Jackson Purchase Historical Society

09/01/2026

09/01/2026

"The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 and its affect on the citizens of Dyer County"
Tuesday, September 8th, 5:00
Professional Development Center
305 College Street, Dyersburg, TN

In January 1918, the world faced the first wave of a particularly virulent strain of flu. It traveled quickly and seriously sickened many people across the globe. Towards the end of summer, the flu abated somewhat. Then, in early Fall of that year, the flu reemerged with a far more deadly strain. It burned across America and ultimately, across the globe, killing some 675,000 Americans - more than the number of US combat deaths in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined - and some 50 million people worldwide. Few locations were spared.

The Flu arrived in Dyer County in early October of 1918. Civic and medical leaders did what they could to reduce both the spread and impact but they were virtually powerless to stop the suffering. By November, the epidemic began to ease its grasp on Dyer society. With jubilation that accompanied the end of the First World War that same month, the people turned their attention away from that horrible October. Those who survived simply went on with their lives.

On Tuesday, September 8th, Dr. Matthew Stafford will discuss the Spanish Flu of 1918; its origins, its spread, and the reasons it was so deadly. He will describe the nation's reaction to the Flu, focusing specifically on Western Tennessee and Dyer County, explaining how the Flu arrived here, how civil and medical leaders reacted, and the outcomes the people ultimately suffered. He will conclude with remarks on how a similar outbreak might be handled today.

The Dyer County Historical Society offers monthly programs on local history each second Tuesday of the month at 5:00 PM. These sessions are held at the Professional Development Center at 305 College Street in Downtown Dyersburg. They are free and open to the public.

Individual memberships in the Society are $25 annually and family memberships are $50. The PDC is the home of the Dyer County Museum. The museum is open each Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00 till 11:00 or appointments can be scheduled by contacting the Society at 731-676-8075.

08/31/2026

Recorded August 20, 2026. Led by Christopher Thornock, Archaeologis...

08/31/2026

Just received this.

Kentucky Humanities is excited to share some great news: after more than a year without an open grant cycle, Kentucky Humanities grants are available again!
As a past KH grantee, we wanted you to be among the first to know. Grants of up to $5,000 are available for Kentucky-based public humanities projects taking place between December 1, 2026 and November 30, 2027. Funded projects might include book discussions, lectures, exhibits, conferences, teacher training, radio and video productions, and more, all designed for the general public and guided by a Principal Humanities Scholar.

A few key details:
- Letters of Intent (LOI) are due September 30, 2026
- If invited, full applications are due October 31, 2026
- Grantee notifications will go out in November 2026
- All grants require a 1:1 cost share

We'd love for you to review the full guidelines and eligibility requirements on our Applicant Resources page: https://kyhumanities.org/programs/grants

Please note that organizations currently holding a KH grant are not eligible to apply in this cycle, but if that's not you, we hope you'll consider applying again. And even if this cycle isn't the right fit for your organization, we'd be grateful if you'd share this opportunity with other organizations in your network who might be interested.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

All best,

Zoe Kaylor

Director of Operations
Kentucky Humanities
206 E. Maxwell Street
Lexington, KY 40508
859.257.5932 (o)

859.550.8364 (c)
[email protected]

The I Was Here Project is a thought-provoking series of public art and history installations that invite audiences to pause, reflect, and reconsider the stories that shape American identity. Through a dynamic blend of art, technology, and historical perspective, the project offers a deeper, more inc...

08/30/2026

History of Thompson Creek Baptist Church — Nearly Two Centuries of Faith: From Weakley County Beginnings to Como, Tennessee.

THE LONG HISTORY

For nearly two centuries, Thompson Creek Baptist Church has been a place where generations of West Tennessee families have gathered to worship, raise their children, bury their loved ones, and help their neighbors.

Its story began not in a church building, but in a Weakley County home.

On the third Saturday in August 1831, a small group gathered at the home of Angus Alexander in Weakley County. Letters were presented and read, fellowship was declared, and a covenant and confession of faith were approved. Brother Samuel McCowan delivered the charge, and Thompson Creek Baptist Church was formally constituted.

