South Guthrie, Tennessee

South Guthrie, Tennessee
Unincorporated community
South Guthrie, Tennessee
South Guthrie, Tennessee
Coordinates: 36°38′28″N 87°10′06″W / 36.641088°N 87.168289°W / 36.641088; -87.168289Coordinates: 36°38′28″N 87°10′06″W / 36.641088°N 87.168289°W / 36.641088; -87.168289
Country United States
State Tennessee
County Montgomery
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s) 931

South Guthrie is an unincorporated rural community in Montgomery County, Tennessee, immediately south of the Kentucky state line.[1]

South Guthrie is adjacent to the city of Guthrie, Kentucky; essentially, it is the part of the Guthrie community located south of the state line. In the Jim Crow era, South Guthrie was the African-American community associated with the white city of Guthrie, with the state line forming a dividing line between the races.[1]

The community of Guthrie was established in 1868 and experienced early growth after a railroad junction was completed in 1870. South Guthrie, which grew up alongside Guthrie, was known historically by the nicknames "Squiggtown" and "Niggertown", the latter being a pejorative used by white residents of Guthrie.[1]

In the early decades of the 20th century, residents of South Guthrie found industrial employment in a broom factory and a plant that made railroad ties. South Guthrie also had a small middle class of African-American professionals and benefited economically from African-American tobacco farmers in the surrounding "Black Patch" region.[1]

South Guthrie is still predominantly black, while Guthrie is predominantly white, although the divisions are not as sharply defined as they were historically.[1]

The building that houses the South Guthrie community center is a former Rosenwald school that was completed in 1922 and operated as a school until 1968.[1][2] It is the only survivor out of 22 Rosenwald schools that once existed in Montgomery County.[3] The Guildfield Missionary Baptist Church, also built in 1922, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 West, Carroll Van (January 29, 2002). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Guildfield Missionary Baptist Church". Middle Tennessee State University, Center for Historic Preservation.
  2. ↑ "South Guthrie Community Center Rental Policies and Procedures". Montgomery County Government. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  3. ↑ Hicks, Mark (April 10, 2013). "South Guthrie project preserves history, adds meeting space". The Leaf Chronicle. Clarksville, Tennessee.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.