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AHistory
History · Rogersville

Rogersville dates to 1775, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 89% of U.S. towns · #3 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 30 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1870.

1775founded
4on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
14famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rogersville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rogersville began

When was Rogersville founded?

1775

Rogersville dates its founding to 1775 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.

First census: 657 in 18702020 census: 4,671251 years

How historic is Rogersville?

A

More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1804.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Rogersville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rogersville is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #3 of 177 in Tennessee. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rogersville’s overall grade.
Founding era1775, from Wikipedia: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 194010.4% of homes (±5.3) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register4 listings, 33 historic buildings, 71.0 per 10,000 residents · typical TN town 6.1 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 89%
NewerOlder
Tennessee towns of 2,500+ (177)#3 of 177

Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Rogersville’s 71.0 sits above most of its state (86% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 33 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points). Two sources give 1775.

Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Rogersville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1888 to 1913, drew every building in Rogersville.A historic districtThe Rogersville Historic District takes in 30 historic buildings.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1882–1933.Older than the countryEstablished in 1775, 1 years before the Declaration of Independence.
★ What stands out · Every building

Rogersville, building by building, 1888–1913

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Rogersville fire insurance map, 1888, sheet 11888Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

4 listings protect 33 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
33
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Rogersville Historic District
Rogersville Historic DistrictAmis House, built 1782Price Public Elementary SchoolSt. Marks Presbyterian Church
BuildingsDistricts
Rogersville Historic DistrictDistrict
Amis HouseBuilt 1782
Price Public Elementary SchoolBuilding
St. Marks Presbyterian ChurchBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

By decade

Rogersville, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
Bulls Gap circa 18821882Bulls Gap circa 1882
1890s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1930s11 items
Cherokee Mountain Crafts, Highway 11-W, Rogersville, Tenn (82411)c. 1930Cherokee Mountain Crafts, Highway 11-W, Rogersville, …Rogersville, Tenn (69110)c. 1930Rogersville, Tenn (69110)DETAIL OF CEILING MEDALLION, SOUTHWEST (FRONT) PARLOR - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933DETAIL OF CEILING MEDALLION, SOUTHWEST (FRONT) PARLOR…DETAIL OF EAST PORCH - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933DETAIL OF EAST PORCH - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 2…DETAIL OF FIREPLACE, SOUTHEAST (FRONT) PARLOR, WEST WALL - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street, Rogersvil…1933DETAIL OF FIREPLACE, SOUTHEAST (FRONT) PARLOR, WEST W…DETAIL OF FIREPLACE, SOUTHWEST (FRONT) PARLOR, EAST WALL - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street, Rogersvil…1933DETAIL OF FIREPLACE, SOUTHWEST (FRONT) PARLOR, EAST W…DETAIL OF SOUTH (FRONT) PORCH, FROM SOUTHEAST - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933DETAIL OF SOUTH (FRONT) PORCH, FROM SOUTHEAST - Nanni…DETAIL OF STAIRCASE IN CENTER ENTRANCE HALL - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933DETAIL OF STAIRCASE IN CENTER ENTRANCE HALL - Nannie …EAST SIDE FROM SOUTHEAST - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933EAST SIDE FROM SOUTHEAST - Nannie Bynum Clay Residenc…NORTH REAR - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933NORTH REAR - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Ma…SOUTH FRONT - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East Main Street1933SOUTH FRONT - Nannie Bynum Clay Residence, 265 East M…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
The story

How Rogersville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rogersville.

Read it all →

In 1775, the grandparents of Davy Crockett, a future member of the United States Congress from Tennessee and hero of the Alamo, settled in the Watauga colony in the area in what is today Rogersville near the spring that today bears their name. After an American Indian attack and massacre, the remaining Crocketts sold the property to a Huguenot named Colonel Thomas Amis.

ChaptersSettlement backgroundFounding of the townJoseph RogersA town dividedCradle of Tennessee journalismModern day

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rogersville, 1775 to 1935

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1775
    FoundingRogersville is established
  3. 1782BuiltAmis House is built
  4. 19th century
  5. 1804Post officeThe Rogersville post office opens
  6. 1821Born hereAlexander P. Stewart is born here
  7. 1872Born hereJohn N. Heiskell is born here
  8. 1879Post officeThe Blevins post office opens
  9. 1882In the archiveBulls Gap circa 1882
  10. 1887Born hereRuth Hale is born here
  11. 1892Born hereRichard Hale is born here
  12. 1898Post officeThe Blevins post office closes
  13. 20th century
  14. 1930In the archiveCherokee Mountain Crafts, Highway 11-W, Rogersville, Tenn (82411)
  15. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Rogersville on the map, 1935 to 1976

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rogersville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rogersville on the 1935 USGS mapRogersville on the 1940 USGS mapRogersville on the 1961 USGS mapRogersville on the 1976 USGS map1935Pressmens Home sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rogersville.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bulls Gap circa 1882
Retake this viewBulls Gap circa 1882, 1882

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rogersville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Rogersville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,000188019001920194019601980200020204,671

Grew from 657 people in 1870 to 4,671 in 2020, 7 times over.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rogersville’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

14 famous people were born in Rogersville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Alexander P. StewartConfederate Army general · b. 1821
Ruth HaleAmerican journalist and women's rights activist · b. 1887
John N. HeiskellAmerican politician · b. 1872
Richard HaleAmerican singer and character actor · b. 1892
D
Dick BassAmerican baseball player · b. 1907
J
John M. FlemingAmerican politician and newspaper editor · b. 1832
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Rogersville’s post office has been open since 1804. Another post office, Blevins, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rogersville
1804–today
Blevins
1879–1898
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Belvins
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rogersville
BurdineCrockettHighlandMcKinneyMitchel Crest

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Rogersville’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBulls Gap circa 1882: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Surgoinsville3 historic placesA−

Questions about Rogersville’s history

What year was Rogersville founded?

In 1775, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Rogersville’s post office opened in 1804, and the census of 1870 counted 657 people here.

How does Rogersville rank for history?

Rogersville is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns, #3 of 177 in Tennessee. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Rogersville?

4 listings: 3 buildings and 1 historic district, the Rogersville Historic District, with 30 contributing buildings. 33 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Rogersville?

10% of Rogersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1966.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.