HICKMAN

County Seat: Centerville
When most people think of a place named for chewing gum millionaire William Wrigley, most think of Wrigley Field in Chicago. But believe it or not there is a small community in Hickman County also named for him.
Wrigley in the early 1930s
PHOTO: The Brown Iron Ores of the Western Highland Rim, by Burchard
In the 1920s, Wrigley was one of the main investors in the Tennessee Products Corp., which owned and operated coal, iron and phosphate mines and factories in Chattanooga, Rockwood, Whitwell, Rockdale and other places. Wrigley, in Hickman County, was one of the Tennessee Products Corp.'s "company towns" -- named for the same man people now associate with chewing gum and the Chicago Cubs. The main thing produced at the Tennessee Products Corp.'s Wrigley operation was charcoal, to be used by iron manufacturers.
Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry
PHOTO: Country Music Foundation

Also regarding Hickman County: Sarah Cannon is probably the most famous person to ever come from Hickman County, but most people knew her by her stage name, and that was Minnie Pearl. Cannon was from a good family and went to Ward-Belmont College in Nashville, which was a finishing school for young ladies. But she had a bubbly personality and a great sense of humor, and soon she became an actress. The Minnie Pearl character became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry starting in 1940. Today the very mention of the word “HOW-DEE!” brings to mind the woman from Hickman County. 



Here is a photograph of the Hickman County Courthouse

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