There were only 12 charter members.

Church records identify them as Elder William Alexander, Sarah Alexander, Angus Alexander, Moses T. Spann, John Simpson, Mittey Simpson, J. Lively, Abea Atkins, Samuel McCowan, William Brooks, Mandy Brooks, and Tilus, a servant enslaved by Angus Alexander. Brother McCowan became the church's first pastor.

Those first members agreed to meet on the second Saturday afternoon and second Sunday morning of each month. For a time, the Alexander home served as their meeting place. Eventually the congregation built a simple one-room church on the old Paris and Dresden Road in Weakley County.

From those humble beginnings, Thompson Creek became a lasting part of the religious life of the area.

A Church Grows

As the years passed, children grew up in the church, families came and went, and new generations took the places of those early members.

In 1947, the old church building was remodeled and Sunday School rooms were added. But tragedy came on Sunday night, December 18, 1960, when fire destroyed the church.

The loss of the building did not mean the loss of the congregation.
While plans were being made for a new church, members worshiped in the Central School building. Brother A. W. Porter of Greenfield was serving as pastor.

Rather than rebuild on the old site, the congregation purchased land from John Lovelace at Como, just across the Weakley-Henry County line in Henry County.

On Sunday morning, August 13, 1961, the congregation gathered for its first worship service in the new building. That first Sunday brought an encouraging beginning: five people came forward for membership — two for baptism and three by church letter.

Although Thompson Creek's physical home was now in Henry County, its historical roots remained firmly planted in Weakley County. Today it continues as a member of the Weakley County Baptist Association, which has called Thompson Creek its oldest member church.

Sending Preachers Into the World

One measure of Thompson Creek's influence can be found in the ministers who received their calling through the church.

The church's updated history records eight men who were licensed, ordained and sent out from Thompson Creek: J. Robert Paschal, Thomas Aaron Wi******er, Richard VanCleave, Dennis Scott, Michael Simmons, Warren Darden, Grant Ostrom, and Kerry Shopher.

Another young man, Alex Cserni, surrendered to the ministry on July 15, 2024, and preached his first sermon at Thompson Creek on August 4, 2024. Church records also indicate that Thompson Creek has had 14 pastors since 1920.

Generations of Faithful Members

Some families have been associated with Thompson Creek for generations.

When the church celebrated its 190th anniversary in August 2021, longtime pastor Billy Ross recognized Tom Wi******er, whose family had been connected with Thompson Creek since 1947. Wi******er himself had been a pastor for 70 years.

The church also honored Harrell and Evonne Shopher. Evonne had been saved and baptized at Thompson Creek in 1952 and served the church in numerous positions, while Harrell had served as a deacon for more than half a century.

In 2022, Thompson Creek recognized another remarkable example of service when Jerry Simmons was honored for 45 years as the church's song leader.

From Don Malone to a New Generation

The original history, written in 1989 by longtime church clerk Mrs. Mildred Wi******er, recorded that Brother Don Malone had already served Thompson Creek for 20 years. He ultimately served 35 years, making him the longest-serving pastor in the church's history.

He was followed in later years by Billy Ross, who would also devote a large portion of his ministry to Thompson Creek. Ross served the congregation for more than 20 years before retiring in 2025.
A new chapter began in January 2026, when Brother John Putman accepted the call to become pastor.

Putman grew up in the Paris and McKenzie area, graduated from McKenzie High School in 2019, earned a bachelor's degree in Christian Studies from Union University in 2022 and a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 2024. Before coming to Thompson Creek, he served as an associate pastor in Springfield, Tennessee.

Still Serving Its Neighbors

The spirit of community service that carried Thompson Creek through generations continues today.

In November 2024, the church established a Blessing Box beside the church where food, blankets and other necessities could be left for people who needed help. Because Thompson Creek sits so close to the county line, the ministry was intentionally made available to people in both Henry and Weakley counties.

