Bell's Depot, the largest and most important town in the county, is situated six miles southeast from the county seat, on the Louisville & Memphis Railway, 307 miles distant from the former place, and seventy from the latter, and has a population of about 600. The town is located in the Fifth Civil District, and formerly belonged to Haywood County. It was founded in 1858, and named in honor of Wm. B. Bell, who erected the first dwelling house on the site of the town. The first merchant was C. C. Clay, who removed to Bell’s from Cherryville, Haywood County, in 1859, and began selling goods. The following year Harrell & Wood, opened a dry goods store, and A. C. Allen, a family grocery. During the late war no business was transacted at Bell’s, the stores being closed. From 1865 to 1870 the merchants were J. J. Farrow, Pyland & Winburn, T. E. Noel, Noel & Moody, Klyce & Moody, Cole & Sanders, Evans & Johnson, Wood & Best, I. H. Turpin, C. P. Andrews & Co., James H. Hunt, J. A. Dickson and Pittman & Farr.

From 1870 to 1880, T. E. Noel, James W. Richardson, C. P. Andrews & Co., Turpin & Dixon, H. L. Windman, John E. Gregory & Co., W. Williams, Fleming & Son, A. J. White and Harris & Pittman.

From 1880 to 1886, T. C. Kirpatrick, Samuel Wolfman & Co., C. L. Sullivan and R. C. Critchelew, dry goods and notions; F. J. Wood, E. F. Hicks, E. B. Lucas, J. B. Powell, A. W. Brooks, S. H. Clark and Mitchell & Roberts, family groceries; Thomas & King, C. L. Miller and John Hunter, drugs; Midgett & Bell and I. H. Turpin, hardware; Fritz Neiman, confectionery; George W. Moss, livery stable.

The physicians are J. W. Harris, P. G. McGowan and J. L. Jones. Dentist, J. T. Taylor.

L B. Bell erected the first steam-mill in 1860, which was destroyed the same year by the explosion of its boiler, by which accident Jacob and Joseph Locke and George Brigance, mill hands, lost their lives, and several others were wounded. Pipkins & Son erected the second mill in 1866, which was subsequently removed to another county. In 1872 Cannon & Son erected the present flour-mill and cotton-gin, which has been in active operation ever since.

Bell’s has two first-class hotels: The American House, W. N. Brown, proprietor; and the Hotel Butler, Mrs. S. S. Butler, proprietor. The American was erected in 1860 by John White, and the Butler in 1869 by Pearson & Bond.

The schools of Bell’s consist in the public school, and Bell’s Academy, established in 1881. In 1867 a frame academy was erected, which remains standing at present, but has not been in use since the building of the new one in 1881, which is also of frame, and cost about $1,400.

A year or two after the town was founded, an old grocery house was fitted up as a church, which was used by all denominations. The first church erected was the Christian, which was built in 1867, and destroyed by fire in 1869. The present handsome brick church was erected in 1872, at a cost of $2,100. In 1870 the Methodist Church, a frame, was erected at a cost of about $1,200, and in 1884 the Baptist Church, also frame, was erected at about the same cost.

The secret societies of Bell’s are as follows: Forked Deer Lodge, No. 306, F. & A. M., instituted in 1865; Bell’s Station Lodge, No. 131, I.O.O.F., instituted in 1868, Crockett Lodge, No. 33, A.O.U.W., instituted in 1878, Commandery, No. 93, U.O.G.C., instituted 1880; Star of the West Lodge, No. __; Good Templars instituted ____.

In 1874 the Bellville Enterprise, with Rev. Robert Taylor as editor, was established at Bell’s, which continued for about three years, when the name was changed to that of Bellville Progress. The publication was continued until 1880, when the plant was removed to Dyersburg. The only other newspaper efforts made at Bell’s was that of Messrs. Booth & Cook, who began in 1873 the publication of The Christian at Work, a religious weekly, which paper was published but a short time, and the material moved away.