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CHistory
History · Spring City

Spring City’s post office opened in 1878, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1890.

1878first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Spring City began

When was Spring City founded?

1878

The Spring City post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 598 in 18902020 census: 1,949148 years

How historic is Spring City?

C

More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Spring City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Spring City’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spring City is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Spring City’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.4% of homes (±4.7) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical TN town 6.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 27%
NewerOlder

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 Spring City’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Spring City’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 Spring City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Spring City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spring City’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
The story

How Spring City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Spring City.

Read it all →

Spring City began as a stop along the Cincinnati Southern Railroad in the 1870s. The town was originally named Sulphur Springs, because of the mass amount of sulphur in the water. Sometime later it became "Rheaville," and later became incorporated with nearby Rhea Springs, and took on the name Rhea Springs. Due to an explosion, much of the town flooded or burnt, and the town relocated to its current location and was renamed Spring City, in honor of the original settlement, Sulphur Springs. The original location now lies at the bottom of a nearby section of Watts Bar Lake. Spring City thrived as a railroad shipping hub during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its first railroad depot, a simple wooden building constructed in 1879, burned in 1892, and was replaced by a larger one. This second depot was in turn replaced by the current depot, which was completed by the Southern Railwa…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Spring City, 1878 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Spring City post office opens
  3. 1889Born hereTommy Thompson is born here
  4. 1892Born hereThomas T. Handy is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1938Born hereHargus "Pig" Robbins is born here
  8. 1963Born hereDavid Douglas is born here
By decade

Spring City, decade by decade

Today7 recent
Solar eclipse shadows on a groundsheet2017Solar eclipse shadows on a groundsheetSpring-City-tn12015Spring-City-tn1Spring-City-park-tn12015Spring-City-park-tn1Spring-City-RR-tracks-tn12015Spring-City-RR-tracks-tn1Spring-City-Depot-tn12015Spring-City-Depot-tn1Spring-City-Depot-caboose-tn12015Spring-City-Depot-caboose-tn1Piney River Gorge2007Piney River Gorge
On the map

Spring City on the map, 1936 to 1980

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

Spring City on the 1936 USGS mapSpring City on the 1940 USGS mapSpring City on the 1966 USGS mapSpring City on the 1980 USGS map1936Spring City 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 Spring City.

People over time

Spring City, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,199

Between 598 and 2,199 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Spring City

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

See all →
Thomas T. HandyUnited States general · b. 1892
D
David DouglasAmerican gridiron football player · b. 1963
H
Hargus "Pig" RobbinsAmerican musician · b. 1938
Tommy ThompsonAmerican Major League Baseball pitcher · b. 1889
Places that used to be

Old corners

Spring City’s post office has been open since 1878.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Kemmer Hill

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

Questions about Spring City’s history

What year was Spring City founded?

The Spring City post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Spring City rank for history?

Spring City is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. 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.

How old are the homes in Spring City?

10% of Spring City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1973.

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 (7), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.