History

McNairy County is located in the southeast corner of West Tennessee. The county is 90 miles east of Memphis, 490 miles south of Chicago, Illinois, 165 miles west of Nashville, 450 miles north of New Orleans, Louisiana. McNairy County occupies the watershed between the Tennessee and the Mississippi Rivers. The soil is mixed with sand and clay. The southern part of the county is more level and has excellent soil especially for farming.

Settlement in what was to become McNairy County began about 1819, in the northern part of the County. The territory at that time was a part of Hardin County, which had been established by Act of Legislature 1819.

In October 1823, the Tennessee Legislature created a new county from a part of Hardin County. It was named “McNairy” in honor of Judge John McNairy of North Carolina. He is buried in City Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.

The first court in McNairy County was held in 1824, in a log house erected for that purpose, on the land of Abel V. Murray, about three miles northeast of the present County seat of Selmer.

The county furnished soldiers to both the Confederate and Union armies. The line of demarcation was roughly east and west, about midway of the county.

M.R. Abernathy was the first superintendent of public instruction and first tax collector in McNairy County. He was in the newspaper business for a long time until his death, December 1899.

The mobile and Ohio Railroad was built through McNairy County and completed there in 1855.McNairy County citizens are descendents of settlers who moved to this area in the early 1800s. Each family has many relatives, and family friends reaching back over the years.

The friendly spirit of the people, as well as the temperate climate, and pleasant scenery has made McNairy County a fine place to visit and a good place to live.