Hartsville, Tennessee

Hartsville, Tennessee
Consolidated city-county
Hartsville-Trousdale County
Downtown Hartsville
Downtown Hartsville
Hartsville is located in Tennessee
Hartsville
Hartsville
Hartsville is located in the United States
Hartsville
Hartsville
Coordinates: 36°23′30″N 86°9′37″W / 36.39167°N 86.16028°W / 36.39167; -86.16028
Country United States
State Tennessee
CountyTrousdale
Settled1797
Founded1817
Incorporated1840[1]
Founded byJames Hart, early settler[1]
Area
 • Total
3.6 sq mi (9.2 km2)
 • Land3.6 sq mi (9.2 km2)
 • Water0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation
472 ft (144 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
11,615
 • Density673.5/sq mi (260.1/km2)
Time zoneUTC−06:00 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−05:00 (CDT)
ZIP code
37074
Area code615
FIPS code47-32720[2]
GNIS feature ID1287064[3]
Websitewww.trousdalecountytn.gov

Hartsville is a town in Trousdale County, Tennessee, United States. It is the county seat of Trousdale County,[4] with which it shares a consolidated city-county government. The population of Hartsville was 11,615 as of 2020.[5]

Hartsville now shares with Trousdale County a consolidated city-county government by virtue of a referendum which passed in Trousdale County in 2000.[6] Despite the city-county government, under Tennessee law, Hartsville is also considered to be a distinct municipality.[7] Trousdale County High School is located here, as well a Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology campus operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Trousdale County is one of two counties in Tennessee to have legalized parimutuel betting on horse racing, but no group has ever stepped forward to build a racetrack.[8] Hartsville is located slightly north of the Cumberland River and is approximately fifty miles northeast of Nashville.

In 1977, the Tennessee Valley Authority began construction on the Hartsville Nuclear Plant, but cancelled the project in 1984 after spending nearly $2 billion.[9] The plant's unused cooling tower dominates the view south from State Route 25 between Smith County and Trousdale County. In 2016, Corrections Corporation of America (since renamed CoreCivic) opened the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a medium-security prison, in Hartsville. The prison became a hot spot for COVID-19 cases in the COVID-19 pandemic, giving the county the highest incidence rate in the U.S. in May 2020, with 1 in 7 residents known to be infected with coronavirus.[10]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference history was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  3. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  4. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  5. ^ "Metro Govt Hartsville/Trousdale County". University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service.
  6. ^ Suzanne M. Leland, Kurt M. Thurmaier, ed. (2004). Case Studies of City-county Consolidation: Reshaping the Local Government Landscape (illustrated ed.). M. E. Sharpe. p. 239. ISBN 9780765632883. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  7. ^ "Tennessee" (PDF). Governments-Individual State Descriptions. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  8. ^ Ridley Wills II, "Thoroughbred Horse Breeding and Racing." The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2009. Retrieved: February 11, 2013.
  9. ^ Jeffrey Durbin, "Trousdale County." The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2009. Retrieved: February 11, 2013.
  10. ^ See "Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count" The New York Times May 15, 2020.