Robertson County, Tennessee

Robertson County Education, Geography, and History

Robertson County is a county located in the state of Tennessee. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 66,283. Its county seat is Springfield. The county was named for James Robertson, founder of Nashville and a state senator.

Robertson County is a component of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Etymology - Origin of Robertson County Name

Named in honor of James Robertson (1742- 1814), pioneer, surveyor, soldier, founder of the Watauga Settlements and of Nashville, and state senator, known as "Father of Tennessee."

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

History of Robertson County

Created 1796 from Tennessee and Sumner counties; named in honor of James Robertson (1742- 1814), pioneer, surveyor, soldier, founder of the Watauga Settlements and of Nashville, and state senator, known as "Father of Tennessee."

Robertson County was formed in 1796 from Tennessee and Sumner counties. (Acts of 1788 [North Carolina], Chapter 28).

Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
The first white settlement in Robertson County was established by Thomas Kilgore, who came there in 1778 claiming land and building a station in 1779 near present-day Cross Plains. Prior to statehood this area was one of the counties in Mero District and called Tennessee County, located north of Nashville on the Kentucky border.

One of the first acts of the new state was to appropriate Tennessee County's name for its own use and to divide that county into Robertson and Montgomery Counties. Robertson County took its name from General James Robertson, often called the "Father of Middle Tennessee." Robertson County, established by the general assembly on April 9, 1796, covered 477 square miles and contained 304,640 acres.

The enabling act, which created the new county appointed commissioners and instructed them to establish the county government system and "to lay off, and appoint a place, the most centrical and convenient in the county of Robertson, for the purpose of erecting a courthouse prison and stocks." By 1798 Thomas Johnson had surveyed and laid out the county seat of Springfield, and the lots sold for eight dollars each. Find more from the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture: ROBERTSON COUNTY

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 477 square miles (1,235 km²), of which, 476 square miles (1,234 km²) of it is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.04%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Logan County, Kentucky (north)
• Simpson County, Kentucky (northeast)
• Sumner County (east)
• Davidson County (south)
• Cheatham County (southwest)
• Montgomery County (west)
• Todd County, Kentucky (northwest)

Education

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