CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Between fires, floods and tornadoes, Clarksville has certainly seen its share of disasters.
Most people can remember our recent tornadoes and our 2010 flood, but did you know our downtown was nearly wiped out by fire, not once but twice? And that the 2010 flood was only the third worst in Clarksville history?
In recognition of America’s 250th anniversary, here are the 10 worst disasters to hit Clarksville, and some of the ways we came together to survive along the way.
1. Great Fire of 1878
In the spring of 1878, there had been a series of racially charged incidents, including the lynching of a Black landowner. In the wake of this, on the night of April 13, an unarmed Black man named Columbus Seat was shot and killed during a skirmish with a Clarksville Police officer. A crowd of protesters gathered outside the police station demanding justice, and during that gathering, a fire started downtown. It would later be known as the Great Fire of 1878, and it destroyed 15 acres of downtown Clarksville. Lost in the blaze were entire blocks of the business district (three dozen businesses in all), the County Courthouse, both fire stations, the Chancery Clerk’s Office, Melodeon Hall, Franklin Hall, Central Hotel and the Gracey tobacco warehouse…