Manchester, Tennessee

Manchester is a city and the county seat of Coffee County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 12,213 at the 2020 census.

Manchester is part of the Tullahoma micropolitan area.

Since 2002, Manchester has been the host city for the annual Bonnaroo Music Festival. The city's population swells to nearly 100,000 people for the four-day event, for which people travel across the country to camp and enjoy continuous and diverse music.

History of Manchester

A post office called Manchester has been in operation since 1817. The city was named after Manchester, in England. According to historians, "A small village, “Mitchellsville” was already in existence near the proposed site for the new county seat, but when the new county was formed, it was renamed “Manchester” after the industrial city of Manchester, England. Because of the abundance of water power, provided by the “Little Duck” & “Big Duck” Rivers, which flow through Manchester, it was hoped that it also would become a great industrial city."

Long-time Mayor Lonnie J. Norman died of COVID-19 in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kanye West tweeted his condolences.

Geography

Manchester is located slightly south of the center of Coffee County at 35°28′24″N 86°5′8″W (35.473337, -86.085512). Interstate 24 passes through the northeast side of the city, with access from Exits 110, 111, and 114. Exit "112" was a "temporary exit" directly from the shoulder of I-24 into the Bonnaroo Music Festival site. From Exit 111 it is 68 miles (109 km) southeast to Chattanooga and 65 miles (105 km) northwest to Nashville. U.S. Route 41 passes through the center of town as Hillsboro Boulevard; US 41 runs parallel to I-24 and leads eight miles (13 km) southeast to Hillsboro and northwest five miles (8.0 km) to I-24 Exit 105. Tennessee State Route 55 passes through the east side of Manchester as McArthur Street; it leads northeast 25 miles (40 km) to McMinnville and southwest 12 miles (19 km) to Tullahoma.

The Little Duck River begins at the confluence of Hunt Creek and Huckleberry Creek and passes through the city before joining the Duck River just west of the city limits. The Duck River, a tributary of the Tennessee River, passes through the northwest corner of the city. Both rivers drop over waterfalls above their confluence, within Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park.

Notable people

DJ Qualls, film actor, Road Trip, The New Guy, Hustle & Flow.

Betty Sain, horse trainer and breeder

J. Stanley Rogers, Tennessee House of Representatives majority leader

John H. Ross, WWII pilot