Henry County history

Born in Franklin County in 1818, Harris moved to Paris as a young boy.

Henry County was formed April 1, 1820, from American Indian territory, and named for Patrick Henry, the celebrated Virginia orator of the Revolutionary Era.

The Tennessee General Assembly created Henry County on November 7, 1821, and named in honor of Patrick Henry (1736-1799), Virginia statesman, patriot and Revolutionary leader, member of the Virginia colonial and state legislatures and the Continental Congress, governor of Virginia.

At that time there were not a sufficient number of people in the county to fill the public offices.It was not until 1823 that there were enough people to organize a township.

The County’s first murder led to the landmark “State vs.Grainger” Case (1830) that set a precedent for self defense as the basis for appeal.

It connected the Ohio River at Cincinnati with Lake Erie at Toledo. It was begun on Feb.22, 1832, a date which honored George Washington who had first suggested the construction of canals in this region.

Many sought refuge at Sulphur Well during the 1837 yellow fever epidemic.

The Miami and Erie Canal was finished in 1843, along with political unrest in Europe.

The first framed courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1847 and all records were lost to the early historian. It had been erected in 1844 near the site of the present courthouse.

The first framed courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1847 and all records were lost to the early historian.

Napoleon, the county seat in 1850, was then so insignificant that the entire description could be explained in about three lines: Napoleon, the county seat, is on the Maumee River and the Miami and Erie Canal 17 miles below Defiance, 40 miles above Toledo, and 154 miles northwest of Columbus.

The Wabash railroad had been built through the area in 1855 and served Colton, Napoleon, and Okolona as well.

When finished in 1856 it was 458 miles long and one of the longest canals ever built.

Union forces occupied the courthouse in 1862.

It was in 1863 that Alphaes Buchanan first conceived the idea of establishing a trading point where Liberty Center is now located.

In March 1864 Harris was involved in a brief skirmish with Union troops near Mansfield in Henry County which left two Confederate soldiers wounded.

As early as 1871, there were five church buildings in Napoleon: Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopalian, and German Lutheran.

Andrew Weaver began business there in 1873 and plotted the village the first year that the trains were run.

Porter was elected governor for two terms beginning in 1874.

Hamler was named in honor of John Hamler. It was plotted in 1875.

The village was incorporated in 1876, the year of the Centennial, and has become a live business center known now as the “Corn City.”

The Black Swamp was slowly and thinly settled and by 1890 it only had a population of about 50,000; but now, in less than a century, it has been cleared and drained and is now called the “Garden Spot” of Ohio and supports half a million people.

In the meantime this entire region — the Maumee Valley — had undergone extraordinary changes by 1895.

Henry County Courthouse is the oldest working Courthouse in West Tennessee built in 1897.

In 1944 Sulphur Well was covered by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kentucky Lake, the largest man-made lake in the United States and the second largest in the world.

After the creation of Paris Landing State Park in 1945, the lake soon became a popular recreation destination.

The Henry County Development Authority was created in 1967 by a local amendment to the Georgia Constitution.

A new Damascus Bridge is to be built and put to use in 1976.

A plaque was erected on the north side of the courthouse in 2012 by the Daughters of the American Colonists commemorating Henry County’s historic Courthouse.