Monteagle is a town in Franklin, Grundy, and Marion counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Cumberland Plateau region of the southeastern part of the state. The population was 1,238 at the 2000 census – 804 of the town's 1,238 residents (64.9%) lived in Grundy County, 428 (34.6%) in Marion County, and 6 (0.5%) in Franklin County. The population at the 2020 census was 1,393.

The Marion County portion of Monteagle is part of the Chattanooga–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Franklin County portion is part of the Tullahoma, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Monteagle is famous for the treacherous stretch of Interstate 24 that passes through the town. It is here that the highway passes over what is colloquially referred to as "The Monteagle" or "Monteagle Mountain", a section of the southern Cumberland Plateau which is a major landmark on the road between Chattanooga and Nashville. The interstate regularly shuts down in inclement weather, routing traffic onto U.S. Route 41. In the Jerry Reed song "The Legend", which is the opening track in the film Smokey and the Bandit, Reed tells the story of the Bandit miraculously surviving brake failure on the "Monteagle Grade". There is also a song called "Monteagle Mountain" by Johnny Cash on the album Boom Chicka Boom.

The town is home to DuBose Conference Center and the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly. The Highlander Folk School, long involved in the labor movement and the civil rights movement, was located here from 1932 to 1961. Rosa Parks attended workshops there shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

History

thumb|upright|Monteagle highway scene, circa 1941

Monteagle has long served as a popular point to cross the Cumberland Plateau due to its location along a relatively narrow stretch of the plateau in southern Tennessee. One of the last groups of Cherokees removed from the Southeastern United States along the Trail of Tears passed through what is now Monteagle en route to Oklahoma in late October 1838. This group consisted of approximately 700 Cherokee led by John Bell and escorted by U.S. Army Lieutenant Edward Deas.

The town of Monteagle was originally known as "Moffat Station" after John Moffat, a Scottish-Canadian temperance activist who purchased over of land in the area in 1870. In 1872, Moffat donated of land to Fairmount College, a women's college that had decided to relocate to the area from Jackson, Mississippi. The grounds of the school are now home to the DuBose Conference Center, named for one of the school's early pastors. In 1882, the Chautauqua-inspired Monteagle Sunday School Assembly was established to train Sunday school teachers.

The name of Moffat Station was later changed to "Mount Eagle", and afterwards to "Mounteagle". The spelling had been changed to "Monteagle" by the time the town incorporated in 1962.

Geography

Monteagle is located in the southwest corner of Grundy County and the northwest corner of Marion County at (35.239941, -85.834372). The Marion-Grundy county line runs east-to-west through the center of town. The town limits extend west into Franklin County as well.

The town straddles a narrow stretch of the Cumberland Plateau known colloquially as "Monteagle Mountain". This stretch of the plateau is approximately wide, with steep drop-offs to the northwest and southeast. Monteagle lies at an elevation of just under above sea level.

Interstate 24 passes through the town just south and west of the town center, with access from Exits 134 and 135. I-24 leads northwest to Nashville and southeast to Chattanooga. U.S. Route 41 is Main Street through the town, leading east to Tracy City and northwest to Manchester. U.S. Route 41A branches off from US 41 in Monteagle and leads southwest to Sewanee. Winchester is to the west via US 41A.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.48%, is water.

Demographics

2020 census

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

|+Monteagle racial composition

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

|-

!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)

| 1,256

| 90.17%

|-

!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

| 12

| 0.86%

|-

!scope="row"| Native American

| 1

| 0.07%

|-

!scope="row"| Asian

| 23

| 1.65%

|-

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 67

| 4.81%

|-

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 34

| 2.44%

|}

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,393 people, 614 households, and 458 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the census

  • May Justus, award-winning author
  • Edwin A. Keeble, architect (Nashville's Life & Casualty Tower)
  • William Millsaps, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church
  • William Alexander Percy, poet and lawyer, bought Brinkwood, a summer house in Monteagle.

References

  • Town charter