Clarksville, Tennessee , Mar

Clarksville is a city located in Montgomery County, Tennessee, USA. As of the 2005 census, the city had a total population of 123,395, retaining its position as Tennessee's fifth largest city. It is the county seat of Montgomery CountyGR6. Clarksville is the home of Austin Peay State University.

It was incorporated in 1785, and named for General George Rogers Clark, frontier fighter and Revolutionary War hero. Clarksville is home to the state's oldest newspaper, The Leaf-Chronicle, established in 1808.

The city has three nicknames: "The Queen City", "Gateway to the New South", and "Clarksvegas" this name was made famous by local Survivor Castaway Ryan Shoulders, and his website.

Geography
Clarksville is located at 36°33'34" North, 87°21'30" West (36.559383, -87.358261)GR1. The elevation is 382 feet above sea level. This altitude can be found on a section of Riverside Drive, which runs along the eastern bank of the Cumberland, but most of the city is higher. Clarksville's civil airport, Outlaw Field, is listed as 550 feet AMSL by survey. According to Topo USA mapping software, the city square sits at 475 feet and the courthouse at 509 feet. There is a point on the northern side of Memorial Drive near Medical Court that reaches 598 feet.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 247.4 km² (95.5 mi²). 245.7 km² (94.9 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.71% water.

Clarksville is located on the northwest edge of the Highland Rim, which surrounds the Nashville Basin, and is 45 miles northwest of Nashville.

Clarksville was founded on the Cumberland River near the confluence of the Cumberland and the Red River. The Cumberland flows downstream from Nashville, some 40 miles southeast of Clarksville. From its beginnings, the river was the city's commercial lifeline. Flat boats and, by the 1820s, steamboats carried cotton, oats, soybeans and tobacco, downstream to the Ohio River and up the Ohio to Pittsburgh. More frequently, cargo went down the Ohio to the Mississippi River and New Orleans. Both dark-fired and burly tobacco are grown in the area, and European tobacco buyers helped make Clarksville the largest market in the world for dark-fired tobacco, particularly Type 22, used in smokeless products. It was considered to have the highest nicotine content of all tobaccos in the 19th century.

To the northwest of Clarksville, lies the Fort Campbell Military Reservation, home of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault). Much of Clarksville's economy can be attributed to Fort Campbell's presence. Most of Fort Campbell is in Tennessee, mostly in Montgomery and Stewart counties, however it is classified as being in Kentucky because its post office is in Kentucky.

Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2005, there were 123,395 people, 36,969 households, and 26,950 families residing in the city. The population density was 421.1/km² (1,090.6/mi²). There were 40,041 housing units at an average density of 163.0/km² (422.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.91% White, 23.23% African American, 0.54% Native American, 2.16% Asian, 0.25% Pacific Islander, 2.61% from other races, and 3.30% from two or more races. 6.03% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The census recorded 5,187 foreign-born residents in Clarksville.

There were 36,969 households out of which 41.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% were married couples living together, 13.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.1% were non-families. 21.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 28.8% under the age of 18, 13.6% from 18 to 24, 34.7% from 25 to 44, 15.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 100.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,548, and the median income for a family was $41,421. Males had a median income of $29,480 versus $22,549 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,686. 10.6% of the population and 8.4% of families were below the poverty line. 13.8% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Founding
The area around Clarksville was first surveyed by Thomas Hutchins in 1768. He identified Red Paint Hill, a rock bluff at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers, as a navigational landmark. In 1775, John Montgomery, the namesake of the county, along with Kaspar Mansker visited the area while on a hunting expedition. That same year, the land between the Ohio and the Cumberland was purchased by Richard Henderson from the Cherokee Indians for horses, guns, and alcohol. The other local tribes, such as the Creek, Shawnee, and Chickasaw claimed parts of the territory, creating conflict between the Indians and the settlers.

In 1779, James Robertson brought a group of settlers from upper East Tennessee via Daniel Boone's "Wilderness Road". Robertson would later build an iron plantation in Cumberland Furnace. A year later, in 1780, John Donelson led a group of flat boats up the Cumberland River bound for the settlement that would later be Nashville. When the boats reached Red Paint Hill, Moses Renfroe, Joseph Renfroe, and Solomon Turpin, along with their families, branched off onto the Red River. They traveled to the mouth of Parson's Creek, near Port Royal, and came ashore to settle down. However, an attack by Indians in the summer drove them back.

On January 16, 1784, John Armstrong filed notice with the Legislature of North Carolina to create the town of Clarksville, named after General George Rogers Clark. Even before it was officially designated a town, lots had been sold. After an official survey by James Sanders, Clarksville was founded by the North Carolina Legislature on December 29, 1785. It was the second town to be founded in the area. Armstrong's layout for the town consisted of 12 four-acre (16,000 m²) squares built on the hill overlooking the Cumberland as to protect against floods. The primary streets (from north to south) that went east-west were named Jefferson, Washington (now College Street), Franklin, Main, and Commerce streets. North-south streets (from the river eastward) were named Water (now Riverside Drive), Spring, First, Second, and Third streets.

The tobacco trade in the area was growing larger every year and in 1789, Montgomery and Martin Armstrong persuaded lawmakers to designate Clarksville as an inspection point for tobacco. In 1790, Isacc Rowe Peterson staked a claim to Dunbar Cave, just northeast of downtown.

When Tennessee was founded as a state in 1796, the area around Clarksville and to the east was named Tennessee County. Later, Tennessee County would be broken up into modern day Montgomery and Robertson Counties, named to honor the men who first opened up the region for settlement.

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