History Corner

A Brief History of Dickson, Tennessee

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

In 1863, the Federal Army stationed guards at a stop on the railroad from Nashville to Johnsonville, a landing on the Tennessee River in Humphreys County, where supplies were stockpiled for shipment by rail to Nashville. The stop was known as Mile 42 Post. Later, the tiny community was named Sneedville in honor of a Union army engineer who worked on the railroad. Sneedville later became Dickson, named for a Nashville Congressman.

Charlotte, a village a few miles to the north became the county seat of Dickson County carved out of Montgomery and Robertson counties in 1803. A year later, the county seat was located at Charlotte, Tennessee named for James Robertson’s wife.

The town center of Dickson is on the “Tennessee Divide.” This is because the south side of downtown drains into East Piney River which empties into Piney River, a tributary of the Duck River. The northeast side of downtown drains into Turnbull Creek, a tributary of the Harpeth River, which empties into the Cumberland River north of Ashland City.

Downtown Dickson burned twice in the 19th century so the downtown today consists primarily of one and two story brick buildings built early in the 20th century. One of them is the two-story Halbrook House, now converted into a hotel that was put on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1990.

In 2020, Dickson population was 16,058, 87 percent of whom were white and eight percent were African-American. Because of the city’s proximity to Nashville, part of its rapid growth is because so many Nshvillians are being forced to move out of Davidson County because they can not afford the rapidly rising property taxes. Many Dickson citizens work in Nashville.

For many years, Dickson County Sheriff, Tim Eads, was Police Chief for the City of Belle Meade. When I was board chairman at Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) in the 1990s, two of our teachers were Ed Caudil and David Brown. Both were also excellent football coaches on MBA’s always formidable teems. In 1972, Dr. James Dickson, a former quarterback on the Dickson County High School football team, became a licensed dentist. Jim and his wife, Faye, who was his administrative assistant, worked in Saudi Arabia for five years in the 1970s when Jim was periodontist and dentist for the Royal Family. Originally practicing in Nashville, Jim and Faye later opened an office in Columbia where he provided top quality dental and periodical service until his retirement in 2024. Fay’s older brother, Jim Sullivan, now deceased, was a force in Dickson, serving as principal of Dickson County High School, superintendent of Dickson County schools and state senator from Dickson.

For many years, Jim and Fay Dickson have been dedicated members of The Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville. In 2024, Jim and Faye were partially responsible for Dave and Diane Sheppard joining the church. Dave was for seven years the golf pro at Dickson’s Graystown Country Club.

One of Dickson’ most prominent families, the Jackson family, has a daughter, Amy Jackson Smith, who is a highly respected real estate executive with Engel and Volkers in Nashville. Her father Douglas established the Jackson Foundation in Dickson following the sale of his family’s interest in the non-profit Goodlark Hospital to the for-profit HCA. The foundation had $68,900 in assets in 2022. Finally, Tennesse’s Democratic Governor Frank Goad Clement was a Dickson native.

If I had any advice for Dickson, it would be to fund an industrial park near where State Highway 46 crosses I-40. The other would be to draw the city’s water from the Cumberland River rather than from Piney River which is entirely too small to handle the growing city’s water needs. Dickson County officials have considered bringing water from a pristine stream in neighboring Hickman County, thinking that Hickman County, one of the poorest counties in the state, does not have the resources to stop the effort. A group of farmers in Hickman County has, however, organized to do exactly that. I agree with them.