HISTORY OF SULPHUR SPRINGS COMMUNITY, WASHINGTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE
Sulphur Springs got its name from the "sulfur" spring that ran in the community. And today many people want to spell it as Sulfur Springs which is incorrect...the correct spelling being Sulphur Springs. It was a farming community with lots of grocery stores where people could trade their farm produce for groceries. Also a place where men could gather in the stores and talk, chew tobacco and listen to Joe Louis fights on the radio. Later Sherman Payne had a meat butchering shop with trucks that said "Here comes Payne" and There goes Payne" Many of the farmers were also dairy farmers producing grade A milk. Today many of the farms are gone but some do still produce hay and have beef cattle. Odell Payne operated a sawmill. Sulphur Springs School was for Grades 1 through 12. Sulphur Springs even had their very own doctors with some of the first being Dr. Bovell and Dr. William McCollum ; Dr E.B. Mitchell a local guy from Harmony Community settled in Sulphur Springs and Dr. Jerry Atkinson, son of our Methodist Minister George Atkinson was a later physician. Dr. Bartley Ford was a dentist in neighboring Gray Community who lived in the home of his great grandparents. Jimmy Walker, son of R. J. Walker has a paving company located in the heart of Sulphur Springs. Sulphur Springs has had several good black citizens to help make the community a better place to live. Today there is the Rescue and Fire Department a major service in the community. Helping to serve the neighboring communities of Bowmantown, Limestone, Fall Branch, Jonesborough, Harmony, Gray, Pleasant Valley.