That seems especially fitting for a church whose history belongs to both counties.

Thompson Creek Baptist Church began with 12 people gathered in a Weakley County home in August 1831. They could not have imagined that nearly two centuries later people would still gather under the name they chose that day.

The congregation survived changing times, the passing of generations and the destruction of its old church by fire. It crossed a county line, but it never left its heritage behind.

Today, Thompson Creek Baptist Church at Como remains a bridge between Weakley and Henry counties — born in Weakley County, rebuilt in Henry County, and still serving the people of both.
Buildings have changed. Pastors have changed. Generations have come and gone.

But since that little gathering at Angus Alexander's home in 1831, the purpose has remained much the same: faith, fellowship, family and caring for one's neighbors.

And after nearly 195 years, the story of Thompson Creek Baptist Church is still being written.

"Have you visited with or know members of Thompson Creek Baptist Church?"

IF YOU ENJOY THIS CONTENT, PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE THIS POST

Information compiled by Robert G Reynolds of Weakley County History

Historical information based in part on the Thompson Creek Baptist Church history written by Mrs. Mildred Wi******er in 1989 for “History and Families of Weakley County, Tennessee,” with later church records and current information from the Weakley County Baptist Association and Tennessee Baptist historical sources.

08/30/2026

When Weakley County Went to Fulton: Why Fulton, Kentucky Drew Tennessee Families in the 1920s.

By: Robert G Reynolds of Weakley County History

During the 1920s, it was not unusual for people from Weakley County, Tennessee, to make the trip north to Fulton, Kentucky. Some went for a day of shopping or business. Others went looking for work, and some eventually packed their belongings and made Fulton their new home.

To understand why, we have to remember that Fulton of the 1920s was a very different place from the Fulton we know today.
Fulton was a railroad town—and a booming one.

The Illinois Central Railroad had transformed Fulton into one of the most important railroad centers in the region. During the first half of the twentieth century, more than 30 passenger trains a day passed through Fulton.

The city became home to the second-largest Illinois Central division headquarters, with the railroad issuing paychecks to somewhere between 800 and 1,100 workers.

For a young man growing up on a Weakley County farm, that could be a powerful attraction.

Farming was still the backbone of Weakley County, and much of the county's population lived in rural communities. Farm income could rise and fall with the weather, crop prices and the harvest. Fulton offered something different—a chance at a regular paycheck.

The railroad required an army of workers: engineers, firemen, brakemen, conductors, section hands, roundhouse workers, clerks, freight handlers, cooks, waiters and many others. Railroad employment could also provide opportunities for African American workers, although they continued to face the harsh realities of segregation and discrimination during the Jim Crow era.

Oral histories of Fulton's railroad families describe Illinois Central employment as difficult but desirable and comparatively well-paying work.

Once one member of a Weakley County family found work around Fulton, it would have been natural for relatives, neighbors and friends to hear about the opportunities there.

But work was only part of Fulton's attraction.

The thousands of people associated with the railroad created a thriving business district. Railroad workers had money to spend, passengers came and went throughout the day, and merchants benefited from the constant movement of people through town.

A March 1920 account in the Illinois Central Magazine portrayed Fulton as a community filled with business activity and social life and placed its population at about 8,000.

For residents of Weakley County, especially those living in the northern part of the county, Fulton was close enough to visit regularly. A trip there might mean buying clothing, household goods or supplies, conducting business, visiting relatives, meeting someone at the railroad station, eating a meal or simply spending a day in a busy railroad town.

There is even a surviving Weakley County-area memory showing how important Fulton was as a supply center. A history of the Austin Springs community recalls people making weekly trips through Dukedom in a 1928 Chevrolet truck to pick up freight in Fulton.

That small detail tells a much larger story.

Goods arriving in Fulton did not necessarily stay in Fulton. They moved south into communities and stores serving Weakley County and the surrounding countryside.

Then Came the Banana Trains

During the 1920s another unusual industry added to Fulton's importance.

