Butler, Tennessee

Butler is an unincorporated community in Johnson County in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located along the northern shore of Watauga Lake.[2] Butler is served by a post office, assigned ZIP Code 37640.

Butler, Tennessee
Unincorporated community
Buildings along McQueen Street
Butler
Butler
Coordinates: 36°21′12″N 82°01′56″W
Country United States
State Tennessee
CountyJohnson County
Elevation
608 m (1,995 ft)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
37640
Area code(s)423
FIPS code47-10080
GNIS feature ID1305567[1]

History

The town was originally located on Roan Creek [3] at its confluence with the Watauga River.[4] Settlement began in 1768.[4] For many years the community was called Smith's Mill for the gristmill that Ezekial “Zeke” Smith built on the bank of Roan Creek in 1820.[5] After the Civil War, it was renamed in honor of Colonel Roderick R. Butler of Johnson County, who then represented the area in the state legislature and had been a commander in the 13th Tennessee Cavalry in the Union Army.[6]

Aenon Seminary, a secondary school, was established in Butler in 1871.[5] It later became Holly Spring College,[5] offering education up to a bachelor's degree, and enrolling as many as 200 students.[4] In 1906 it was purchased by the Watauga Baptist Association, which renamed it Watauga Academy. It operated under that name until 1948, when the town was inundated by the formation of Watauga Lake.[7]

Butler was the birthplace of U.S. Congressmen B. Carroll Reece of Tennessee and Robert R. Butler of Oregon (grandson of the town's namesake).

Inundation and relocation
Main Street in "old" Butler, before inundation

The original town of Butler was subject to frequent flooding, experiencing major floods in 1867, 1886, 1901, 1902, 1916, 1924, and 1940.[8] The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began the construction of the Watauga Dam in 1942 which created the Watauga Lake. The construction was delayed because of the ongoing World War II, but was finished in 1948 when the water steadily began rising and the town slowly became submerged under the lake. Butler was the only incorporated town inundated by a TVA reservoir.[9] In 1948, before the reservoir was filled, the town, which at the time had a population of about 600 and included more than 125 homes and 50 businesses, was relocated to higher ground.[3][5][6][9] The relocation project required construction of 54.9 miles (88.4 km) of roads and highways, three bridges, and 66 miles (106 km) of utility lines, as well as relocation of 1,281 graves.[10] The town's new site is located on Tennessee State Route 67 at 36.35682°N 82.03015°W / 36.35682; -82.03015.

The original town is now known as "Old Butler."[11] Old Butler, called “the town that wouldn’t drown,” is commemorated in a museum in Butler and by "Old Butler Days" which is an annual festival held each year in August right in the heart of the town.[12] In 1983, a drawdown of the lake exposed the remains of Old Butler for a brief time, allowing former residents to visit the site.[9][13]

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References
  1. "Butler, Tennessee". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  2. Johnson County, Tennessee General Highway Map (PDF) (Map). Tennessee Department of Transportation. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  3. Places of Johnson County TN Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine, Johnson County TNGenWeb
  4. Herman Tester (2006) Butler: Old, New and Carderview. ISBN 0-615-15467-0
  5. Book description for Old Butler (TN) (Images of America), by Michael and Lanette Depew, Amazon.com
  6. Butler, Tennessee: Colonel Roderick Random Butler's Namesake, WataugaLakeMagazine.com, September, 2007
  7. Schools, in The History of Johnson County, Mountain City Elementary School website, accessed March 21, 2008
  8. Butler Museum Archived 2008-04-15 at the Wayback Machine, Tennessee History for Kids website (accessed March 22, 2008)
  9. Immersed Remains: Towns Submerged In America Archived 2008-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Lay of the Land, volume 28, Spring 2005, Center for Land Use Interpretation
  10. The Town of Butler, in The History of Johnson County, Mountain City Elementary School website, accessed March 21, 2008
  11. Old Butler Days, WataugaLakeMagazine.com, August, 2007
  12. Lois Carol Wheatley, Dive Into Old Butler Days August 10 to 11 Archived 2008-09-19 at the Wayback Machine, High Country Press (Boone, NC), August 2, 2007
  13. Butler Project Collection 1983-84, East Tennessee State University Archives of Appalachia

Further reading
  • Calhoun, Russ (1998). Lost Heritage: The People of Old Butler, Tennessee and the Watauga Valley. Overmountain Press. 387 pages. ISBN 978-1-57072-081-9
  • Depew, Michael and Lanette (2005). Old Butler (TN) (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-4171-6
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