Editing Dyer County, Tennessee (section)

===20th century===
In 1904, the Dyersburg Northern Railroad was chartered. This line connected Dyersburg to Tiptonville in Lake County and began operating in 1910. The company changed their name to the [[Chicago, Memphis and Gulf Railroad|Chicago, Memphis, & Gulf Railroad]] in 1909.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V |title=Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1910 |date=1910 |publisher=HV and HW Poor |edition=XXXXIII |location=New York, NY |pages=598}}</ref> 
[[File:Dyer Country Newbern Depot.jpg|alt=Image of a single story brick railroad passenger and freight depot|left|thumb|The ICC Depot at Newbern. This was constructed in 1920 to replace a depot that had burned to the ground two years prior.]]
On February 1, 1916, a black man named [[Julius Morgan]] was accused of raping a white woman in Dyer County. In order to avoid a lynching at the hands of a local mob, Sheriff C.C. Dawson had Morgan sent to the jail in [[Jackson, Tennessee|Jackson]] for safety, and again to jails in [[Union City, Tennessee|Union City]] and [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]].<ref name="sg-1">{{cite news|author=<!--not stated-->|date=February 2, 1916|title=NEGRO IS TRAILED|work=State Gazette|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/dyer/newspaper/gz0216.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218184352/http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/dyer/newspaper/gz0216.txt|archive-date=February 18, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="lethal-morgan">{{cite book |last=Vandiver |first=Margaret |title=Lethal Punishment : Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South |date=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=9780813537283 |pages=1, 44–45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpnRipS4ZA8C&pg=PA1 |access-date=December 20, 2021 |archive-date=February 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226152303/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lethal_Punishment/xpnRipS4ZA8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Julius+Morgan+negro&pg=PA44&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> His attorneys were able to secure a change in venue to Memphis for his trial. He was convicted and sentenced to death.<ref name="lethal-morgan" /> On July 13, 1916, Morgan was the first person to be [[Electric chair|executed by electrocution]] in Tennessee.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tn.gov/correction/statistics-and-information/executions/tennessee-executions.html|title=Tennessee Executions|website=Tennessee Department of Corrections|access-date=March 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314193637/https://www.tn.gov/correction/statistics-and-information/executions/tennessee-executions.html|archive-date=March 14, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1920s the Mengle Box Company of [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville, KY]] operated a box manufacturing facility at the small town of Menglewood in the western part of the county on the [[Obion River]]. The town of Menglewood had over 1,200 people living in it at the height of the box factory's operations. By 1929, the Chicago, St. Louis, & New Orleans Railroad had abandoned the rail line to the small town, which was described as "almost abandoned."<ref>{{Cite news |year=1929 |title=To Abandon Railroad Line in Dyer County |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/605082525/?match=1&clipping_id=158598748 |work=Nashville Banner |location=Nashville, TN |pages=9}}</ref> Musician [[Noah Lewis (musician)|Noah Lewis]] was said to have named his song "[[Minglewood Blues]]" after the town of Menglewood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Minglewood Mural in Downtown Dyersburg, Tennessee |url=https://visitdyercounty.com/murals/minglewood |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=visitdyercounty.com}}</ref>

During World War 2, an auxiliary field of the [[Dyersburg Army Air Base|Dyersburg Army Airbase]], named for the town but located south in Lauderdale County, was constructed south of Dyersburg.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HISTORY - DCHS |url=http://www.dyerhistory.org/history.html#:~:text=During%20World%20War%20II%20the,from%20cotton%20into%20new%20crops. |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=www.dyerhistory.org}}</ref>