Manchester is a city and the county seat of Coffee County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 12,213 at the 2020 census.

Manchester is part of the Tullahoma micropolitan area.

Since 2002, Manchester has been the host city for the annual Bonnaroo Music Festival. The city's population swells to nearly 100,000 people for the four-day event, for which people travel across the country to camp and enjoy continuous and diverse music.

History

A post office called Manchester has been in operation since 1817. The city was named after Manchester, in England. According to historians, "A small village, “Mitchellsville” was already in existence near the proposed site for the new county seat, but when the new county was formed, it was renamed “Manchester” after the industrial city of Manchester, England. Because of the abundance of water power, provided by the “Little Duck” & “Big Duck” Rivers, which flow through Manchester, it was hoped that it also would become a great industrial city."

Long-time Mayor Lonnie J. Norman died of COVID-19 in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kanye West tweeted his condolences.

Geography

Manchester is located slightly south of the center of Coffee County at (35.473337, -86.085512). Interstate 24 passes through the northeast side of the city, with access from Exits 110, 111, and 114. Exit "112" was a "temporary exit" directly from the shoulder of I-24 into the Bonnaroo Music Festival site. From Exit 111 it is southeast to Chattanooga and northwest to Nashville. U.S. Route 41 passes through the center of town as Hillsboro Boulevard; US 41 runs parallel to I-24 and leads southeast to Hillsboro and northwest to I-24 Exit 105. Tennessee State Route 55 passes through the east side of Manchester as McArthur Street; it leads northeast to McMinnville and southwest to Tullahoma.

The Little Duck River begins at the confluence of Hunt Creek and Huckleberry Creek and passes through the city before joining the Duck River just west of the city limits. The Duck River, a tributary of the Tennessee River, passes through the northwest corner of the city. Both rivers drop over waterfalls above their confluence, within Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.24%, is water.

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2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Manchester had a population of 12,212 and 2,582 families. The median age was 36.6 years, with 24.6% of residents under the age of 18 and 17.1% of residents 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.6 males age 18 and over.

96.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 3.4% lived in rural areas. There were 4,825 households in Manchester, of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.8% were married-couple households, 19.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Number !! Percent

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| White || 9,831 || 80.5%

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| Black or African American || 484 || 4.0%

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| American Indian and Alaska Native || 75 || 0.6%

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| Asian || 215 || 1.8%

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| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 6 || 0.0%

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| Some other race || 653 || 5.3%

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| Two or more races || 948 || 7.8%

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| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,274 || 10.4%

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2000 census

As of the census

References

  • City of Manchester official website
  • The Manchester Times (newspaper)
  • City charter