Editing Lake County, Tennessee (section)

==History==
The history of Lake County has been largely defined by Reelfoot Lake, a natural lake created by the [[1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes|New Madrid earthquakes]] of 1811 and 1812. It is surrounded by wetlands. This territory was originally included in [[Obion County, Tennessee|Obion County]].<ref name=tehc />

In 1862, during the Civil War, the [[Battle of Island Number Ten]] took place in the [[Mississippi River]], just off the shores of Obion County, in territory now part of Lake County.<ref name=tehc />

The county was organized in 1870, during the Reconstruction era.<ref name="Rust">{{Cite web |last=Rust |first=Randal |title=Lake County |url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/lake-county/#:~:text=The%20Tennessee%20General%20Assembly%20organized,lake%20as%20early%20as%201827 |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=Tennessee Encyclopedia |language=en-US}}</ref> Its residents had long complained about the difficulty of having to traverse swampy areas during seasonal high waters around Reelfoot Lake to reach the county seat, then [[Troy, Tennessee]], located to the east of the lake. After the new Lake County was established, [[Tiptonville, Tennessee|Tiptonville]] was designated as its county seat. The first session of court was held on September 5, 1870.<ref name="Rust"/>

In 1907 and 1908, a violent conflict took place in Lake and Obion counties, and neighboring [[Fulton County, Kentucky]], which also had frontage on the lake. Private investors bought title to most of the land around the lake, gaining control, and formed the West Tennessee Land Company, to develop the property. In this era, western Tennessee and Kentucky were being developed for cotton culture and the lowlands around the lake were fertile floodplain. They announced plans to drain the lake. A band of local farmers and others who made their living from the lake, organized resistance, becoming known as the [[The Night Riders|"Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake]]."

Beginning with the burning of John Carlos Burdick's fish docks on April 12, 1908, they committed crimes over a period of months, harassing the land company's employees.<ref>Grove, ''Uneasy Waters'' (2012, p. 7</ref> In October 1908 they kidnapped two attorneys and lynched one, Quentin Rankin, who was also a shareholder in the land company. The other escaped.<ref name=tehc /> Given this attack and murder, Governor [[Malcolm R. Patterson|Malcolm Patterson]] personally led the Tennessee National Guard into the area, and arrested hundreds of suspected Night Riders.<ref name=threlkeld>Bill Threlkeld, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=997 Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake]," ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. Retrieved: October 21, 2013.</ref> The Night Riders also rode against African Americans, as they were resisting the increase of blacks in the counties, some of whom had come to work as [[sharecroppers]] on newly developed cotton plantations. Since the late 19th century, the white-dominated legislature had passed [[Jim Crow]] laws and increasing restrictions on voters.

The state gained title to Reelfoot Lake in 1914 to preserve it for public use, but actions were tied up for some years in court challenges.<ref name=threlkeld /> To prevent private development from restricting its use, in 1925 Governor [[Austin Peay]] designated the lake as a hunting and fishing reserve. This was the precedent for the larger area to be preserved as the modern Reelfoot Lake State Park.<ref>Phillip Langsdon, ''Tennessee: A Political History'' (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 303–309.</ref>

From 1877 to 1950, there were 13 [[Lynchings in the United States|lynchings of blacks]] in Lake County, the third-highest number in the state. Neighboring Obion County had 18 lynchings. These were high rates for counties with relatively small populations; Shelby County had the highest total, 20 lynchings in that period. Most of these murders were committed in the decades around the turn of the century,<ref name="supp">[http://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-second-edition-supplement-by-county.pdf ''Lynching in America/ Supplement: Lynchings by County''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627005306/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-second-edition-supplement-by-county.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-second-edition-supplement-by-county.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |date=June 27, 2018 }}, Equal Justice Initiative, 2015, p. 6</ref> during the period of heightened violence related to opposition to corporate control of Reelfoot Lake and the introduction of cotton plantations and African-American workers to this area.<ref name="grove">Jama McMurtery Grove, "Uneasy Waters: The Night Riders at Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee, 1908"], East Tennessee University, 2012; Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1496. http://dc.etsu.edu etd/1496</ref>