Beech Bluff, Tennessee

Beech Bluff is an unincorporated community on the east-central edge of Madison County, Tennessee, United States.[3] The area ZIP code is 38313.[4]

Beech Bluff, Tennessee
Unincorporated community
Beech Bluff post office, 2019
Beech Bluff post office, 2019
Beech Bluff, Tennessee is located in Tennessee
Beech Bluff, Tennessee
Beech Bluff, Tennessee
Beech Bluff, Tennessee is located in the United States
Beech Bluff, Tennessee
Beech Bluff, Tennessee
Coordinates: 35°35′47″N 88°37′53″W
CountryUnited States
StateTennessee
CountyMadison
Area
[1]
 • Total4.40 sq mi (11.39 km2)
 • Land4.40 sq mi (11.39 km2)
 • Water0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation
384 ft (117 m)
Population
 (2020)[2]
 • Total379
 • Density86.21/sq mi (33.29/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
38313
Area code731
GNIS feature ID1305050[3]

History

The area which is now Beech Bluff was first inhabited by the Chickasaw, from whom an earthwork remains.[5] In 1852, a post office was established at Beech Bluff,[6] which was then also known as Homer[lower-alpha 1] and used as a summer resort.[7] After a section of the Tennessee Midland Railway was built through the area between 1888 and 1890, the name of the community was officially settled as Beech Bluff,[8] deriving its appellation from a large grove of native beech trees near a local bluff.[9] By 1897, the population had grown to approximately three hundred.[10] The community was historically home to a high school,[11] founded as a one-room schoolhouse in 1885 and closed during desegregation in 1977.[12] It later became a grade school called Beech Bluff Elementary[13] before it was converted into a recreation center in 2016.[14]

Geography

Beech Bluff is built on deposits of loess which have developed brown or grayish brown silt loam soils. These are mapped as Grenada, Memphis or Lexington series where drainage is good, and Calloway in somewhat poorly drained areas.[15]

Demographics
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
2020379—
U.S. Decennial Census[16]

References

Notes
  1. It appears that the community was, in its early years, dually known as Homer and Beech Bluff. Higgins and Parish's Madison County has it that the community was known as Homer until the construction of the railroad, and Miller's Tennessee Place-names would seem to confirm this, but A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States, published in 1854, nevertheless identifies a Beech Bluff post office in Madison County. The likely conclusion is that both names existed in the community's early years, with Homer being the more prevalent one, but the railway station sealed the official name as Beech Bluff upon its completion.

Citations
  1. "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  2. "Census Population API". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  3. "Beech Bluff, Tennessee". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  4. United States Postal Service. "USPS—Look Up a ZIP Code". Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  5. "Armchair tour: Resident gives club a history of Beech Bluff". The Jackson Sun. January 13, 1982. p. 6-D. Retrieved March 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  7. Williams, Emma Inman (1946). Historic Madison. Madison County Historical Society. p. 347.
  8. Higgins, Linda J.; Parish, Scott (2009). Madison County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 0-738-56779-5.
  9. Ridpath, John Clark (1897). The Standard American Encyclopedia of Arts, Sciences, History, Biography, Geography, Statistics, and General Knowledge, Volume 8. Encyclopedia Publishing Company. p. 3132.
  10. Miller, Larry L. (2001). Tennessee Place-names. Indiana University Press. p. 15. ISBN 0-253-21478-5.
  11. Directory of Secondary Schools in the United States. U.S. Office of Education. 1949. p. 355.
  12. "Beech Bluff Faces Last Homecoming Game". The Jackson Sun. January 7, 1977. p. 2-B. Retrieved March 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. CIC's School Directory. Curriculum Information Center. 1990. p. 347.
  14. "Beech Bluff Recreation Center survives push from some Madison County Commissioners to close". The Jackson Sun. May 21, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  15. Natural Resources Conservation Service. "SoilWeb". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  16. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
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