A-Z

There are many historic examples of decoratively painted interiors across the state of Tennessee. While some of the paintings have been lost, many works from the late eighteenth century to the New Deal era have survived, indicating the wide variety…

Vincent DeFrank, founder and musical director of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra (MSO) from 1960 to 1983, was born June 18, 1915, in Long Island, New York. He first studied violin under George Frenz from 1920 to 1933 before converting to…

The Tennessee General Assembly established DeKalb County in December 1837 and named it in honor of Johann DeKalb, a German general who died while serving in the American Revolution. The county seat was located on fifty acres donated by Bernard…

Dell Computers became an important corporate employer in Middle Tennessee when it announced in May 1999 that it would expand operations from its central Texas base to the Nashville area. In August 1999 the company opened its Eastgate manufacturing facility,…

Timothy Demonbreun, a French-Canadian fur trader, first traveled to the springs near the Cumberland River at what would be known as the French Lick around 1769. Demonbreun made frequent trips to the early Nashville settlement to engage in fur trade…

George R. Dempster, a leading twentieth-century Knoxville businessman and political figure, was born in Knoxville on September 12, 1887, to Scotland natives John D. and Ann Dempster. After his high school graduation in 1906, Dempster and his brother Tom went…

John B. Dennis, financier and creator of modern Kingsport, was born in Gardiner, Maine, the eldest son of David and Julia Bartlett Dennis. His father was a prominent businessman and president of the Merchants National Bank of Gardiner, and Dennis…

Jim Denny, music publisher, booking agent, longtime manager of the Grand Ole Opry, and promoter of Nashville's music industry, was born in Buffalo Valley, Putnam County. As a young man, Denny found work as a mail clerk with the National…

Development districts are regional planning and economic organizations owned and operated by the cities and counties of Tennessee. The nine development districts were established by the general assembly under the Tennessee Development District Act of 1965. The act was intended…

Congressman and industrial entrepreneur George G. Dibrell was born and raised in Sparta and returned to White County after attending East Tennessee University (now University of Tennessee) in Knoxville. In 1842 he married Mary E. Leftwich, and they had eight…

The Tennessee General Assembly formed Dickson County on October 25, 1803, from the counties of Montgomery and Robertson and named it in honor of Congressman William Dickson, a Nashville physician. An industrial county from its inception, Dickson County was part…

A number of natural and technological tragedies, as well as epidemics, have shaped the Tennessee experience. Many resulted in massive property damage and/or loss of life and immeasurable human suffering. Storms have inflicted terrible damage in Tennessee throughout the last…

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) came into being in 1832 in Lexington, Kentucky, with the union of Barton Stone's Christians and Alexander Campbell's reformers. The uniting groups shared the catholic vision of restoring unity based on the authority of…

In 1889 the Tennessee General Assembly passed four acts of self-described electoral reform that resulted in the disfranchisement of a significant portion of African American voters as well as many poor white voters. The timing of the legislation resulted from…

Constructed between 1915 and 1927, the Dixie Highway was part of the new road system built in response to the growing number of motorists in the early decades of the twentieth century. When completed, the highway extended from Ontario, Canada,…

At the turn of the century, Chattanooga emerged as a textile manufacturing center, particularly for cotton hosiery. The 1913 introduction of the process of mercerizing, which gives yarn a fine silk finish, enhanced local industry and generated a new corporation,…