Skip to main content

Shelbyville, Tennessee

Shelbyville is the seat of Bedford County, Tennessee.  Home to over 22,000 residents, Shelbyville is also known as "The Walking Horse Capital of the World."


The Tennessee Walking Horse originated in the area beginning in the late 1700s and has since developed into a trail and also show horse known for its smooth easy-going gait.  The Tennessee Walking Horse was named the Tennessee official state horse in 2000.  Shelbyville host the annual Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration, known as "The Celebration", every August.

Bedford County Courthouse

The center of Downtown Shelbyville is the Bedford County Courthouse.  Built in 1935, it is the fifth courthouse to be located within Shelbyville's Public Square.  This courthouse replaced one that was destroyed by fire a year earlier when a lynch mob - angry over a declared mistrial and moving of a young African-American suspect to another county for his safety - set the courthouse ablaze.  


The classical revival design is also the centerpiece of the Shelbyville Courthouse Square Historic District. Established in 1982, the district highlights the 1810 layout of the courthouse square and some of the buildings that surround it.  The design - a central courthouse block - consisting of four streets - and surrounded by square blocks of approximately the same size.  This design called the "Shelbyville Square" or "Shelbyville Plan" was emulated in the layout of many county seats in the Mid-West and South in the 19th Century.

Shelbyville also has a unique history with pens and pencils.  Known as the Pencil City, Shelbyville once had six different pencil manufacturing companies within the town.  Pens and pencils are still made here today.

All photos taken by post author - March 2008.

How To Get There:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...

The William Flinn (not Flynn) Highway - Pittsburgh's Misspelled Street

For decades if you traveled along PA Route 8 in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs, you would have noticed signs that read "William Flynn Highway" at every intersection.  Even today, many businesses and residences have their addresses listed as XXXX William Flynn Highway.  However, it's not William Flynn Highway, it is William FLINN Highway - and the gentleman who it is named for has a long and storied past in Pittsburgh's infrastructure history. William Flinn was born in England in 1851; however later that year, his family emigrated to the United States and would settle in Pittsburgh.  A 10-year-old school dropout, Flinn grew interested in politics and would join the Allegheny County Republican Party in 1877 as a ward commissioner and a seat on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  Flinn would serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and Senate from 1877 to 1902. (1) Flinn along with James J. Booth would found the Booth and Flinn construction firm ...