The historic news archives of Tipton County, Tennessee, read like a chronicle of the American river frontier and the deep agricultural South. In the 1820s and 1830s, local dispatches often focused on the bustling river port of Randolph, which at the time routinely outshipped nearby Memphis in cotton bales and seemed destined to become the premier steamboat depot of West Tennessee. Mid-19th-century bulletins heavily tracked the expansion of the Memphis and Ohio Railroad through Mason, followed by the tragic wartime headlines of 1862 when Union troops burned the port of Randolph to the ground. For decades, the local town square was dominated by updates on the county’s booming cotton ginning industry—which peaked in 1929 with nearly 80,000 acres planted—interspersed with coverage of major social events like the famous Confederate Soldiers’ Reunions held in Brighton and Covington.
In contrast, current news stories from Tipton County highlight a vibrant, modern community balancing rapid suburban growth with its traditional rural heritage. Contemporary headlines in The Covington Leader focus on civic improvements, county election cycles, and local education, such as the rollout of high school summer internship programs and regional athletic achievements. The community’s cultural calendar remains front-page news, with announcements highlighting the world’s oldest Bar-B-Que Cooking Contest in Covington and the upcoming schedule for the popular Depot Beats music series. While modern infrastructure, residential zoning, and economic updates now lead the news feed, the local media still maintains a distinct small-town flavor, keeping residents tethered to the same collective spirit that has defined the county for over two centuries.
Miss Willie Armour Accidentally Shot
MISS WILLIE ARMOUR ACCIDENTALLY SHOT | Garland: We are glad to learn that Miss Willie Armour, the young lady who was accidentally shot by a young man named Thurman Billings on the afternoon of the 4th instant at Bethel church, near Tipton, is improving and she will now recover. [The Covington Leader, Covington, Tenn., June ...
Mr. Burt’s TN Trading Post – One Man’s Treasure
from markstrail.com written by Mark C. Gilchrist MR. BURT’S TN TRADING POST | Monday, May 24, 1999, Munford, Tennessee – J. Burt Curtis knows “The Deal” so well, you’d think he’d invented it. For four decades, he has lived his life making deals; some big, some small (most of them small.) What is his secret ...
Munford To Turn Back Pages Of 100 Years And Pay Homage To Historic Methodist Church
MUNFORD TO TURN BACK PAGES OF 100 YEARS AND PAY HOMAGE TO HISTORIC METHODIST CHURCH | Exact date of organization is not known, but Mr. Mark Sullivan, 81, son of one of the church’s first pastors and the oldest member, reveals that the congregation was organized in the “late 1830s” and was established in a ...
Murderess Mama – September 30, 1882
Flipping through the September 30, 1882 issue of The Milan Exchange, I came across a brief notice from Covington that reads almost like a modern crime headline. It doesn’t take up much space on the page, but it carries a weight that’s hard to ignore. “Murderess Mama: At Covington, Tenn., September 25, Emily Wilson and Lizzie ...
Naifeh Appoints Williams to TWRA Board
NAIFEH APPOINTS WILLIAMS TO TWRA BOARD | House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, (D-Covington), last week announced the appointment of Jerry Williams to the Board of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). Naifeh’s appointment of Williams marks the first TWRA Board appointment by a Speaker of the House. Previously, all appointments were made by the Governor. ...
Negro Kuklux on the Rampage
A Conservative Negro Threatened with Kukluxing for Employing a White Teacher. NEGRO KUKLUX ON THE RAMPAGE | Tipton Co., Tenn., August 15, 1870. Editors Appeal – You may talk about Algerine pirates, Jocobins, Ku-Klux, or any of the representatives of Beelzebub, but none of them, or all of them compounded, can make as vile ...
Nick Joyner Birthday Dinner
NICK JOYNER BIRTHDAY DINNER | The children of Mr. Nick Joyner, of the 6th district, Campground community, as a pleasant surprise on the 6th, came to their father’s home, and as a celebration of his 66th birthday brought together a great dinner and a host of their friends, and in every way made the day ...
Night Riders’ Notices
Stalking the Fields at Midnight: When Cotton Farming Became a Matter of Life and Death Imagine stepping onto your front porch early one morning in May. The spring air is warm, the soil is ready, and it’s time to plant the crop that keeps food on your family’s table: cotton. But as you reach for your ...
