Town Spring

Water chose Cookeville's site. After Putnam County was re-established in 1854, Tennessee law required a county seat, and the land bought from Charles Crook was chosen because its natural springs could support a town. The seat took the name of Richard Fielding Cooke, but the spring explains why it stands where it does. The Nashville and Knoxville Railroad reached the town from the west in 1890, and Dixie College, a Church of Christ academy, followed in 1909 and later became Tennessee Tech. A spring settled the location; the later arrivals made the city.

What the plaque says

Town Spring On July 2, 1855, Charles Crook sold forty acres of land to the Putnam County Court for $100. An uncovered spring, located approximately fifty feet northwest of the marker, became known as "The Town Spring" and was the determining factor in locating Cookeville as the county seat. This spring served as the source of water for many early residents.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cookeville Depot Museum — 0.4 mi
  The 1909 Tennessee Central Railroad depot in Cookeville's west side, now a museum with a model of the town in 1955 and a steam engine in the yard.
• Cummins Falls State Park — 7.1 mi
  A 75-foot waterfall and swimming hole on the Blackburn Fork, saved from a housing development in 2011 and opened as Tennessee's 54th state park.
• Burgess Falls State Park — 9.9 mi
  A day-use park on the Falling Water River, where a short trail passes three smaller falls on its way to a drop of more than 130 feet into a limestone gorge.
• Standing Stone State Park — 22 mi
  A New Deal park on Mill Creek named for a vanished stone that Native peoples revered and railroad builders blasted, with a lake, 1930s cabins and a marbles championship.

More markers nearby

• Israel Putnam 1717 - 1790 — steps away
• Putnam County's Only Public Execution — 0.5 mi
• Capshaw School — 0.6 mi
• Darwin School — 1.1 mi