Green Bottom
by Jimmy Ogle
Green Bottom appears on the early Shelby County
maps in the middle of the 19th century, and
later is becomes Union Depot, then eventually
Bartlett. Legend has it that the unique name of
Green Bottom comes from the unusual richness in
the color and amount of green moss at the base
of trees in the area.
On an 1839 map of Shelby County, Green Bottom
appears seventeen miles east of Memphis, seven
miles east of Raleigh and six miles west of
Morning Sun on Stage-Coach Road Number Four (now
Stage Road or U. S. Highway 64)
On the 1857 map of Shelby County, Green Bottom
appears about two miles east of Union (which
eventually become Bartlett) and on the Memphis &
Ohio Railroad line, at the intersection of Stage
Road.
The Memphis & Ohio Railroad (M&O, also known as
the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville railroad –
MC&L) was charted in 1852 and opened in 1859.
The M&O extended through Arlington, Brownsville,
Humboldt, and Milan in West Tennessee up through
north middle Tennessee (Clarksville) all the way
to Louisville (Kentucky), and eventually
Cincinnati (Ohio). Its line was heavily damaged
during the Civil War, and in 1865, the MC&L went
into receivership and was bought by the
Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company (L&N)
For the continuing history of
Green Bottom, go to
Union Depot and
Bartlett in the
Community
Histories section of this web site.
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