years. In 2007 Jerry Gist was elected to succeed Charles Farmer who had served since 1989.[6]

The City Charter also provides for a legislative body comprised of nine members, each elected by and representing a unique district.[7]

Jackson's City Court Judge is Blake Anderson although substitutes are appointed from time to time as needed. The Judge serves an eight year term with a fixed salary during each term. The court may dispose of misdemeanors and hold a preliminary hearing for felonies. In felony cases, should the Judge hold that probable cause exists, it is bound over to the grand jury for indictment and then to Circuit Court.[8]

Crime

According to the Morgan Quitno Top 25 Most Dangerous Cities of 2006, the city was ranked as the number 10 most dangerous city in the United States. In 2007 it was not on this list. 1993 was one of the most violent years with over 20 homicides; 2005 Jackson was in the top 5 for violent crime.

According to a CNN story on November 18, 2007 many experts have criticized the Morgan Quitno Top 25 Most Dangerous Cities of 2006. "You're not comparing apples and oranges; you're comparing watermelons and grapes," said Rob Casey, who heads the FBI section that puts out the Uniform Crime Report that provides the data for the Quitno report. The FBI posted a statement on its Web site criticizing such use of its statistics. "These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, or region," the FBI said. "Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents." [1]

History

Bird's eye view of the city of Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee 1870.

Settlement of Jackson began along the Forked Deer River before 1820. Originally named Alexandria, Jackson was renamed in 1822 to honor General Andrew Jackson, later President of the United States.[2]

The City of Jackson was founded by an act of the General Assembly, passed in 1821-22, entitled an "act to establish a seat of justice for Henry, Carroll, Henderson and Madison Counties." The act called for fifty acres of land, to be deeded to the commissioners. The commissioners chosen by the Legislature were Sterling Brewer and James Fentress. The places had in view for the seat of justice, as elsewhere stated, were Alexandria, Golden’s Station and Jackson. The larger portion of the settlers at that time were living at Cotton Grove and vicinity, and as Jackson was a nearer point to them than either of the others, it was looked upon as the more suitable or desirable site for the seat of justice; hence it was chosen. [9]

The Tennessee Supreme Court is required to meet in Jackson because, when the second Tennessee State Constitution was written in 1834, Memphis had not yet developed, and Jackson was the most significant city in West Tennessee.[3]

During the Civil War, an engagement at Jackson occurred during CSA Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest's expedition into West Tennessee, between December 11, 1862, and January 1, 1863. Forrest wished to interrupt the rail supply line to Ulysses S. Grant's army, campaigning down the Mississippi Central Railroad. If he could destroy the Mobile & Ohio Railroad running south from Columbus, Kentucky, through Jackson, Grant would have to curtail or halt his operations.

Forrest's 2,100-man cavalry brigade crossed the Tennessee River on December 15-17, heading west. Grant ordered a troop concentration at Jackson under Brigadier General Jeremiah C. Sullivan and sent a cavalry force out under Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, to confront Forrest. Forrest's unit, however, smashed the Union cavalry at Lexington on December 18. As Forrest continued his advance the next day, Sullivan ordered Colonel Adolph Englemann to take a small force northeast of Jackson.

At Old Salem Cemetery, acting on the defensive, Englemann's two infantry regiments repulsed a Confederate mounted attack and then withdrew a mile closer to town. To Forrest, the fight amounted to no more than a feint and show of force intended to hold Jackson's Union defenders in place while two mounted columns destroyed railroad track north and south of the town and returned. This accomplished, Forrest withdrew from the Jackson area to attack Trenton and Humboldt.[10]

Between 1999 and 2008, several strong to violent tornadoes struck large portions of the city including its downtown area which was devastated in May 2003 by an F4 tornado. Parts of the Union University campus was damaged in November 2002 and many dormitories at the campus were demolished in a storm in February 2008. The McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport was also severely hit in January 1999. 8 people were killed in the January 17, 1999 storm, 11 in the May 4, 2003 storm but none during the February 5, 2008 storm.

