The Political Movement That Brought About the Formation of Union County, Tennessee

By the late 1840s the political pressure to have a county seat where residents could vote and conduct business without having to make an overnight trip was sufficiently strong enough that an Act of the Tennessee legislature was drafted to form a new county from portions of the five surrounding counties–Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Grainger and Knox Counties. On January 13, 1850 the Act to establish Union County was passed. There was haggling over boundary lines and some lines were redrawn. Nonetheless, Knox County was not happy about losing so much of it's tax base and filed a lawsuit attempting to stop the formation of Union County. Horace Maynard, a young lawyer from Massachusetts who had come to teach at what became The University of Tennessee, defended Union County. To honor him, the town of Liberty was renamed Maynardville and even today remains the county seat. An historic marker was recently installed at the property on Main Street that was given to Mr. Maynard. This property eventually passed from Horace Maynard to Ida Snodderly Carr and Dr. Harvey Carr. Because of a large Mulberry tree on the property, this tract of land was known as the Mulberry Tract.
An election was held with the residents of the portions of the affected counties to vote for or against the formation of this new county. The total votes were 561 with only 93 votes cast against and 466 voting for the formation of this new county. With this election behind them, the organization of Union County began about 1854.

Bonnie Heiskell Peters, Union County, Tennessee Historian