Meigs County (Tennessee)
Meigs County is a county located in the state of Tennessee in the United States. The administrative headquarters ( County Seat) is Decatur.
Geography
The County is located in Eastern Tennessee and has an area of 561 square kilometers, of which 57 square kilometers are water surface. It is bordered clockwise to the following counties: Roane County, McMinn County, Bradley County, Hamilton County and Rhea County.
Towns
- Decatur, Town
- Big Spring ( unincorporated )
- Birchwood ( unincorporated partially )
- Georgetown ( unincorporated, partial)
- Ten Mile ( unincorporated, partial)
Traffic
State Route 58 - north-south thoroughfare that runs through the county about the middle and on the Hiwassee River Bridge is the only compound in the southern part of the County.
State Route 30 - east-west thoroughfare that runs through Decatur, where State Route 58 crosses. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is building this road to a four lane road, to speed up the traffic from and to Interstate 75. From Decatur eastward expansion was completed in 2008.
State Route 68 - north-south thoroughfare that runs though in east-west direction in the north of the county; they crossed the Tennessee River at Watts Bar Dam.
State Route 60 - east-west thoroughfare, which represents the southern boundary of the county.
State Route 304 - the main road of local importance, the Ten Mile with the County Seat Decatur connects and allows access to Watts Bar Lake in the northern section.
State Route 305 - the main road of local importance, with Interstate 75 and State Routes 68 and 58. The road also connects the north -central part of the county with Athens in neighboring McMinn County.
History
Meigs County was formed on January 20, 1836 from Cherokee country. It was named for Return J. Meigs, sr. , An officer of the Continental Army.
Already operated since 1807, white settlers ferries to set the Rhea County on the Tennessee River. Colonel Meigs, who would become the namesake of the county, operating on the other side of the river in Rhea County an Indian agency, which in 1817 moved to the east into what is now Meigs County. 1819 enabled the Hiwassee Treaty, the settlement of the country by white men, first as part of Rhea County.
Demographic data
2000
According to the census in 2000 lived in Meigs County 11,086 people in 4,304 households and 3,262 families. The population density was 22 people per square kilometer. The racial the population was made up of 97.65 percent White, 1.24 percent African American, 0.21 percent Native American, 0.18 percent Asian, and 0.11 percent from other races; 0.60 percent were descended from two or more races. 0.57 percent of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 4,304 households out of which 32.8 percent have children under the age of 18 living with them. 61.7 percent were married couples living together, 9.9 percent were single mothers and 24.2 percent were non-families. 20.8 percent of all households and 7.8 percent lived in persons aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average household size was 2.94 people.
25.1 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 8.1 percent between 18 to 24, 28.9 percent between 25 and 44, 26.3 percent between 45 and 64 and 11.5 percent were older than 65, the average age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were statistically 100.0 males to 100 females age 18 and over, there 97.3 males.
The median income for a household was $ 29,354, and the median income for a family was $ 34,114. Males have a median income of $ 29,521, women $ 20,419. The per capita income was $ 14,551. 15.8 percent of families and 18.3 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.