Old Times in West Tennessee
OLD TIMES IN WEST TENNESSEE: REMINISCENCES-SEMI-HISTORIC OF PIONEER LIFE AND THE EARLY EMIGRANT SETTLERS IN THE BIG HATCHIE COUNTRY.BY A DESCENDENT OF ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.MEMPHIS, TENN.: W.G.CHEENEY, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER. 1873. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by JOSEPH S. WILLIAMS, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. RESPECTFULLY ...
Old Trinity
Situated in a grove of oak and cedar trees, the quaint chapel known as “ Old Trinity ” or “Trinity in the Field” is the oldest surviving church structure in Tipton County. It is the fifth oldest Episcopal church still in use in the Diocese of West Tennessee. Now in a rural, isolated area, the ...
Patriotic Prisoners in the Tipton County Jail
Patriotic Prisoners in the Tipton County Jail: Covington, Tenn., May 1, 1898. To the High Sheriff of Tipton County, State of Tennessee: We, the undersigned, do hereby volunteer ourselves for the service of the United States of America to help in the struggle between it and Spain by going to war at our southern seaboard at Cuba. C. ...
Professor in Wreck Dodging Pedestrian
PROFESSOR IN WRECK DODGING PEDESTRIAN | Professor Norris McCormick, of the Brighton High School, was considerably bruised and his automobile badly damaged late Saturday night. He was attempting to avoid striking Paul Valentine, of Munford. The young man however was struck and seriously hurt by the McCormick machine. The accident occurred about ...
Public Auction Sale in Randolph TN
VAUGHT & HARPER FORWARDING & COMMISSION MERCHANTS Auction Sale PUBLIC AUCTION SALE IN RANDOLPH TN | In pursuance of a decree of the honorable the Circuit Court of Tipton County, I will proceed to sell, at Public Auction, in the town of Randolph, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd July next, an ...
Sold Two Bales of Cotton
Mr. Hugh Brumley, of the Nick Joyner place, sold two bales of cotton of this year’s crop this week that brought him 25c and 23 1/2c per pound. These were the first bales to be ginned in our neighborhood. A great deal of cotton is expected to be ginned next week and we ...
South Whets Palates
Southern Food at Home, on the Road and in History SOUTH WHETS PALATES | You can almost taste the biscuits and smell the chicken frying when you read John Egerton’s now book, “Southern Food At Home, on the Road and in History,” published by Knopf ($22.95). You don’t just taste the beignets served in New Orleans, but ...
Tennessee Planters to Protest
TENNESSEE PLANTERS TO PROTEST | There is a great deal of interest manifested in all of the counties in West Tennessee bordering on the Mississippi river in the result of the meeting of the property owners on the Tennessee side of the river called to meet in Memphis June 22 to protest against the government’s ...
The Cost of Liberty: What My Grandmother’s WWII Op-Ed Still Has to Teach Us
History has a funny way of reaching across the generations. Sometimes it happens through an old photograph or a faded family letter. Other times, it’s a yellowed newspaper clipping tucked away in a scrapbook, waiting for someone to discover it decades later. Recently, I came across one of those treasures—a newspaper op-ed written during World War II ...
The Covington Leader January 21, 1898 – Honor Roll
HONOR ROLL First Grade Sim Hanna 100 Herbert Johnson 99 Estes Lynn 98 Rayford Warr 100 Frank Johnson 100 Alfred Samuels 100 Katie Bell Faught 100 Robbie Whitley 100 Laura Peete 100 Olive Leach 100 Pauline Smith 99 Jno. Frederickson 99 Everett Williams 99 Carl Rice 98 Second Grade Harry Young 100 Annie Noble Hill 100 Sam Shelton 100 Sam Hyde 99 Florence McCullough 99 Lela Smith 98 Barbara Hill 98 Third Grade Vashti Talley 99 Annie Chism Dewese 99 Pete Frederickson ...
The Covington Leader January 21, 1898 – Local News Happenings
Local News Happenings Something very unusual was witnessed here last Saturday morning. It was a rainbow in the north. Mr. H. J. Baskin shipped six carloads of cattle – feeders – to Cincinnati and Louisville Friday night. Don’t forget the oyster supper and entertainment at Mrs. W. A. Black’s tonight. Hours from 6 to 11 o’clock A ...
The Journal of Josiah Hinds
April 24, 1839 – July 10, 1863 Edited by Newton Haskin James A THESISSubmitted to the Faculty of the University of Mississippiin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Master of Artsin the Department of History University, Mississippi August, 1939 Olden Times in Tennessee The Memphis & Arkansas Advocate Messrs. Editors: Having been born in what is now called Middle ...