Bananas arriving by ship at New Orleans were loaded aboard refrigerated railroad cars for their journey north. Fulton became an important servicing and redistribution point. The cars stopped there to be re-iced before continuing toward northern markets.

It was the beginning of the story that would eventually earn Fulton its famous association with bananas and inspire the community's Banana Festival decades later.

Imagine Fulton during those busy years: locomotives steaming into the yards, whistles sounding, railroad crews changing shifts, passengers stepping from trains, freight being moved, merchants opening their stores and families arriving from the surrounding countryside.

For someone coming from rural Weakley County, Fulton must have seemed like a very busy place indeed.

More Than a Kentucky Town

Although the Tennessee-Kentucky state line separated Fulton from South Fulton, everyday life did not stop at that boundary.

Families, businesses, farmers and railroad workers moved back and forth across the state line. Weakley County residents could work in Fulton while maintaining close ties with relatives back home. Others simply traveled there frequently enough that a trip to Fulton became part of ordinary life.

That helps explain why old family histories, newspaper accounts and census records sometimes show Weakley County people suddenly appearing in Fulton during the early twentieth century.

They weren't necessarily leaving Weakley County because they disliked their home.

Many were following opportunity.

Fulton had trains. Fulton had jobs. Fulton had stores. Fulton had freight and passengers arriving every day. Most importantly, Fulton had money moving through its economy at a time when much of rural West Tennessee still depended heavily upon agriculture.
For some Weakley County families, Fulton was a place to spend Saturday.

For others, it was where they found a job.

And for still others, Fulton became home.

Nearly a century later, those family connections between Weakley County, South Fulton and Fulton remain reminders of an era when the sound of an Illinois Central locomotive could represent much more than a passing train.

It could represent opportunity just a few miles up the road.

"Do you remember when Fulton, KY was the place to shop, the place to visit, the place people went to get out of town"?

Do you remember hearing of people slipping off and over to Fulton's famous Skid-Row?

IF YOU ENJOY THIS CONTENT, PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE THIS POST

By: Robert G Reynolds of Weakley County History

(photograph: Fulton, Kentucky 1920, restored and colorized by Gutenberg Media)

Sources: Great American Stations, Fulton, Kentucky (FTN); Weakley County TNGenWeb, Austin Springs History; Illinois Central Employees’ Magazine (1920–21); Kentucky Oral History Commission, African American Illinois Central Workers of the Fulton Kentucky Railroad Station; and WKMS historical archives.

08/30/2026

Weakley County 1890: BANK CRIME WAS NOTHING NEW: AN 1890 FORGERY CASE SHOOK DRESDEN: Weakley County Farmer Accused of Forging Neighbors’ Names to Bank Notes.

Bank fraud may sound like a modern crime involving stolen identities, computers, and electronic accounts, but more than 135 years ago, banks and their customers faced their own version of financial fraud.

In November 1890, Dresden and the surrounding Weakley County community were shaken by the arrest of J. B. Williams, a young local farmer accused of forging the names of his neighbors on financial notes and using them to obtain money from banks in Dresden.

The story was reported in the November 21, 1890, edition of The Hickman Courier of Kentucky, which carried the headline “A Forger in the Toils.” The dispatch itself was dated November 17 from Dresden, Tennessee.

According to the newspaper, a warrant for Williams’ arrest was sworn out by John McGlothlin, cashier of the Weakley County Bank in Dresden.

What made the case especially surprising was Williams’ standing in the community. The newspaper reported that he had been born in the county, had always lived there, and until shortly before his arrest had enjoyed the confidence of his neighbors.

That trust apparently made the alleged scheme possible.
Investigators discovered that for approximately a year Williams had allegedly been signing the names of several neighbors to notes and then having those notes discounted at banks in Dresden.

In nineteenth-century banking, discounting a note generally meant receiving money from the bank based upon the note's value, with interest or a discount taken into consideration.

