Photograph by David Crigger
The settlement of Elizabethton dates back to 1760 when Daniel Boone and other hunters made their way through Elizabethton on a trail which is now Doe Avenue. A small scattering of settlers existed by 1770. In 1771, James Robertson and sixteen settlers joined the settlement, which was then part of Watauga County, North Carolina. By 1772, the Watauga Association was formed to bring order to the frontier, establishing the first organized government west of the Alleghenies under the shade of an old sycamore tree situated at Hattie Avenue and Riverside Drive. Only a trace of the old sycamore tree remains today, located across the street from the original site with a marker memorializing this occasion.

Fort Watauga was constructed in 1776, creating a small regional community of local encampments with sufficient rainfall that would be advantageous to farming. As the settlements were established, agricultural production became a major economic activity of the county.

One of the community's first settlers, Colonel John Carter, built what would become one of the premier historic structures of the region. The Carter Mansion became the home of Landon and Elizabeth Maclin Carter, for whom Carter County and Elizabethton are named. By 1780, Sycamore Shoals became the gathering site for a group of men led by Colonels John Sevier, Isaac Shelby, and William Campbell who would march to Kings Mountain, South Carolina over what would become the historic Overmountain Victory Trail. Starting at Sycamore Shoals and following historic Indian trails, the men proceeded to engage and defeat British Major Ferguson safeguarding the region from British rule.

Carter County was formed from part of Washington County in 1796 by the legislature Photograph by David Criggerof the State of Tennessee. By an act of the legislature in 1799, the town of Elizabethton was established initially consisting of fifty acres at the base of Lynn Mountain.

Elizabethton's population grew slowly from seventeen in 1771 to 734 by 1890. In 1892, the ET&WNC Railroad constructed a line through Carter County to connect the iron mines at Cranberry with Johnson City. With the establishment of the railroad, the region became accessible for further growth and development, resulting in an increase in population to 1,502 and 2,740 by 1900 and 1920, respectively. During this period the Central Business District developed from Elm Street to the Courthouse.

In 1925, the Bemberg Glanzstoff Company began construction of two factories in Carter County which would become the County's largest employers for most of the 20th century.


In the years following the Second World War, the emergence of a completely different type of economy developed in Carter County. This change was brought about by the location of a number of new manufacturing and service industries in the region. These industries diversified employment opportunities replacing agriculture as the principle livelihood of the community.

Photograph by Jack RamseyAs the population of Carter County grew, so did the population of Elizabethton. The City responded to the needs of its citizens by providing a variety of municipal services.

Since the time with the total land area of Elizabethton increasing from fifty acres to approximately 5,720 acres -- nine square miles -- today.