RUTHERFORD COUNTY, TN (WGNS) - Labor Day may be a national holiday, but here in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, the meaning behind it carries a distinctly local heartbeat. With thousands of newcomers now calling “The Heart of Tennessee” home, WGNS believes this is the perfect moment to revisit the labor history that shaped our community—and even helped determine where Tennessee’s capital almost landed.
First, that nickname—“The Heart of Tennessee”—isn’t poetic sentiment. It’s geography.
In 1834, Tennessee leaders needed to settle a fierce political debate over where to place the permanent state capital. The Secretary of State commissioned James Hamilton, a mathematics professor at the University of Nashville, to calculate the exact geographic center of the state. Working over a single weekend, Hamilton pinpointed the center “one mile and a half east of Murfreesborough.” His calculation was astonishingly accurate. The official stone obelisk placed in 1976 on Old Lascassas Road sits only about 200 yards from Hamilton’s mark. Despite strong political backing—including from future President James K. Polk—the capital ultimately went to Nashville in 1843. Still, Murfreesboro’s central location has shaped its destiny ever since.
Labor Day itself honors the American labor movement and the workers who built the nation. The first celebration took place on September 5, 1882, organized by the Central Labor Union in New York City. It became a federal holiday in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed it into law. Canada also celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September, making it a shared North American tradition.
Here at home, labor has always defined Rutherford County’s identity. In the early 1800s, agriculture ruled the day—especially corn. By 1840, local farmers produced nearly 3 million bushels annually, placing the county among the top corn producers in the entire nation.
After the Civil War, freedmen families established the historic “Cemetery” community near Stones River, building farms and providing the labor that constructed the national cemetery. Their story remains one of the most important chapters in local labor history.
Water-powered industry soon followed. Browns Mill in Lascassas harnessed the Stones River to process massive agricultural yields. Then came the railroad era. Built largely by Irish immigrants and contract slave labor, the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad became Tennessee’s first operational rail line in 1851. Railroad towns like Smyrna, La Vergne, and Christiana grew directly from these labor-intensive stops.
Manufacturing took root next. The Tennessee Red Cedar Woodenware Company launched a woodenware boom, producing buckets and cedar goods from local forests. Cannonsburgh Village still displays the world’s largest cedar bucket as a tribute to that era. Mid‑20th‑century plants—Carnation Milk, Sunshine Hosiery Mills, General Electric, Samsonite—provided steady jobs for generations.
Then everything changed in 1980. Nissan selected Smyrna for its first U.S. assembly plant in the American South, transforming the local workforce into advanced manufacturing experts and cementing Rutherford County as an automotive powerhouse.
Today, Murfreesboro’s explosive growth—nearing 175,000 residents—is fueled by its central location, major interstates, and decades of labor-driven economic development. From cornfields to car plants, from water mills to railroads, the workers of Rutherford County built the foundation that newcomers now stand on. Plus, Rutherford County estimates are almost 400,000 persons.
And that’s the story behind Labor Day—how labor shaped our community, our economy, and perhaps even the reason you found your way to “The Heart of Tennessee.”
