{"id":5717,"date":"2019-08-28T00:47:59","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T00:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/?page_id=5717"},"modified":"2025-12-16T15:56:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:56:31","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"5717\" class=\"elementor elementor-5717\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2c9889b8 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2c9889b8\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5d22b03f\" data-id=\"5d22b03f\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-423656f6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"423656f6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5719 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"126\" \/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The City of Townsend was chartered in 1921 by folks who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The City operates under a charter by which the parameters of its boundaries and codes are defined.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The main source of revenue is the state sales tax collected by city businesses. The City of Townsend has no property tax. Some of the other sources of revenue to the City are: in lieu of taxes, franchise taxes, beer taxes, and road taxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The City provides services to the people. Some are police protection; street maintenance; street lighting; fire protection through paid subscriptions for City residents to the Townsend Volunteer Fire Department; planning; zoning and recreation.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The City of Townsend has a Board of Commissioners consisting of five (5) members. Their terms are for four (4) years and are staggered in elections every two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text ); font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight );\">The five (5) elected commissioners then elect one of their members to be Mayor. The Mayor serves for two years. In the same manner, the elected Commissioners then elect one of their number to serve their City in the capacity of Vice-Mayor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Current commission is made up of the following elected public officials:<br \/>\u2013 Mayor: Don Prater<br \/>\u2013 Vice-Mayor: Kelsey Satterfield<br \/>\u2013 Commissioner: Rindi Martin<br \/>\u2013 Commissioner: Becky Headrick<br \/>\u2013 Commissioner: Pat Jenkins<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The City of Townsend holds it regular monthly meeting the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 7 PM. If for some reason a meeting has to be cancelled, notifications will run in the local newspaper, time permitting. All cancellations or postponements will also be posted on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/townsendsmokymountains\">Facebook page.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text ); font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight );\">The City of Townsend also has a Municipal Planning Commission that meets the second Thursday of every month at the City office. These members have the responsibility to follow the guidelines of the Zoning and Sub-division laws of the City and to review and approve site plans and sub divisions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Members of the Planning Commission are :\u00a0 Harry McIntosh, G. Alan Holley, Mayor Don Prater, Commissioner Pat Jenkins, and Christina Delaney.\u00a0 The City Planner for Townsend is Ekem Amonoo-Lartson.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you would be interested in volunteering to serve on the Planning Commission please contact the Mayor.<\/p>\n<p>Please direct any comments to P.O. Box 307, Townsend, TN 37882.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The City of Townsend was chartered in 1921 by folks who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company.\u00a0 \u00a0The City operates under a charter by which the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_mc_calendar":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5717","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>History - City of Townsend, TN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History - City of Townsend, TN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The City of Townsend was chartered in 1921 by folks who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company.\u00a0 \u00a0The City operates under a charter by which the &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City of Townsend, TN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T15:56:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/\",\"name\":\"History - City of Townsend, TN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-28T00:47:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-16T15:56:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":126},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"History\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/\",\"name\":\"City of Townsend, TN\",\"description\":\"The Peaceful Side of the Smokies\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"History - City of Townsend, TN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"History - City of Townsend, TN","og_description":"The City of Townsend was chartered in 1921 by folks who were involved with the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company.\u00a0 \u00a0The City operates under a charter by which the &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/","og_site_name":"City of Townsend, TN","article_modified_time":"2025-12-16T15:56:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/","name":"History - City of Townsend, TN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-28T00:47:59+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-16T15:56:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/History-01.jpg","width":200,"height":126},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/history\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"History"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/","name":"City of Townsend, TN","description":"The Peaceful Side of the Smokies","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5717"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11111,"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5717\/revisions\/11111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cityoftownsend.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}