About 1748, Colonel James Patton patented land here and reportedly hoped the site would one day become a town. The region became known as Town House for a nearby house of that name, and by the Revolutionary War a settlement called Town House had begun to develop around it. In 1856, the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad arrived, and the settlement was renamed Greever’s Switch for a local resident. In the late 1880s, at George Palmer’s suggestion, the community’s name was changed to Chilhowie, believed to be an Indian word meaning either “home of many deer” or “valley of many deer.” The town was incorporated in 1913.