Pioneer Newspaper

No edition earlier than 1811 seems to survive, though the paper dates itself to 1808. The Clarksville Chronicle joined the Tobacco Leaf, named for the crop that built the town, in 1890, and the city's name left the masthead in the 1970s. Rivals such as The New Herald, an African-American paper, The Clarksville-Jeffersonian and The Clarksville Star all folded. On January 22, 1999, a tornado struck downtown and the printing plant, yet the next day's edition still came out.

What the plaque says

Pioneer Newspaper First launched as a weekly under the name of The Chronicle by Francis Richardson in 1808, it merged with its younger rival, The Tobacco Leaf, at an unknown later date. It is believed to be middle Tennessee's oldest newspaper.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Defiance Civil War Park and Interpretive Center — 1.3 mi
  An intact earthwork fort above the Cumberland and Red Rivers in Clarksville, begun with forced Black labor and later a contraband camp and recruiting center for Black soldiers.
• Dunbar Cave State Park — 3.6 mi
  A Clarksville cave with 800-year-old Mississippian artwork, later a resort and Roy Acuff's dance stage, now a state park with seasonal guided tours.
• Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge — 24 mi
  An 8,862-acre refuge on the Cumberland River floodplain near Dover, made in 1962 to replace habitat Lake Barkley flooded, wintering tens of thousands of waterfowl.

More markers nearby

• Montgomery County Courthouse — steps away
• Austin Peay — steps away
• Horace H. Lurton — steps away
• Clarksville's Slave Market — steps away