Editing Gruetli-Laager, Tennessee (section)

==History==
Gruetli was founded by German-speaking [[Switzerland|Swiss]] immigrants in 1869. The town was part of a greater initiative&mdash; conducted by an organization known as the Tennessee Kolonisation Gesellschaft&mdash; to establish Swiss colonies atop the [[Cumberland Plateau]] in Tennessee.<ref name=tehc>Claudette Stager, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=574 Gruetli]." ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2013.</ref> Gruetli was probably named after a commune in the Swiss [[canton of Glarus]].<ref>Tennessee Historical Commission marker 2E 43 on State Route 108. Information obtained November 30, 2008.</ref> [[Peter Staub]], a member of [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville's]] thriving Swiss community, helped purchase the initial tract of land for Gruetli. The land was advertised in Switzerland, where the opportunity for a new start appealed to many families struggling with difficult economic conditions in Europe.<ref name=tehc />

[[File:Gruetli-laager-thc-tn1.jpg|left|210px|thumb|Tennessee Historical Commission marker along State Route 108]]

Although over 100 Swiss families moved to the Gruetli area in the 1870s, many were disappointed by the land's poor quality and relative isolation, and thus relocated to nearby cities. Nevertheless, by 1880, Grundy County had the largest Swiss population of any county in Tennessee. Prominent early settlers at Gruetli included Christian Marugg, who operated an inn along the stagecoach road between [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]] and [[McMinnville, Tennessee|McMinnville]], and Melchior Thoni, Jr. (1849–1926), a woodcarver whose work was displayed in the old Governor's Mansion and the Christ Church in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]].<ref name=tehc /><ref>Tennessee Historical Commission marker 2E 71 on TN-108. Information obtained November 30, 2008.</ref>

Throughout the early 1900s, railroads were constructed in the hills east of Gruetli to accommodate various [[coal mining]] operations in the area. Laager was established as a railroad stopover (initially known as "Henley's Switch") in 1918. Gruetli and Laager merged and incorporated in 1980.<ref name=tehc /><ref>William Ray Turner, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=576 Grundy County]." ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2013.</ref>