History · Cross Plains · established 1819

Cross Plains’s history is mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Cross Plains yet. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

1819established

0old photos & papers

2historic places

Add an old photo Share a memory

What stands out about Cross Plains’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cross Plains are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1819: 207 years of Cross Plains.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cross Plains’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cross Plains’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Cross Plains came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cross Plains.

Read it all →

In 1778, American Revolutionary War veteran Thomas Kilgore arrived at the Middle Fork of Red River, three-fourths of a mile west of Cross Plains, making him the first European settler to arrive in Robertson County. Kilgore traveled to this area to claim 640 acres of land, which was guaranteed to settlers who traveled west by the Legislature of North Carolina. Kilgore returned to eastern North Carolina in the fall of 1778, and after the title of his land was confirmed, he traveled back to his settlement with a few other families, and built a stockade which would be known as Kilgore Station. The first building was a double log house erected by William Randolph in 1819. It was also used as a tavern.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Cross Plains, decade by decade

Today4 recent

2023Thomas Kilgore historical sign

2023Thomas Kilgore Headstone

2014William Randolph House

2013Cross Plains, TN, USA

On the National Register

2 historic places in Cross Plains

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1973

William Randolph House

in Tennessee

#124

by listings

Buildings

William Randolph HouseBuilding

Thomas DrugsBuilt 1915

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Weigh in

Has Cross Plains changed for the better?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Start a conversation

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2) and Wikipedia. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.