Junction of TN-52 and Main Street in Jamestown
Location of Jamestown, Tennessee
|Named for||James Fentress|
|• Mayor||Ryan Smith|
|• Total||2.9 sq mi (7.5 km2)|
|• Land||2.9 sq mi (7.5 km2)|
|• Water||0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)|
|Elevation||1,719 ft (524 m)|
|• Density||675.5/sq mi (261.2/km2)|
|Time zone||Central (CST) (UTC-6)|
|• Summer (DST)||CDT (UTC-5)|
|GNIS feature ID||1289287|
The City of Jamestown was established in 1823 as a county seat for Fentress County. Jamestown was incorporated as a city in 1837. Both Fentress County and the City of Jamestown are named for prominent local politician James Fentress (1763–1843), who made the appeal for the new county to be carved out of Overton and Morgan counties.
Jamestown was built upon the site of a semi-permanent Cherokee village, which probably made use of the many natural rock shelters in the area. Before the founding of Jamestown, the area was known as "Sand Springs" for the many bubbling springs located within the city. The last remaining spring is located within the Mark Twain City Park just northeast of the county courthouse. This spring provided water to John M. Clemens, father of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), and his family before they moved to Missouri. Mr. Clemens served as the first circuit court clerk. He also drew plans for the first courthouse and jail.
World War I hero Sgt. Alvin C. York was born, raised, and died in Fentress County. He built the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute, a high school in Jamestown. It is one of four state-funded schools in Tennessee.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2), all land.
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,839 people, 881 households, and 446 families residing in the city. The population density was 634.4 people per square mile (244.8/km²). There were 1,007 housing units at an average density of 347.4 per square mile (134.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.42% White, 0.71% African American, 0.05% Asian, 0.05% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.98% of the population.
There were 881 households out of which 21.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.6% were married couples living together, 17.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.3% were non-families. 47.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.91 and the average family size was 2.70.
In the city the population was spread out with 17.9% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 24.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 77.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $12,136, and the median income for a family was $18,714. Males had a median income of $23,750 versus $16,094 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,135. About 28.9% of families and 35.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 44.8% of those under age 18 and 27.6% of those age 65 or over.
Jamestown has radio stations WCLC/1260, WCLC-FM/105.1, WDEB/1500 & WDEB-FM/103.9. It also has a low-power FM station, WSAB-LP/92.5. The local newspaper serving Jamestown is the Fentress Courier, published each Wednesday in print and on the internet.
Major Annual Events
Jamestown is the headquarters for the World's Longest Yardsale, also known as the 127 Corridor Sale.
- Historic and Architectural Resources of Fentress County, National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1991
- "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
- The Federal Writers' Project, The WPA Guide to Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1986), 498.
- "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- "Census of Population and Housing: Decennial Censuses". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
- "Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Resident Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012". Population Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- "US Census". Retrieved 18 January 2014.