Williamson County, Tennessee | ||
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Williamson County Courthouse in Franklin
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Location in the U.S. state of Tennessee |
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Tennessee's location in the U.S. |
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Founded | October 26, 1799 | |
Named for | Hugh Williamson | |
Seat | Franklin | |
Largest city | Franklin | |
Area | ||
• Total | 584 sq mi (1,513 km2) | |
• Land | 583 sq mi (1,510 km2) | |
• Water | 1.2 sq mi (3 km2), 0.2% | |
Population (est.) | ||
• (2016) | 219,107 | |
• Density | 376/sq mi (145/km²) | |
Congressional district | 7th | |
Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 | |
Website | williamsoncounty-tn |
Williamson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 205,226. The county seat is Franklin. The county is named after Hugh Williamson, a North Carolina politician who signed the U.S. Constitution.
Williamson County is part of the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Tennessee General Assembly created Williamson County on October 26, 1799, from a portion of Davidson County. The county had originally been inhabited by at least five Native American cultures, including tribes of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Shawnee. It is home to two Mississippian-period mound complexes, the Fewkes site and the Old Town site, built by a culture that preceded such tribes.
European-American settlers migrated into the area by 1798, preceded by traders. Most were from Virginia and North Carolina, part of a western movement after the Revolutionary War. In 1800, Abram Maury laid out Franklin, the county seat, which was carved out of part of a land grant he had purchased from Major Anthony Sharp. "The county was named in honor of Dr. Hugh Williamson of North Carolina, a colonel in the North Carolina militia and served three terms in the Continental Congress."