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History · Saltillo

Saltillo dates to 1822, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Saltillo was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Its Register listing is the Meady White House. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1880.

1822founded
1on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Saltillo began

When was Saltillo founded?

1822

Saltillo dates its founding to 1822 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 263 in 18802020 census: 420204 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1850.The full story ↓

What stands out about Saltillo’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Saltillo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Saltillo, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsEstablished in 1822: 204 years of Saltillo.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Saltillo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Saltillo’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Saltillo’s post office has been open since 1850. Another post office, Ruth, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saltillo
1850–today
Ruth
1890–1903
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Five ForksLebanonShady Grove
Gone or out of use
Centerview Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Saltillo
Boiling SpringsHollandSaltilloWhitelawn

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

Timeline

Saltillo, 1822 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1822
    FoundingSaltillo is established
  3. 1850Post officeThe Saltillo post office opens
  4. 1890Post officeThe Ruth post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903Post officeThe Ruth post office closes
  7. 1935Born hereW. S. Holland is born here
  8. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Saltillo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Saltillo.

Read it all →

Saltillo was founded by Thomas Shannon in October 1822. He had left Davidson County, Tennessee and arrived in the area on a keelboat with enough provisions to last one year, two men, Colonel John Holland and Parkerson Mitchell, to assist him, and four black slaves. The men arrived via Tennessee River and built camp about half a mile from the river. Shannon's wife and seven children came by land with a drive of forty cattle. This cattle would serve as the starting point for Shannon to raise cattle for income, but the cattle were unable to adapt to the change in their environment and feeding. Within three months of grazing, 39 of the 40 cattle were dead. Shortly after the Shannon family's arrival, Shannon and his sons built a log cabin in 1825, serving as the first house built in Saltillo. Shortly thereafter a store-house was built by Smith Hawkins for dry goods to be distributed, which w…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Saltillo in 1885

Passages that mention Saltillo, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The land lying along the river from Point Pleasant to half a mile south of Saltillo first belonged to Thomas Shannon. In 1842 Thomas Davy became the owner of the land where Saltillo now stands; then for several years the place was called Davy’s Landing.
A history of Hardin County, Tennessee1885 · page 33Read the page →
Read the text

The land lying along the river from Point Pleasant to half a mile south of Saltillo first belonged to Thomas Shannon. In 1842 Thomas Davy became the owner of the land where Saltillo now stands; then for several years the place was called Davy’s Landing.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settlers of Saltillo and vicinity were not blessed with plenty of mills, as We are now, but were obliged to go to a mill on Duck Liver.
A history of Hardin County, Tennessee1885 · page 31Read the page →
Read the text

The first settlers of Saltillo and vicinity were not blessed with plenty of mills, as We are now, but were obliged to go to a mill on Duck Liver.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Saltillo, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Meady White House-Saltillo TN2022Meady White House-Saltillo TNSaltillo-Willies-One-Stop-tn2019Saltillo-Willies-One-Stop-tnSaltillo-Main-St-tn2019Saltillo-Main-St-tnSaltillo-Landing-Tennessee-River-tn2019Saltillo-Landing-Tennessee-River-tnSaltillo-Landing-TN-River-tn2019Saltillo-Landing-TN-River-tn
On the map

Saltillo on the map, 1936 to 1972

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

Saltillo on the 1936 USGS mapSaltillo on the 1949 USGS mapSaltillo on the 1972 USGS map1936Thurman 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 Saltillo.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Saltillo

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1993
Meady White House
Meady White House
Buildings
Meady White HouseBuilding

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

People over time

Saltillo, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 434

Between 263 and 434 people in every census since 1880.

9 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Saltillo’s history

What year was Saltillo founded?

In 1822, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Saltillo’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1880 counted 263 people here.

What is on the National Register in Saltillo?

One place: the Meady White House (listed 1993).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.