Carroll County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the western division of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,440. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

. The county was established by the Tennessee General Assembly on November 7, 1821, and was named for Governor William Carroll.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water.

Carroll County Thousand Acre Recreational Lake

The Carroll County Thousand Acre Recreational Lake serves as a large water territory in Carroll County, Tennessee. Many locals have called the lake their home for years. In 2022, the county attempted to change the name, but after citizens of the county petitioning to keep the original name, they kept the Carroll County Thousand Acre Recreational Lake name the same.

Adjacent counties

* Henry County (northeast) * Benton County (east) *

Decatur County Decatur County is the name of various past and present counties in the United States, all named for Stephen Decatur Commodore (United States), Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. (; January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was a United States Navy of ...

(southeast) * Henderson County (south) * Madison County (southwest) * Gibson County (west) * Weakley County (northwest)

State protected areas

*Harts Mill Wetland Wildlife Management Area (part) *Jarrell Switch Refuge * Natchez Trace State Forest (part) * Natchez Trace State Park (part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 28,440 people, 10,962 households, and 7,451 families residing in the county.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 29,475 people, 11,779 households, and 8,398 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 13,057 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 87.68%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 10.35%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.45% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. 1.41% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 11,779 households, out of which 30.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.30% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.70% were non-families. 25.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.90. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.20% under the age of 18, 8.40% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 24.40% from 45 to 64, and 17.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $30,463, and the median income for a family was $36,880. Males had a median income of $29,904 versus $20,024 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $16,251. About 10.90% of families and 13.90% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.90% of those under age 18 and 13.40% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

The Carroll County Airport is a county-owned public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

of Huntingdon, Tennessee.

Media

Radio stations

* WRQR-FM 105.5 "Today's Best Music with Ace & TJ in the Morning" * WTPR-AM 710 "The Greatest Hits of All Time" * WTPR-FM 101.7 "The Greatest Hits of All Time" * WEIO "100.9 The Farm" * WHDM 1440-AM 98.9-FM * WAJJ 89.3 FM Christian Radio "The J"

Newspapers

''Carroll County News-Leader''

''The McKenzie Banner''
* Tennessee Magnet Publications

Online News Publications

''Carroll County Observer''

Communities

City

* McKenzie (small portions in Henry County and Weakley County)

Towns

* Atwood * Bruceton * Clarksburg * Hollow Rock *

(county seat) * McLemoresville * Trezevant

Census-designated places

Lavinia In Roman mythology, Lavinia ( ; ) is the daughter of Latinus and Amata, and the last wife of Aeneas. Creation It has been proposed that the character was in part intended to represent Servilia Isaurica, Emperor Augustus's first fiancée. Story ...

* Yuma

Unincorporated Communities

* Buena Vista * Cedar Grove * Christmasville * Hopewell *

* Leach * Westport * Yuma

Politics

In the 21st century, Carroll County is overwhelmingly Republican. In general, the alignment of voters with the two major parties has shifted since the late 20th century, but Carroll County had a different history. Conservative whites in the upland and Deep South largely shifted away from the Democratic Party in the late 20th century to the Republican Party, but Carroll County had only briefly supported Democratic presidential candidates in the 20th century: 1912, when Southerner

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

was elected; from 1932 to 1948, for

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

during the Depression and years of World War II and after, and Southerners

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

in 1964,

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

in 1976, and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 1992–1996. But at the time of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and for decades after, Carroll was the northernmost county in the Unionist Republican bloc, made up of Wayne, Henderson, Hardin and McNairy counties, within historically Democratic

West Tennessee West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that roughly comprises the western quarter of the state. The region includes 21 counties between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, delineated by state law. Its geography consists ...

. The whites in this bloc were yeomen farmers who owned few slaves; most identified as Unionist. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, Carroll County voted to remain in the Union by a margin of 1,349 to 967, whilst earlier on February 9, 1861, county voters voted against holding a secession convention by a margin of 1,495 to 678. Historians note that the enclave developed this way because, unlike in the fertile Delta, this region of the

Highland Rim The Highland Rim is a geographic term for the area in Tennessee, North Alabama, and Kentucky which surrounds the Central Basin. The Central Basin is a geological dome which has subsequently fractured and eroded to produce a basin. The Highland R ...

had soils that were shallow, humus-poor and easily erodible. Settlers who were poor could acquire land here, as the area could not support the plantations more typical of Middle and West Tennessee, which were dependent on the labor of enslaved African Americans.

References

External links

Carroll County Chamber of Commerce

Carroll County, TNGenWeb
- free genealogy resources for the county {{authority control 1821 establishments in Tennessee Populated places established in 1821 West Tennessee