Editing Bell Buckle, Tennessee (section)

==History==
The origin of the town's unusual name is not known. According to the local [[chamber of commerce]], one story says that one of the first white men to travel through the area found a tree with carvings of a [[cowbell]] and a [[buckle]], possibly carved by [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]] to warn white settlers away, or possibly carved by [[surveying|surveyor]]s to mark the area as good [[pasture]]. Another form of the legend holds that a bell and buckle were tied around a tree. In any case, the nearby creek was named Bell Buckle Creek, and the town later took the name of the creek.<ref name="Chamber History">[http://www.bellbucklechamber.com/history.html Local History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113110725/http://www.bellbucklechamber.com/history.html|date=January 13, 2008}} and [http://www.bellbucklechamber.com/history2.html Bell Buckle Past and Present] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071115175338/http://www.bellbucklechamber.com/history2.html|date=November 15, 2007}} on Bell Buckle Chamber of Commerce website (accessed December 19, 2007).</ref>

The Bell Buckle area was settled in the early 19th century. A bustling town grew up after the [[Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad]] came through the area in 1852. A railroad depot was built in 1853, and the town was [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] in 1856. Bell Buckle had its period of greatest prosperity after about 1870, becoming the major [[Feedlot|stockyard]] between [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] and [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]] and growing to a population of more than 1,000.<ref name="Chamber History" />

The town name was spelled Belle Buckle until the early 1900s, as that was the spelling by the post office and on cancellation devices (1896), by the [[Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway]] on its 1903 route map,<ref>Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway/History, accessed September 5, 2022</ref> and on the sign on an undated photo of the train station. It is not known exactly when the spelling was changed to Bell Buckle, but it was sometime before 1935 when Tennessee started issuing delayed birth certificates for residents who needed them to apply for Social Security.

In June 1940, US Army maneuvers centered on the area. A tank of General [[George S. Patton]]'s Second Armored Division ran into the two-story town hall, bringing the building down.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dickson |first1=Paul |title=The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor |date=July 7, 2020 |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |isbn=978-0802147677 |edition=Kindle |location=2809}}</ref>