White Bluff is a town in Dickson 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 3,862 at the 2020 census and 3,206 at the 2010 census. The community name derives from the White Bluff Iron Forge.

History

A fort was constructed at White Bluff in 1806, and an iron forge shortly afterward. The current town, which grew out of a Civil War-era Union Army encampment, was platted in 1867, and within a few years had grown to include several mercantile businesses and a planing mill.
Goodspeed's History of Dickson County, Tennessee
' (1886), transcribed by Susan Knight Gore for TNGenWeb.org. Retrieved: March 1, 2013.

Geography

White Bluff is located in eastern Dickson County at (36.107971, -87.220300). 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 land. White Bluff is located on U.S. Route 70 at its junction with State Route 47. US 70 leads east to

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 west to Dickson. TN 47 leads southwest to Burns before continuing to Dickson, and northwest to Charlotte, the Dickson County seat. White Bluff is east of Montgomery Bell State Park.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 3,862 people, 1,306 households, and 832 families residing in the town.

2000 census

At the 2000

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 ...

, there were 2,142 people, 881 households and 604 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 947 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.13%

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 ...

, 0.65%

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 ...

, 0.37% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.09% from other races, and 0.56% 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 0.65% of the population. There were 881 households, of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% 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, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.96. 24.4% of the population were under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

was $34,107 and the median family income was $39,219. Males had a median income of $31,509 versus $25,260 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 $16,229. About 6.1% of families and 8.1% 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 3.9% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

There have been several public and private schools in the area. The first public school was destroyed by fire in 1879. White Bluff now has White Bluff Elementary School and Williams James School. The original William James was built in 1923 on land donated by

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

William James, a

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

officer from whom it gets its team sports name, the Colonels, and who is entombed within the current building. (The 1923 building was demolished after the 1971–1972 school year.) It was a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

(for many years all twelve grades were on the site) until 1972 when it became a junior high school (grades 7–9). In the 1999–2000 school year, the school was changed to a

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

(grades 6–8) as part of a district-wide realignment, hence its current name, William James Middle School.

Area attractions

* Interstate Packaging Arboretum * Montgomery Bell State Park

Notable people

* Anson A. Mount IV, star of film and television. Anson's father, Anson Mount III, also grew up in White Bluff, and became the sports editor for '' Playboy'' magazine. * Larry Fleet, singer-songwriter

Radio

* WYCZ 1030 AM

References

External links

Town of White Bluff official website

Blufwatch
- White Bluff information and history {{authority control Towns in Dickson County, Tennessee Towns in Tennessee Cities in Nashville metropolitan area