William Bennett Scott, Sr. ca. 1821-1885

William Bennett Scott, Sr. ca. 1821-1885 is a Tennessee historical marker in Blount County.

Blount Co, Broadway edge of The New Providence Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Maryville, TN

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William B. Scott, Sr., a free Black, migrated to East Tennessee in 1847 after increased racial tension in North Carolina. He made harnesses and saddles in Blount County’s Quaker community of Friendsville until the Civil War. In Knoxville, during the War, Scott learned the trade of printing. Later moving to Nashville, in April 1865 he founded The Colored Tennessean, the first newspaper for African Americans in Tennessee. In 1867, he moved his press to Maryville. For ten years, Scott published the Maryville Republican, Blount County's only newspaper, which was later re-named the Maryville Democrat. Scott co-founded Maryville's Freedman's Normal Institute, one of the first schools for African Americans in East Tennessee. In 1879 he was elected mayor of Maryville. In 1997, William Bennett Scott, Sr. was inducted into the Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame.

TodayHistorical map

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Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1829 · Tennessee (A. Finley, 1829) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1838 · Kentucky (T.G. Bradford, 1838) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1844 · Kentucky (H. S. Tanner, 1844) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1862 · Johnson's Kentucky & Tennessee (1862) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1886 · Knoxville, Tennessee (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

More markers nearby

On the National Register nearby

Friends Church130 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.