Eighty years may seem like a long time until the number of days in 80 years is calculated.

Much change will occur in those 29,220 days. Three 80-year lifespans linked together will take us to a time when our area was a major part of the westward movement. The 1780s beginning of those three lifetimes would see some regional native people still resisting the takeover of their homeland.

That would soon be followed by lawless people such as the notorious Harpe brothers coming through the region. New settlers would arrive with plans for family farms, churches, stores, schools and early industries.

Jefferson City is a neat and pleasant town with the amenities available for a good life. The town would have its beginning in 1788 when Adam and Elizabeth Peck would travel from Virginia down the Holston River to where the large Mossy Creek would empty into the river. The primary source of the five-mile-long creek would be a large spring which still feeds the creek. At the time, rivers along with native and animal trails were a primary route for the coming English-speaking settlers.

The Pecks would use the crude remains of an earlier fort as shelter until they could build their own cabin. The strong flow of the creek provided a site for the Pecks to build a gristmill to turn corn and wheat into needed meal and flour for coming settlers. One landowner, John Crockett, the father of David, would see his property being sold to pay his debts. Other local settlers were more fortunate and were among the Mossy Creek settlers to remain in the area. “Uncle John,” a slave who had been taught to read by Elizabeth Peck would become the preacher at Elizabeth’s Chapel, which was completed in 1790, and which welcomed worshippers regardless of race.

With Tennessee becoming a state in 1796, Adam Peck would serve as a justice of the peace and become active in Knoxville’s beginnings.

As the local Baptists sought to better prepare their ministers, Mossy Creek Missionary Baptist Seminary would have its early beginnings in 1851 on the eastern banks of the creek. In 1889 the school would unite with Newman College for females to form the present Carson-Newman University. By the 1830s the creek had attracted an iron works, ax handle factory, wool carding and cotton spinning operations, along with William Cox and George Branner’s gristmills. Iron and Zinc ore had been discovered east of the creek which would lead to the three current zinc mining companies in the area.

When the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad came in 1858, John Roper Branner would provide land for the railroad to pass through the Mossy Creek community. The coming of the Civil War and with the secession of Tennessee from the Union in June, 1861, Confederate troops would first control the area. By September, 1861 Union General Burnside would liberate the area, while Confederate General Longstreet would arrive in Knoxville in an attempt to reclaim the area.

Defeated at Knoxville, Longstreet would move his army eastward. Skirmishes would follow his withdrawal until a lengthy battle would occur at Mossy Creek that would leave 500 casualties. By 1869, Branner had finished his landmark Glenmore Mansion, where he had planned to live.

Local businessmen considered the name “Mossy Creek” too rudimentary and in an effort to relocate the county seat, and despite opposition, would change the name to Jefferson City. Two other communities separated by farmland had grown around the Mossy Creek community with Carsonville to the south and Frame Addition to the west. The three communities would join together and would be incorporated into Jefferson City in 1901.

The Tennessee Valley Authority had planned a dam on the Holston River for flood control and electricity. TVA would buy land for the coming dam and lake, leaving many some sad people giving up their farms and land. The coming of the lake and dam would provide electricity and recreation for the local people and the coming tourists. In 1976, the city would celebrate its diamond jubilee with the current former downtown section now undergoing a revitalization.

Friend Joe Downs had earlier advised that a good compilation of Jefferson City’s story was available at the town’s former city hall. His comments would initiate a quick first visit that would lead to the trip that would birth this story.

The old City Hall had served many purposes beginning in 1904 when it was used as the town’s first public school. A current renovation would reveal a slate blackboard which still held an early trigonometry problem. Afterward the building would become the city hall which held the mayor and police chief’s offices, as well as the courtroom. One office that is still remembered is the room where water bills could be paid. The rear of the building was the parking garage for the fire department, which is now being restored as an events center.

The property’s rebirth had started by then-owner Tony Digiosia, who had begun on the buildings restoration. The day would come in 2022 when two friends, Jeanne Musick and Teresa Collins were standing in the parking lot across from the old city hall and where a dream was born. Their friendship contained exactly the right elements to see that dream develop into reality and they would form a partnership to buy the building in 2023. The University of Tennessee would take on the ladies as their client and the building now has a 501 (c)(3) non-profit designation.

Originally from Massachusetts, the former Jeanne Hines had come to Tennessee to work with the World’s Fair in 1982. Fate would lead her to a Tennessee boy, Larry Music of Morristown. The two would be married and have children Sheena, Jeremy and Bethany. While Larry worked a career with the Coca-Cola Company, Jeanne would help with the University of Tennessee and East High’s color guards and would later open a retail store in Jefferson City.

The former Teresa Kinsler, on the other hand, is a Jefferson City native who would graduate from Jefferson County High School in 1977. Married to Michael Collins, she would spend earlier years as a 35-year employee at Zoo Knoxville.

Growing up in Talbott near the early and then-busy Jefferson City business district, Teresa would recall trips with her mother to Franklin’s Market, the multi-level Parks-Belk and May department stores, the drug store, Catlett Hardware, the 2-downtown theater, a dime store and skating rink, the First National Bank, Benton’s Restaurant and Helen’s Dress shop. In 1957 and 1958 the coming of Jefferson City’s Broadway Street, also known as U.S. Highway 11E, would divert much traffic from the old business section.

The beginning of today’s City Center’s new life was when the ladies would open a gift shop in a section of the old building. Following their purchase, that once-empty property has seen a remarkable transition into a mini-business center that would include an upgrade guide and outfitter’s center. The center offers fishing and boating articles as well as inner tubes, kayaks and paddle boats for trips down quick flowing Mossy Creek.

A donut shop that sells breakfast items and donuts is sometimes out its popular product before closing time and which sets beside a shining pizza restaurant. A wonderful and private upstairs lodge features top-grade accommodations filled with vintage furniture and named after early prominent Mossy Creek founders. The lodge is often frequented by Carson-Newman parents as well as other guests, while an attention-grabbing large museum and heritage center of interesting artifacts tells the lengthy Jefferson City story.

“We have a number of volunteers who come by to help,” Teresa would tell. “Local businesses have also helped a good deal. We went around and found many of our museum items and the Longstreet Museum helped with our attention to the Battle of Mossy Creek. We celebrated our founders up to today’s leaders and have a special day on December 29 and other activities throughout the year. A good number of people visit with us with over 6,000 people stopping by last year and we can always use more in our collection of artifacts. We’re here from Tuesday through Saturday from 12 until 4 p.m. and are closed on Sundays.”

Much of the information for this article would come from noted local historian Cleve Smith, along with the book “Images of America: Jefferson City” by Linda Gass and Albert Lang. The fact-filled book can be found at the Jefferson City Hall Museum.