Downtown Public Art on Court Square To Commemorate Warren County’s Bicentennial.

Warren County owes very much, as many communities do, to the land and her resources. In recognition of the Bicentennial of Warren County, a display of public art has been commissioned. This art will stand as a public reminder of this community’s ties to her “roots” and this community’s aspirations for its future generations. It will stand as a significant sculpture that will have a lasting impact on this community. It will not only be thought provoking in both form and content but it will also be informative for generations yet unborn of the foundations of the past and demonstrate the aspirations this community has to move forward confidently toward the future.

The chosen art form will accomplish these goals through artful expression and use of material, a location adjacent to our Courthouse, and will include a time capsule to be opened at a designated time by future generations.

The public art will be dedicated on Saturday, July 5th the day of the Warren County Bicentennial Celebration in downtown McMinnville.

“From its earliest days, the population was dependent upon an agricultural economy...the presence of many oak, chestnut, beech, and other nut trees encouraged the raising of hogs, and settlers coupled this with the breeding of horse stock and mules. Their success in these endeavors earned Warren County the reputation as a prime source of pork and mules for the great plantations further south.”

“After the Civil War, industrialists developed the area’s mineral and timber resources. Beginning with the organization of the Caney Fork Iron and Coal Company in 1885 and continuing through the days of the Rocky River Coal and Lumber Company, a flourishing lumber business emerged, and numerous lumber manufactures, beginning with the T. F. Burrough Lumber Company, provided work and income to many area residents. Local investors in the booming George C. Brown Lumber Company accumulated substantial wealth during the early years of the twentieth century, earning for McMinnville a reputation as the “wealthiest little town in the South.”

“After World War I the textile and lumber industries remained the principal sources of employment. The people of Warren County soon felt the effects of economic hard times, however, and during the 1920s and 1930s many people migrated north after the failure of the Tennessee Woolen Mills, Read Hosiery Mill, Menzies Shoe Company, and Fly Overall Company.” - James Dillon, historian