Among those whose names were reportedly forged was J. W. Parks, described as a well-to-do farmer. Parks discovered that his name had been placed on five or six notes for various amounts—notes he reportedly knew nothing about until the scheme was uncovered.
J. A. Covington was another man whose name was said to have been forged on a number of notes.

The scheme apparently continued because many of the notes were renewed two or three times. Some were even paid off. As long as payments were being made and notes renewed, the fraud could remain hidden.

That changed in November 1890.

The Weakley County Bank brought suit, and when a warrant was served upon the supposed securities connected with the notes, Williams’ actions were exposed. Williams was reportedly in Ohio at the time; the newspaper suggested that had he been home, the note might simply have been renewed once more.

After Williams was arrested and returned to Dresden, the newspaper reported that he confessed. He acknowledged not only the forgery involved in the immediate charge but also a number of other cases.

Perhaps one of the strangest parts of the story was his explanation. Williams reportedly said that he did not know what had caused him to commit the forgeries. He maintained that he had paid some of the fraudulent notes and intended to pay the others if the scheme had not been discovered.

The financial loss was significant for the time. The newspaper estimated that the Weakley County Bank stood to lose about $350 unless Williams’ friends raised the money, something they reportedly said they intended to do.

That $350 represented a substantial amount of money in 1890, particularly in a rural farming community.

The Williams case reminds us that while banking technology has changed dramatically, financial crime has a very long history. There were no computers to hack and no debit cards or online accounts to steal in 1890. Instead, banks relied heavily upon handwritten signatures, promissory notes, personal reputations, and the trust neighbors placed in one another.

And that trust could be exploited.

For the people of Dresden and Weakley County in November 1890, the case must have been particularly unsettling because the alleged victims and accused were not strangers. They were neighbors.

More than a century later, the old newspaper account gives us a fascinating glimpse into banking, crime, and everyday life in Weakley County during the closing years of the nineteenth century.

IF YOU FIND THIS CONTENT INTERSTING, PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE THIS POST

Information compiled by Robert G Reynolds of Weakley County History

(photo created for DEMO only, images of people are not current: by Gutenberg Media)

Sources: The Hickman Courier, Hickman, Kentucky, November 21, 1890, “A Forger in the Toils.” Dresden, Tennessee dispatch dated November 17, 1890, as published in The Hickman Courier Historical newspaper account concerning J. B. Williams, John McGlothlin, J. W. Parks, J. A. Covington, and the Weakley County Bank of Dresden, Tennessee.

08/30/2026

"The Illinois Central will build new shops at Paducah costing about $6,000,000. The new construction will consist of a large locomotive erecting shop ...car repair shed, blacksmith shops, carpenter shop, wood mill and store room."

Thus read part of a telegram sent by IC Vice-President H. B. Hull to newspapers in Paducah, KY, on the afternoon of January 15, 1925.
Construction began almost immediately. A contract was let on February 5, 1925, to the Joseph E. Nelson & Sons Company for all excavation, foundation, and pile driving work.

On April 1, 1925, construction began on the locomotive erecting/machine shop, which is the building closest to Kentucky Avenue. A total of 3,760 red cedar piles were driven into the ground to support the weight of the building. Then on July 11, 1925, crews began erecting steel for the building. The skeleton for the locomotive erecting/machine shop can be seen in the background of this photo, taken July 29, 1925. A total of 2,865 tons of steel beams and 1,659,000 bricks were used to construct the locomotive erecting/machine shop, which covered 3.9 acres and is the largest building in the shop complex.

The new shops formally opened on September 1, 1927, and served the IC (and successor ICG) until 1986 when it was sold to two local businessmen and renamed VMV. In 2002 the shops were acquired by National Railway Equipment. Around 2023 the buildings and property were sold and then leased back to NRE. In April, 2026, NRE filed for bankruptcy, and as part of its reorganization shut down the Paducah shops. The last day of business in Paducah for NRE was Thursday, August 27, 2026, and NRE vacated the property that day.

IC photo, Cliff Downey coll.