Monterey, Tennessee
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Monterey is a town in
Putnam County, Tennessee Putnam County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 79,854. Its county seat is Cookeville, Tennessee, Cookeville. Putnam County is part o ...
, United States. Its population was 2,850 at the 2010 census. It is part of the
Cookeville, Tennessee Cookeville is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was reported to be 34,842. It is recognized as one of the country's Cookeville micropolitan area, mic ...
micropolitan statistical area.


History

Monterey is rooted in a settlement that developed around a landmark known as the "Standing Stone" in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The stone was as a guidepost for travelers along Avery's Trace, and is believed to have earlier served as a boundary marker between the territories of the
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
and
Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
. By 1805, three families had settled permanently in area, and the Standing Stone Inn was established to cater to westward-bound migrants. In the spring of 1864, during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
, 200 Union soldiers led by Colonel William B. Stokes entered the Monterey area with orders to root out Confederate guerrilla activity. On the morning of March 12 of that year, Stokes' men entered the home of William Alexander Officer near Monterey and killed six of his guests, having accused them of being Confederate guerrillas. A
Tennessee Historical Commission The Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) is the State Historic Preservation Office for the U.S. state of Tennessee. Headquartered in Nashville, it is an independent state agency, administratively attached to the Department of Environment and C ...
marker on Commercial Avenue in Monterey remembers the event. With the progress of the
Tennessee Central Railway The Tennessee Central Railway was founded in 1884 as the Nashville and Knoxville Railroad by Alexander S. Crawford. It was an attempt to open up a rail route from the coal and minerals of East Tennessee to the markets of the midstate, a service ...
coming up the mountain from Cookeville, the Cumberland Mountain Coal Company, a group of 10 investors, bought property that contained coal from T.J. Whittaker. The company was interested in building a new company town to provide housing and commercial ventures for the workers. They hired Maj. Robert John Moscrip to lay out the new town. A contest was held to name it; Moscrip won. The new town was to be named “Monterey”, which meant "King of the Mountains", and coal was king. Moscrip continued engineering the railroad tracks out the Crawford Branch into Overton County. That line opened by 1894. He was also hired to open coal lands for the Alexander Crawford family up to 1904. A female contractor was hired, which was unheard of at the time, to build a portion of that line. On the evening of April 3, 2020, the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
issued a
flash flood warning A flash flood warning ( SAME code: FFW) is a severe weather warning product of the National Weather Service that is issued by national weather forecasting agencies throughout the world to alert the public that a flash flood is imminent or occurri ...
for the watershed of the
Calfkiller River The Calfkiller River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It is a tributary of ...
due to the failure of the dam confining the town's municipal lake.


Geography

Monterey is located at (36.145291, -85.265757). The town is situated at the western edge of the
Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...
in eastern Putnam County, just north of the point where the counties of Putnam,
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 ...
, and
Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
meet, and just southwest of the point where Putnam, Overton, and Fentress meet. It is located about east of
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
and the same distance west of
Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
, and is connected with these two cities by
Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
(exits 300 and 301) and
U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern, Southern and Southwestern United States ...
. State Route 84 connects Monterey with Livingston to the northwest and
Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
to the southwest. State Route 62 connects Monterey with Clarkrange along
U.S. Route 127 U.S. Route 127 (US 127) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the eastern half of the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 27, US 27 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The northern terminus is at Interstate 75 ...
to the east, and State Route 164 connects the town with Crawford and the rural areas of the western plateau to the north. The sources of the
Calfkiller River The Calfkiller River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It is a tributary of ...
and the
Falling Water River The Falling Water River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It rises just west ...
are both located just west of Monterey, on opposite sides of I-40. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which 0.34% is covered by water.


Climate


Demographics


2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, 2,746 people, 877 households, and 616 families resided in the town.


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, 2,717 people, 1,029 households, and 697 families lived in the town. The population density was . The 1,141 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 88.81% White, 0.92% African American, 0.04% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 9.09% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 16.34% of the population. Of the 1,029 households, 31.4% had children under 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were not families. About 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.06. In the town, the age distribution was 24.7% under 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.0 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 89.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $23,550, and for a family was $28,603. Males had a median income of $21,772 versus $18,895 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 town was $12,265. About 22.1% of families and 27.6% 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 38.4% of those under 18 and 16.5% of those 65 or over.


Economy

Martin Marietta The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. History Martin Marie ...
operates a large sand mine in Monterey.https://www.martinmarietta.com/locations/east/east-tennessee-district/monterey-sand


Transportation

The
Nashville and Eastern Railroad The Nashville and Eastern Railroad is a shortline railroad which administers of track between Nashville and Monterey, Tennessee, of which are currently operational. The company is based in Lebanon, Tennessee. The Nashville and Eastern was form ...
operates freight rail service between Nashville and Monterey.


Notable people

* Charlotte Burks, former Tennessee state senator * Tommy Burks, former Tennessee representative and Tennessee state senator * Harvie June Van, country music singer


References


External links


Official site

Monterey High School

Burks Elementary School

Municipal Technical Advisory Service entry for Monterey
— information on local government, elections, and link to charter {{authority control Towns in Putnam County, Tennessee Towns in Tennessee Cookeville, Tennessee micropolitan area