Mercer, Tennessee


Mercer is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along State Route 138 halfway between Interstate 40 and Toone, just east of the Hatchie River. Mercer has a post office, with Zip Code 38392.

History

Mercer begun in 1888 by T.B. Mercer, for which it is named, at a site where the stage road crossed the Tennessee Midland Railroad. Deciding that this was a good place for a town, Mercer erected a store near the cabin of Eaton Bond. In 1894 a railroad station was built, and the railroad superintendent named it Mercer. In 1893 the O.G. Gardner Lumber Company was opened and soon covered twelve acres. Of the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches there, the oldest is the Methodist dating in 1894. The first school was located in the old Ebenezer Church. The church was not centrally located so a new building was constructed. Many townspeople named it "Folly College". The Bank of Mercer was located in the downtown district, but vailed on May 18, 1933. The Mercer Opera House burned in recent years. Today Mercer has two stores, a restaurant and a cotton gin. The population grows in the fall when cotton comes to the gin or in November when deer season opens.