Spring City, Tennessee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Spring City, Tennessee
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| Town of Spring City | |
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Location of Spring City in Rhea County, Tennessee.
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| Country | United States |
| State | Tennessee |
| County | Rhea |
| Area | |
| • Total | 2.80 sq mi (7.25 km2) |
| • Land | 2.76 sq mi (7.16 km2) |
| • Water | 0.04 sq mi (0.09 km2) |
| Elevation | 768 ft (234 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 1,949 |
| • Density | 705.14/sq mi (272.27/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP codes |
37337, 37381
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| Area code(s) | 423 |
| FIPS code | 47-70400 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1303755 |
Spring City is a town in Rhea County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,949 at the 2020 census and 1,981 at the 2010 census. The town is located along Watts Bar Lake, and Watts Bar Dam and the Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station are nearby.
History
Spring City began as a stop along the Cincinnati Southern Railroad in the 1870s. The town was originally named Sulphur Springs, because of the mass amount of sulphur in the water. Sometime later it became "Rheaville," and later became incorporated with nearby Rhea Springs, and took on the name Rhea Springs. Due to an explosion, much of the town flooded or burnt, and the town relocated to its current location and was renamed Spring City, in honor of the original settlement, Sulphur Springs. The original location now lies at the bottom of a nearby section of Watts Bar Lake. Spring City thrived as a railroad shipping hub during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its first railroad depot, a simple wooden building constructed in 1879, burned in 1892, and was replaced by a larger one. This second depot was in turn replaced by the current depot, which was completed by the Southern Railway in 1909.
The city received an economic boost in 1942 with the Tennessee Valley Authority's completion of Watts Bar Dam and its associated reservoir southeast of the town. That same year saw the completion of the Watts Bar Fossil Plant, TVA's first coal-fired plant. In 1973, TVA began building Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. Its first reactor, Watts Bar Unit 1, became active in 1996. The construction of the second reactor, Watts Bar Unit 2, was originally suspended in 1985, but resumed in 2007. It entered commercial operation in October 2016.
On August 22, 1955, 11 schoolchildren were killed, and many others injured, when their school bus was struck by a 103-car freight train at a track crossing in Spring City.
On July 28, 2016, a train hauling coal derailed by the train depot and museum due to a faulty wheel on one of the privately owned coal cars. There were no casualties. A lengthy cleanup followed, where both track crossings in town had to be closed while repairs were made and debris cleared.
Geography
Spring City is located at 35°41′22″N 84°51′50″W / 35.68944°N 84.86389°W (35.689422, -84.863885).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2), of which, 2.4 square miles (6.2 km2) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) of it (1.21%) is water.
Climate
| Climate data for Spring City, Tennessee, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 2003–present | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 75 (24) |
81 (27) |
85 (29) |
88 (31) |
92 (33) |
103 (39) |
104 (40) |
103 (39) |
96 (36) |
96 (36) |
85 (29) |
76 (24) |
104 (40) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 65.7 (18.7) |
71.1 (21.7) |
79.5 (26.4) |
84.5 (29.2) |
87.3 (30.7) |
92.5 (33.6) |
94.1 (34.5) |
94.0 (34.4) |
90.5 (32.5) |
84.3 (29.1) |
73.4 (23.0) |
67.9 (19.9) |
95.8 (35.4) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 47.5 (8.6) |
51.7 (10.9) |
60.4 (15.8) |
70.6 (21.4) |
77.2 (25.1) |
83.9 (28.8) |
86.9 (30.5) |
86.7 (30.4) |
81.0 (27.2) |
70.8 (21.6) |
58.8 (14.9) |
50.3 (10.2) |
68.8 (20.5) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 36.9 (2.7) |
40.5 (4.7) |
47.8 (8.8) |
57.0 (13.9) |
65.3 (18.5) |
73.0 (22.8) |
76.7 (24.8) |
75.9 (24.4) |
69.7 (20.9) |
58.2 (14.6) |
46.8 (8.2) |
39.9 (4.4) |
57.3 (14.1) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 26.2 (−3.2) |
29.2 (−1.6) |
35.2 (1.8) |
43.5 (6.4) |
53.5 (11.9) |
62.2 (16.8) |
66.5 (19.2) |
65.2 (18.4) |
58.4 (14.7) |
45.5 (7.5) |
34.8 (1.6) |
29.5 (−1.4) |
45.8 (7.7) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 9.9 (−12.3) |
14.9 (−9.5) |
20.0 (−6.7) |
29.2 (−1.6) |
37.1 (2.8) |
53.0 (11.7) |
58.2 (14.6) |
57.3 (14.1) |
46.5 (8.1) |
31.0 (−0.6) |
21.3 (−5.9) |
16.8 (−8.4) |
8.1 (−13.3) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −5 (−21) |
0 (−18) |
15 (−9) |
20 (−7) |
24 (−4) |
47 (8) |
51 (11) |
47 (8) |
40 (4) |
25 (−4) |
12 (−11) |
3 (−16) |
−5 (−21) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 5.71 (145) |
5.24 (133) |
5.46 (139) |
5.60 (142) |
4.13 (105) |
5.06 (129) |
5.61 (142) |
3.07 (78) |
4.77 (121) |
3.63 (92) |
5.11 (130) |
6.01 (153) |
59.40 (1,509) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 0.4 (1.0) |
0.7 (1.8) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
1.3 (3.3) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 11.5 | 12.6 | 10.6 | 10.1 | 11.4 | 11.3 | 13.1 | 9.6 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 11.9 | 127.1 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.3 |
| Source 1: NOAA | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: National Weather Service (mean maxima/minima 2006–2020) | |||||||||||||
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 598 | — | |
| 1900 | 640 | 7.0% | |
| 1910 | 1,039 | 62.3% | |
| 1920 | 1,001 | −3.7% | |
| 1930 | 1,090 | 8.9% | |
| 1940 | 1,569 | 43.9% | |
| 1950 | 1,725 | 9.9% | |
| 1960 | 1,800 | 4.3% | |
| 1970 | 1,756 | −2.4% | |
| 1980 | 1,951 | 11.1% | |
| 1990 | 2,199 | 12.7% | |
| 2000 | 2,025 | −7.9% | |
| 2010 | 1,981 | −2.2% | |
| 2020 | 1,949 | −1.6% | |
| Sources: | |||
2020 census
| Race | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| White (non-Hispanic) | 1,745 | 89.53% |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 53 | 2.72% |
| Native American | 5 | 0.26% |
| Asian | 13 | 0.67% |
| Other/Mixed | 80 | 4.1% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 53 | 2.72% |
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,949 people, 935 households, and 537 families residing in the town.
Education
Rhea County Schools is the local school district. The elementary and middle schools are Spring City Elementary School and Spring City Middle School. The district's sole high school is Rhea County High School.
See also
In Spanish: Spring City (Tennessee) para niños
