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Web Exclusive ContentMaury County and Columbia Bicentennials Inspire Reflection

Historian Bob Duncan

Two hundred candles on a birthday cake? Better start lighting them now.

Maury County and county seat Columbia are celebrating their 200th anniversaries in 2007‚ having both been established in 1807. That dual accomplishment has county historian Bob Duncan thinking about how these communities have grown over two centuries – and how many things have remained the same.

“Thank goodness Maury County has maintained its core values over 200 years – values that include family‚ faith‚ thrift‚ hard work and a sense of community‚” says Duncan‚ who serves as director of Maury County Archives in downtown Columbia. “Plus hundreds of beautiful historic sites that are still standing provide tangible evidence of what Maury County used to be and still is today.”

The county began operating Nov. 24‚ 1807‚ when it appointed a sheriff‚ clerk and a process of record keeping.

“We are lucky enough to have those original county-forming papers still in our possession‚” Duncan says. “Some cities and counties don’t have records from 20 years ago. We have them from 1807 and all the way forward until today.”

Maury County is named for Abram Maury‚ a prominent early 19th-century citizen in Williamson County who had a close connection with the Tennessee state legislature. Meanwhile‚ Columbia is named indirectly after Christopher Columbus and the promise of a new frontier and new world.

“For about 30 of its early years‚ Columbia was the last civilized stop on the way to Texas‚” Duncan says.

That’s why many Texas land transactions took place in Columbia in the early 1800s.

“In fact‚ there were so many transactions that our county court clerk was named a notary public for the Republic of Texas‚” he says. “We have his Texas notary seal on display at the archives building.”

The county has assimilated waves of newcomers over the years‚ Duncan says.

The phosphate industry brought in thousands of people who settled from the late 1880s and early 1900s. Another wave of residents arrived in the mid-1980s when General Motors Corp. announced it would establish a Saturn assembly plant in Maury County.

The 11th U.S. president also helped put Maury County on the map.

“When talking about Maury County history‚ one always needs to mention not only James K. Polk‚ but his entire family‚” Duncan says. “James K. Polk once living in Columbia made us famous‚ but many of the mansions that grace the county today were occupied by his relatives.”

Those mansions have names such as Rattle and Snap‚ Hamlin House‚ Rally Hill‚ Sisters’ Home and The Athenaeum‚ which were owned by the likes of Leonidus Polk‚ Rufus King Polk‚ George Washington Polk and Lucius Junius Polk.

“Speaking of Lucius Junius‚ his daughter was married in the White House during the Andrew Jackson administration – such was the influence of the Polks‚” Duncan says. “Yes‚ Maury County has enjoyed an interesting past. Let’s hope the future is just as interesting.”

Story by Kevin Litwin

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