DeKalb County History
DeKalb County was established in December 1837 by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee. The County was formed from parts of Smith, Warren, White, and Cannon Counties. The county was named by the Legislature. It was named in honor of Johann DeKalb, who was born in Germany and served as a Major General during the American Revolution.
The Legislature also specified that the County seat should be named Smithville, in honor of Samuel Granville Smith. He had served as Mayor of Gainesboro, As a State Senator and was Tennessee's Secretary of State at the time of his death.
DeKalb County is located in the eastern part of middle Tennessee, about sixty miles southeast of Nashville. It consists of about 317 square miles and the population is about 14,000. The city of Smithville was placed about a mile southeast of the geographical center of the County. The first County Court met in March of 1838.
The First settler of DeKalb County was Adam Dale who was born in 1768 in Worchester County on the eastern shore of Maryland. The earliest town in DeKalb County was Liberty. It was founded in 1804 by Adam Dale and his Mill was the first business to be established.
The founder of Alexandria, DeKalb's second oldest town was Daniel Alexander, who named the town for himself. The only other incorporated town in the County is Dowelltown. It was not incoporated until 1949.
One of the biggest events in the history of DeKalb County and one that affected the lives of hundreds was the passing by Congress of the Flood Control Act of 1938. Center Hill lake and Dam, a multi-purpose project, was authorized by Congress in 1939 and construction was begun in 1940. The advent of electricity and the promise of flood control carried a high price for the residents in the area of the Caney Fork River. More than 6,000 tracts of land were purchased by the Government as settlers moved to other parts of this county and others. The remains of more than 2,000 bodies were exhumed from seventy nine grave sites and reinterred in other cemeteries. The Caney Fork has been called one of the ten most important rivers in Tennessee and it has made a decisive impact on the County.
DeKalb County Towns & Communities
Incorporated Towns in Dekalb County:
AlexandriaDowelltownLibertySmithvilleUnincorporated Communities:
Allens ChapelAntiochBethelBelkBlue SpringsBluhmtownBuckners ChapelCherry HillCross RoadsDismalDry CreekHeltonIndian MoundJeffersonKeltonburgLaurel HillMidwayMt. MoriahPisgah PhillipiShiney RockSnows HillTemperance HallWatkinsWilliams CrossroadsYoung Bend 