Railroading

John Luther "Casey" Jones grave stone

Railroad Development

File:Ncstl537-1-.jpg
NC&STL steam #537 in Jackson in November 18, 1945.

Jackson developed rapidly just prior to the Civil War as a railroad junction and maintenance shop for several early railroads, including the Mississippi Central, the Tennessee Central and the Mobile and Ohio lines. Although the Civil War temporarily stalled rail development, Jackson continued to develop as an important rail center.

  • IC - The second railroad to enter Jackson was the Mississippi Central & Tennessee. In 1873 the line was contracted and later absorbed by the Illinois Central Railroad. which then built its own line to Cairo, Illinois.[5]
  • Tennessee Midland Railroad - On December 29, 1886, the Tennessee Midland Railway received a charter to build a railroad from Memphis, TN, to the Virginia state line. The track from Memphis to Jackson was completed on June 1, 1888. In 1893 both the Tennessee Midland went into receivership and were sold at foreclosure to the L&N Railroad. The L&N in turn leased both lines to its subsidiary, the NC&StL, for 99 years. Around 1968 the remainder of the Tennessee Midland was abandoned east of Cordova with the exception of some track in Jackson, Tennessee. That track is now used to deliver goods to Jackson's east and west industrial parks.
  • NC&St. L - The Tennessee Midland Railway Company line from Memphis to Jackson was the forerunner of the N.C. & St. L. RR. This line was often referred to as the “NC” by locals. Like all other railroads to enter Jackson, it was built with funds subscribed by citizens and investors of Jackson. The first passenger train to enter Jackson from Memphis was on June 1,1888. The highly profitable railroad was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad following WWII. After only a few years, the L&N was merged into and is now part of CSX Transportation.[6]

During the 1930s through the 1960s one could board fifteen regularly scheduled passenger trains at the two depots in Jackson. The names of some of those trains were "The Rebel", "The Gulf Coast Rebel", "The Sunchaser", "The Floridian", "The Seminole", "The City of Memphis", and "The City of Miami". With out change of train, one could travel to Memphis, Nashville, Meridian, Montgomery, Mobile, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando, Miami, Centralia, Champaign-Urbana, Springfield, Chicago, St.Louis, Jackson, MS. and New Orleans as well as other cities.[7]

Hometown celebrities

Jackson was home to Casey Jones, the Illinois Central engineer who, before colliding with a stalled freight train near Vaughn, Mississippi, told his fireman to jump to safety but himself died at the throttle, saving the lives of his passengers. Jackson was also the home of singers Carl Perkins and Luther Ingram, game show host Wink Martindale, football players Ed "Too Tall" Jones , Al Wilson and Trey Teague, and legendary pianist Joe Hunter, one of the Funk Brothers who played on Motown hits in the 1960s.

Former actor Christopher Jones, who portrayed Jesse James in the ABC television series The Legend of Jesse James (1965-1966), was born in Jackson in 1941. His co-star was Allen Case as Frank James.

Jackson was the original home of Tennessee's only native automaker, Marathon Motor Works.

The Tigrett Toy Factory was founded by John Burton Tigrett, who was a nephew of Issac B. Tigrett, President of the Gulf Mobile and Ohio railroad.

Isaac Burton Tigrett, the founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain of themed restaurants. The first Hard Rock Cafe in the United States east of the Mississippi was located in Jackson's Old Hickory Mall. [11]

Carl Perkins, the son of a sharecropper, rockabilly legend Carl Perkins was born April 9, 1932, in Lake County. Perkins started the Exchange Club-Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in 1981. Jackson’s Civic Center is named for him. When he died in January 1998, his funeral, held in the chapel of Lambuth University, was attended by musicians including Ricky Skaggs, Johnny Rivers, Wynonna Judd, Sam Phillips, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rufus Thomas, Garth Brooks and George Harrison of The Beatles. [12]

Jackson was also the original home of Monroe Dunaway Anderson. M. D. Anderson was a cotton trader and capitalist whose endowment helped found the famed M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

A Little League baseball team from Jackson participated in the 1974 Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Destroyed dormitory building in February 2008.

