Editing Estill Springs, Tennessee (section)

===Twentieth century to present===
Following Reconstruction, whites in the county worked to maintain dominance over [[freedmen]]. They committed violence against African Americans perceived to violate social norms. Based on a conflict with local whites in the small town, who appeared to resent his family's relative success, [[Jim McIlherron]] was reported to have shot at three young white men who were taunting him. After trying to escape, McIlherron was captured and taken back to Estill Springs. He was lynched by a white mob on February 4, 1918, whose members tortured him with burning before his death. Rev. G.W. Lych, believed to have helped McIlherron escape, was shot to death before this.<ref>[https://tullahoma.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/1918-estill-springs/ Walter F. White, "N. A. A. C. P. INVESTIGATION", February 1918]</ref> These two murders were among three recorded lynchings in Franklin County through the early 20th century.<ref>[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf ''Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, p. 9, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile, AL, 2017</ref>

The fad for bathing in and drinking spring waters eventually passed. Local lore has it that the long-awaited construction of [[U.S. Route 41 Alternate (Monteagle-Hopkinsville)|U.S. Route&nbsp;41A]] through the town in 1940 caused the springs to dry up. The spa era passed by mid-century, and the hotels were razed. The new highway connected the town to sources of employment in neighboring communities, and gave it a strategic position on the main artery between [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] and [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]]. The development of local lakes through dam construction by the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] generated recreational business as well.<ref name=coc />

During the time of [[Volstead Act|Prohibition]], Estill Springs was home to prominent local mobster and bootlegger Parker Jones. Parker and his gang took advantage of the heavily wooded terrain to distill their bootleg booze. Parker and his men also used Estill as their primary logistics hub to traffic the booze through Middle Tennessee, [[Alabama]] and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. Jones remained in Estill for several years, "owning" mayors, city councilmen, and police officers. The government dispatched dozens of revenue agents to arrest him and his men. However, when they finally arrived at his hideout, they found nothing and Parker was never seen in Estill again.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

The "Yellowhammer's Nest", the turn-of-the-century home of noted Tennessee author [[Will Allen Dromgoole]], was destroyed by fire in 1972.<ref>Kathy Lyday-Lee, "[https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=400 Will Allen Dromgoole]," ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''. Retrieved: October 18, 2015.</ref>