The Beginning

Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee

            Rutherford County was erected on October 25, 1803, from Davidson and Wilson Counties and named in honor of General Griffith Rutherford of North Carolina.  It was organized January 3, 1803.  Captain William F. Lytle (1755-1829) donated 60 acres of land and laid out a plan for The Town of Murfreesborough in 1818.  The original lots numbered 1 - 130.  There was a town square with the courthouse in the center and East and West Main Streets ran from the square east and west.

            Captain Lytle and his brother, Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Lytle, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War, serving in the North Carolina Continental Line.  North Carolina, being short on cash, paid their soldiers with land grants. This land was part of the 4.8 million acre Military Reservation set aside by North Carolina to compensate soldiers for their service.  The grants were, indeed, generous.  Colonel Archibald Lytle received 7,200 acres and Captain William F. Lytle received 3,800.  Captain William came to Tennessee and continued to accumulate grants from soldiers or their heirs.  Colonel Archibald Lytle died, unmarried, before ever seeing his Tennessee lands and left his grants to his brother William. Murfreesboro is a part of Colonel Lytle's original 7,200 donated for the town by Captain William Lytle.

            Another Revolutionary War solider who received large amounts of land in Tennessee was Colonel Hardy Murfree (1752-1809).  Colonel Murfree lived in North Carolina until his wife died.  After her death, he moved to Williamson County, Tennessee, where he owned a large land grant on the West Harpeth River. Some of his children were already in Tennessee.  Colonel Murfree died in 1809 and is said to be buried on the old plantation in Williamson County, Tennessee.  Captain Lytle requested that the new town be named in honor of his old friend, Colonel Murfree.  In the beginning, the name was spelled "Murfreesborough."  Around 1863, the name was changed to Murfreesboro.

            Colonel Murfree had also accumulated land by assignments of soldiers and their heirs that served in the North Carolina Continental Line.  He obtained a 69 acre grant from John Hardman beginning at the south east corner of the Town of Murfreesborough at Number 70 and thence south to the corner of the Town of Murfreesborough to the west corner of Number 59.  There were two other assignments in the area: Four hundred acres from Henry Winburne beginning below the head of a large spring, near the Town of Murfeesborough and a second tract containing 216(?) acres from Joseph Mitchell.  These grants joined and one-half of the spring was retained for each grant. 

            In 1815, Doctor James and Sally Hardy Murfree, daughter of Colonel Hardy Murfree, built their two room brick home north of Murfreesborough on Sally's 274 acre inheritance from Colonel Murfree's estate.  This is the present day site of the Oakland's Historic Mansion.

            Based on available information, the Murfree lands north and east of the Town of Murfreesboro would have run south from Oakland's about 80 poles south of Murfree Springs, present day Discovery House.  This area includes all the property on East Main Street running east from original Numbers 35 and 45, (present numbers 309 and part of 300 to 1153 and 1156).  The focus of this narrative is East Main Street, beginning at the 200 block and progressing east to the end of block 1100 East Main Street.  Although the faces and building have changed over the years, East Main Street remains much as it was in 1818.