Demographics

Location of the Jackson-Humboldt CSA and its components:
  Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area
  Humboldt Micropolitan Statistical Area

Jackson is the larger principal city of the Jackson-Humboldt CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Jackson metropolitan area (Chester and Madison counties) and the Humboldt micropolitan area (Gibson County),[8][9][10] which had a combined population of 155,529 at the 2000 census.Template:GR

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 59,643 people, 23,503 households, and 15,135 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,205.2 people per square mile (465.3/km²). There were 25,501 housing units at an average density of 515.3/sq mi (198.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 55.13% White, 42.07% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.79% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.88% from other races, and 0.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.16% of the population.

There were 23,503 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 19.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.6% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 12.8% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 87.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,194, and the median income for a family was $40,922. Males had a median income of $32,777 versus $23,229 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,495. About 14.0% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.0% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Interstate 40 goes through the city in an east-west direction, and U.S. Route 45 in a north-south direction. Interstate 40 has seven exits in the city.[11] McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport serves the city (although commercial airline service to McKellar-Sipes was scheduled to end January 7, 2008).[citation needed] The Greyhound Busline provides inter-city service.[citation needed]

Major Roadways

Interstate 40 runs east to west from Memphis to Nashville.

U.S. Route 45 runs north to south to Gibson County & Chester County.

U.S. Route 412 runs east from Lexington in Henderson County northwest to Dyersburg, Tennessee & I-55 to Saint Louis.

U.S. Route 70 or State Route 1 runs east to west to Huntington & Brownsville.

Education

K-12 public schools in the city are operated by the Jackson-Madison County School System.

Colleges and universities

High schools

Middle schools

  • Northeast Middle School
  • Rose Hill Middle School
  • Tigrett Middle School
  • West Middle School

Specialist schools

  • West Tennessee School for the Deaf

Private schools

  • University School of Jackson
  • Jackson Christian School
  • St. Mary's Catholic School
  • Trinity Christian Academy
  • Vann Drive Christian Academy
  • Hines Memorial SDA School
  • Jackson Preparatory School

Recreation, sports, and entertainment

Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum is located in Casey Jones Village. The exhibits include a Railroad Museum with steam locomotives and the restored home of Casey Jones.

The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, a Class AA minor league baseball team in the Southern League, an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners play in Jackson.

The Hub City Hurricanes of the IBL played in Jackson for one season in 2007.

Since 1990, Jackson has hosted the NAIA Women's Division I National Championship basketball tournament in the Oman Arena

Jackson hosts the annual Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant at the Carl Perkins Civic Center.

West Tennessee Healthcare Sportsplex is a travel baseball and softball complex completed in 2007. It hosts numerous tournaments throughout the year and has contributed to the growth explosion of the northeast corridor of the city.

Notes

  1. ^ [1], CNN - "Experts say 'most dangerous city' rankings twist numbers" (November 18, 2007)
  2. ^ Jackson, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 22, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online
  3. ^ Some Supreme Court History, Tennessee History for Kids (accessed August 22, 2007)
  4. ^ [2], How the Railroads Came to Jackson
  5. ^ [3], How the Railroads Came to Jackson
  6. ^ [4], How the Railroads Came to Jackson
  7. ^ [5], How the Railroads Came to Jackson
  8. ^ METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS AND COMPONENTS, Office of Management and Budget, 2007-05-11. Accessed 2008-08-01.
  9. ^ MICROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS AND COMPONENTS, Office of Management and Budget, 2007-05-11. Accessed 2008-08-01.
  10. ^ COMBINED STATISTICAL AREAS AND COMPONENT CORE BASED STATISTICAL AREAS, Office of Management and Budget, 2007-05-11. Accessed 2008-08-01.
  11. ^ 2007 Tennessee Official State Transportation Map

External links

Template:Mapit-US-cityscale

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