Toone is a town in Hardeman County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 364 at the 2010 census.

History

Toone is located in former

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

country. The first Europeans to visit the area arrived on flatboats via the

Hatchie River The Hatchie River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 3, 2011 river in northern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee. It is of considerable geographic, culture, cu ...

as early as 1725. By 1830 the community was populated enough that it was included in the United States census. In 1856, Toone developed into a

railroad town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...

with businesses opening up around the railroad. Brick manufacturing became the major industry, and many homes still have original Toone bricks in their architecture. 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 ...

, the town served as an encampment for the Union Army and saw one small skirmish for rail line control.

Kilgore Flares Company explosion

On September 14, 2010, an explosion and flash fire occurred at the Kilgore Flares Company plant near Toone. Six workers were injured in the mishap, three of them critically. Another accident at the facility in 2001 caused the death of one employee. Kilgore manufactures airborne expendable decoy flares for the US military.

Geography

Toone is located in northern Hardeman County at (35.352311, -88.953801). Tennessee State Route 138 (SR 138) is Main Street, leading northwest to

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 ...

(I-40) between

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

and Brownsville, and southeast to its terminus at SR 18. Bolivar, the Hardeman

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 south of Toone via SR 138 and SR 18. SR 100 runs through a northern extension of Toone, leading east to Henderson and west to Whiteville. 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 , all of it recorded as land. Pugh Creek flows through the southern part of the town, running southwest to Mill Creek and the

Demographics

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 330 people, 107 households, and 80 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 115 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 65.45%

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 ...

, 34.24%

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 ...

, and 0.30% from two or more races.

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 were 0.30% of the population. There were 107 households, out of which 35.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.9% 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, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.3% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.05. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 127.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 116.2 males. The median income for a household in the town was $30,500, and the median income for a family was $32,500. Males had a median income of $29,286 versus $16,500 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 $12,956. About 12.8% of families and 30.8% 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 30.3% of those under age 18 and 33.3% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Toone has a bank and a post office in its downtown area. Toone is home to the Kilgore Flare Company. The company has operated near Toone since the early 1920s. They manufacture air-deployable decoy flares for use by U.S. military aircraft on a facility on the town's outskirts. An additional testing ground is also located near the town.Adrian Sainz,
6 Hurt in Explosion at Tenn. Plant Making Flares
" Yahoo! News, September 14, 2010. Retrieved via archive.org February 26, 2013.

References

{{authority control Towns in Hardeman County, Tennessee Towns in Tennessee