Humphreys 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 part of

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

, in 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 18,990. 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 ...

is Waverly. The county is named after American jurist and politician Parry Wayne Humphreys. It was established in 1809 from the southern portion of Stewart County.

History

Humphreys County was established in 1809 from parts of Stewart County, and named for Parry Wayne Humphreys, a young Justice of the State Supreme Court, who was later elected as US Congressman from this area. The county seat was initially located at Reynoldsburg, near the mouth of Dry Creek. When the western half of the county was taken to form Benton County to the west in 1835, the seat of Humphreys was newly designated as Waverly, a town that was more centrally located in the redefined jurisdiction. During the Civil War, the

Battle of Johnsonville The Battle of Johnsonville was fought November 4–5, 1864, in Benton County, Tennessee, Benton and Humphreys County, Tennessee, Humphreys counties, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. Confederate States Army, Confederate cavalry commander ...

was fought for two days in the western half of the county in November 1864. The remnants of the battle site are preserved and interpreted at Johnsonville State Historic Park. But much of the battlefield has been submerged by

Kentucky Lake Kentucky Lake is a major navigable river, navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River via Kentucky Dam for flood control a ...

, created by dams on the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

for flood control. Since the mid-20th century, this area developed increasing ties with the major city of Nashville. Agricultural areas have been developed for residential communities and suburban businesses. As Nashville and the region have prospered, businesses and supporting services have also developed in this county.

21st century

On the morning of August 21, 2021, storms riding along a stationary front in western

produced widespread flash flooding across the counties of Stewart,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Dickson, Hickman, and Humphreys. Especially hard hit were the towns of McEwen and Waverly, where many homes and businesses were destroyed by floodwaters along Trace Creek. Twenty people were killed as a result of the flooding throughout the county.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (4.6%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Houston County (north) * Dickson County (northeast) * Hickman County (southeast) * Perry County (south) * Benton County (west)

National protected area

* Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (part)

State protected area

* Johnsonville State Historic Park

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 18,990 people, 6,763 households, and 4,375 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 17,929 people, 7,238 households, and 5,146 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 8,482 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.52%

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 ...

, 2.94%

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 ...

, 0.27% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.01%

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 ...

, 0.16% from other races, and 0.85% from two or more races. 0.83% 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 7,238 households, out of which 30.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.30% 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, 10.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.90% were non-families. 25.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.90. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.90% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 26.20% from 45 to 64, and 14.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 96.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,786, and the median income for a family was $42,129. Males had a median income of $31,657 versus $20,736 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 $17,757. About 7.60% of families and 10.80% 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 12.50% of those under age 18 and 13.70% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* McEwen * New Johnsonville * Waverly (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

* Bakerville * Buffalo * Cedar Grove * Hurricane Mills * Hustburg *

Polecat Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade). The name is applied to several species with broad similarities t ...

Politics

Like most other counties in

, Humphreys is historically a Democratic stronghold: it voted Democrat in almost every US presidential election up until

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, making exceptions for Independent

segregationist Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by peopl ...

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and Republican landslide winner

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

four years later. However, like other rural Middle Tennessee counties, Humphreys is nowadays solid ground for the Republican Party, with the GOP margin of victory dramatically increasing in each presidential election since

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

's narrow win in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

External links

Official site

Humphreys County, TNGenWeb
- free genealogy resources for the county {{Coord, 36.03, -87.77, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TN_source:UScensus1990 1809 establishments in Tennessee Populated places established in 1809 Middle Tennessee