ABOUT

Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee. The population was 108,755 according to the 2010 census, up from 68,816 residents certified in 2000. In 2014, census estimates showed a population of 120,954.

History
In 1811, the Tennessee State Legislature established a county seat for Rutherford County. The town was first named "Cannonsburgh" in honor of Tennessee politician Newton Cannon, but was soon renamed "Murfreesboro" for Revolutionary War hero Colonel Hardy Murfree. Author Mary Noailles Murfree was his great-granddaughter. As Tennessee grew westward, the location of the state capital in Knoxville began to be inconvenient for the many settlers at a distance to the west. In 1818, Murfreesboro was designated as the capital of Tennessee. In 1826, it was replaced by Nashville as the state capital. Murfreesboro had begun as a mainly agricultural community, but by 1853 the area was home to several colleges and academies, earning it the nickname "Athens of Tennessee". Despite the trauma of the Civil War, by the early 1900s its growth began to regain momentum, in contrast to large areas of the South.