Originally inhabited by the Chickasaw Indian Tribe, the first settlers started moving into this area during the early 1800s.
From Joe Stout’s notes on “War Leaflets”, a delightful and emotional chronicle by Annie Cole Hawkins:
In the original settling of what is now McKenzie, there were two families here that were "rivals". Each named the part of this town's area that they lived in a different name. One part of McKenzie was named Marrieta and the other part Dundas. It was still like this during the Civil War even though the community had much more to worry about at that time than the "rivalry” between the Sneads and the Gilberts. At that time there was a rather big family of McKenzie's that lived here.
When the two railroads crossed here in 1867, the land for one of the railroads was GIVEN to the R.R. by James Monroe McKenzie with the stipulation that his son George McKenzie, Sr. would be given the position of station agent. When the first timetables came out they bore the name of "McKenzie, TN" and George McKenzie, Sr. became the first station agent for the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad. The name has stuck ever since. The year was 1869.
The City of McKenzie was officially incorporated by the state of Tennessee on January 22, 1869. The railroad drew many residents from the neighboring communities, among them Caledonia and McLemoresville. By 1870, the population of McKenzie had grown to over 500 residents. In the 1880s the size of the town doubled and business thrived.
On October 15, 1887, the President of the United States, Grover Cleveland, visited the bustling town and stayed overnight at the McKenzie Hotel. By the turn of the century, a city park was created, public schools were built and roads paved with gravel. The town continued to expand at a steady rate until the Great Depression struck in October of 1929. Banks and businesses closed their doors and the community's labor base evaporated overnight. It would be not until 1936 that conditions began to show economic growth and improvement.
Just prior to World War 2, the federal government began construction on a munitions plant and arsenal east of Milan. During the war, the plant would hire thousands of laborers and increase the population of McKenzie more than any time in its history. Between 1940 and 1950, the population of the city increased by over 1,300 people and was second to only Oak Ridge in population growth statewide. Following the war, the city has kept a steady rate of growth and continues to be a productive and prosperous community (Adapted from RootsWeb.com).
