6 | Jacksonville Progress June 2022
HISTORY OF JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville is an incorporated town on U . S . Highway 69 in northeastern Cherokee County . It began on the east bank of Gum Creek in 1847 . Since the townsite was on Jackson Smith ’ s land and Dr . Jackson was among the first to build inside the boundaries of the survey , the name Jacksonville was chosen by local citizens for the new town . Jacksonville inhabitants worked out an agreement with railroad officials to survey a new townsite on the railroad . In the fall of 1872 most of the original Jacksonville was moved two miles east to the new site on the tracks . Early in Jacksonville ’ s history , agriculture was the main focus of the local economy . Jacksonville was a leading center of peach production from the 1880s to 1914 ; thereafter , tomatoes were the primary crop until the 1950s , and the town was dubbed the “ tomato capitol of the world .” Livestock was and in the 1980s remained an important aspect of the economy . In the mid 1980s the manufacture of plastics was the leading industry . In 2010 , the population was 14,544 and in 2016 , it was estimated 14,518 .