Charleston, Tennessee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charleston is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 630 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Cleveland, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The city is across the Hiwassee River from a large paper mill operation of Bowater Corporation, a major local employer. Logging trucks and rail traffic to and from this plant frequently traverse Charleston.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Charleston is located at 35°17′4″N, 84°45′25″W (35.284366, -84.756837)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.7 km² (1.0 mi²). 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (5.77%) is water.

Charleston is adjacent to the Hiwassee River, a tributary of the Tennessee River.

[edit] History

Charleston was the site of the last Cherokee Agency as well as Fort Cass, the headquarters of the Cherokee Removal of 1838, known as the Trail of Tears. The valley between Charleston and Cleveland, Tennessee was filled for 12 miles with internment camps in which thousands of Cherokee from various towns waiting during the summer of 1838 for the start of the main trek west (Duncan 2003:261).

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 630 people, 265 households, and 182 families residing in the city. The population density was 248.2/km² (639.9/mi²). There were 280 housing units at an average density of 110.3/km² (284.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 72.54% White, 23.49% African American, 0.48% Asian, 0.79% from other races, and 2.70% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.90% of the population.

There were 265 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.5% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,750, and the median income for a family was $40,781. Males had a median income of $31,389 versus $18,333 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,586. About 5.7% of families and 8.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.0% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] References

Duncan, Barbara R. and Riggs, Brett H. Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill (2003). ISBN 0-8078-5457-3