Editing Atoka, Tennessee (section)

==History==
===Origins===
From the fiftieth anniversary of the [[List of newspapers in Tennessee#Weekly or bi-weekly newspapers|''Covington Leader'']], 1886 to 1936:
<blockquote>The trading center for the Atoka area before the rise of the town was Portersville...
<br><u>With the coming of the railroad in 1872 and opening of stores in Atoka,</u> there grew up an intense rivalry between the two towns, but Atoka's advantage of the railroad proved to be too much, and Portersville gradually died out. Today not a store or store building remains in Portersville and it passes into history...<ref name="Leader50th">{{cite news |title= Fiftieth Anniversary |newspaper= The Covington Leader |date= October 15, 1936}}</ref> </blockquote>

A peek into the life of John McLaughlin, a citizen of both towns, gives us some idea of what Portersville and Atoka were like:
<blockquote>Our subject received a collegiate education at Bellenyna College, Ireland and in 1852 came to America, landing at Charleston, S. C.; then immediately went to Chester, S. C., and spent three years learning the carriage-maker's trade, when he moved to Aberdeen, Miss., and established a factory of his own, and three years later moved to Portersville, Tipton County, and continued the business five years, then went into merchandising and farming, selling goods at Portersville two years, then moved to Atoka and continued the mercantile business over ten years, and since that time has given his attention exclusively to farming and running a steam cotton-gin, which he owns.<ref name="Goodspeed">{{cite book |title= Goodspeed's History of Tennessee |date=1887}}</ref></blockquote>

===Atoka and Portersville in Tennessee, U.S.A.===
:'''June 1, 1796''' - The [[Southwest Territory]] was admitted as the 16th state, [[Tennessee]].

<gallery class="center">
United States 1837-03-1838.png|alt=Map of the states and territories of the United States as it was from March 1837 to 1838.|'''January 17, 1838''' - Portersville incorporated.
United States 1868-1876.png|alt=United States 1868-1876|'''March 24, 1875''' - name of Portersville changed to Atoka.
United States 1876-1884.png|alt= United States 1876-1884|'''March 19, 1883''' - corporation of the town of Atoka repealed.
</gallery>

:'''1911''' - Atoka was reincorporated.

=== Railroad ===
If the dates are taken into account, "the coming of the railroad in 1872" and "the name of Portersville changed to Atoka in 1875". These two locations, Portersville and Atoka, existed simultaneously. The railroad came to Atoka first. Then the town of Atoka was incorporated. Atoka was an unincorporated location long before it was a chartered town.

<gallery class="center">
1859c-Portersville.PNG|Map published c1859. Shows Porterville on Shelby and Tipton County Lines. Portersville charter was adopted by Atoka in 1875.
1872-Portersville.PNG|Map published 1872. Shows Portersville in Tipton County.
1876-GapBetweenCovington&Dyersburg.jpg|Map published in 1876. Shows gap between Covington and Dyersburg railroad connections.
1888 c1882-NewportNew&MississippiValleyRailroad.jpg|Map published in 1888. Shows Newport News & Mississippi Valley Railroad running through Tipton and Lauderdale Counties in Tennessee.
1893c-enlarged-Atoka.PNG|Map published in c1893, shows Atoka in [[Tipton County, Tennessee]].
</gallery>

===United States Postal Service, Rural Free Delivery in Atoka===
{{Main|Rural Free Delivery}}

The official stance of the [[United States Postal Service]], according to an article published by the Historian of the United States Postal Service in April 2008, is that Atoka was the first [[post office]] with rural free delivery in [[Tennessee]] starting on January 11, 1897.<ref name="USPS2008">{{cite web |last= United States Postal Service Historian |title= Tennessee: Dates that First Rural Routes Were Established at Post Offices, through 1904 |url= http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/first-rfd-tennessee.pdf |publisher= United States Postal Service |access-date= June 28, 2013}}</ref> But according to an article in Tipton County's local newspaper, published in 1936:
<blockquote>'''ATOKA ROUTE ONE IS THIRD IN UNITED STATES'''<ref name="Leader50th"/>
The first rural route established in the South and the third established in the United States was set up at Atoka in 1895. At that time the United States Post Office Department was experimenting with rural routes. They established one in the North, one in the East, and one in the South at Atoka... The first route, which was Atoka Route 1, was 16½ miles long... Route 1 was later combined with route 2, which covers the territory from Atoka to the Mississippi River.</blockquote>

Another article from 1936 describes more about the post office:
<blockquote>Atoka's first postmaster was D. Bowden. With the development of the United States' splendid rural delivery system in her post office department, the Atoka post office grew in importance. Today there are two rural routes reaching out from the town, serving that section from the Mississippi river on the west to Salem on the east. All mail for Munford, Drummonds, Richardson's Landing, Randolph and other communities passes through the post office at Atoka, whose postmaster is E. M. Quisenberry and whose rural carriers are J. E. McQuiston and R. S. McDill.</blockquote><ref name="Leader50th"/>

===Town charter===
{{See also|Charter|Territorial evolution of the United States}}
[[File:Recap of incorperations.PNG|frame|center|From 1883:  Portersville Charter - 1838  --  Atoka Charter - 1875]]

<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SbI4AAAAIAAJ&q=Atoka&pg=PA71 Acts of the State of Tennessee Passed at the General Assembly, 1883]</ref><ref name="TNacts1883">{{cite book |title= Acts of the State of Tennessee Passed at the General Assembly |year= 1883 |publisher= Albeet B. Tavel Printer to the State |via= Google Books |pages= 71–72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SbI4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 }}</ref><ref>
[https://books.google.com/books?id=9A5OAQAAIAAJ&q=atoka&pg=PA993 Private Acts of the State of Tennessee Passed by the General Assembly, 1911]</ref><ref name="TNacts1911">{{cite book |title= Private Acts of the State of Tennessee Passed by the General Assembly |year= 1911 |publisher= McQuiddy Print. Company |via= Google Books |page= 991 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9A5OAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA993 }}</ref>

'''June 24, 1911''' - Atoka reincorporated

1911 Charter with amendments from 2006, 1977, 1973, and 1969.<ref name="Charter1911">{{cite web |title= Charter for the Town of Atoka Tennessee |url= http://www.townofatoka.com/files/documents/Town_Charter_10-06-2011_123043.pdf |work= Chapter 373 House Bill No. 647 |publisher= State of Tennessee |access-date= July 1, 2013 |date= June 24, 1911}}</ref>

'''August 17, 2012''' - AN ACT to amend Chapter 373, of the Private Acts of 1911.<ref name="Charter2012">{{cite web |title=AN Act to amend Chapter 373, of the Private Acts of 1911 |url= http://www.townofatoka.com/files/documents/Town_Charter_08-17-2012_095035.pdf |publisher= Town of Atoka, Tennessee |access-date= July 1, 2013 |date= August 17, 2012}}</ref>

'''Current Charter Information''' - Town of Atoka, Tennessee.<ref name="CurrentCharter">{{cite web |title=CHARTER FOR THE TOWN OF ATOKA, TENNESSEE|url= http://www.mtas.tennessee.edu/sites/default/files/charterfiles/Atoka_cht.pdf |publisher= Town of Atoka, Tennessee |access-date= November 9, 2019|date= August 17, 2012}}</ref>