On November 14, 1809, the Tennessee General Assembly passed an act establishing Giles County and its county seat, Pulaski. The new six hundred square mile county was formed from land ceded to the state in 1805 by treaty with the Chickasaw Indians. At General Andrew Jackson's suggestion, the county was named for former Virginia Governor William B. Giles. The act appointed James Ross, Nathaniel Moody, Tyree Rhodes, Gabriel Bumpass, and Thomas Whitson as commissioners to choose a site on Richland Creek near the county's center, obtain at least 100 acres, and lay out a town with necessary streets at least 80 feet wide, two acres reserved for a public square with a courthouse and stocks, a jail in a convenient part of town, and lots to be sold at public auction to fund the courthouse, jail, stocks, a school, and a bridge over Richland Creek. Meeting early in 1810, the commissioners chose the Shoals on Richland Creek, and on November 11, 1812, President James Madison deeded Pulaski's one square mile to them after federal assurances of title. Lewis Kirk, Alexander Black, and Robert Black are believed to have been the first settlers in Pulaski sometime in 1807, though most of the land was vacant; the Blacks settled on what became South First Street, and Kirk built a cabin at the Shoals on Richland Creek, where Kirk's Settlement became the site of the county's first courthouse and jail. In August 1811, the first town lots were sold at auction and a courthouse and stocks were erected on the present-day town square. By 1820, Pulaski's population had grown to 512, and on July 24, 1820, the Tennessee General Assembly authorized its incorporation and the establishment of a board of mayor and alderman. On August 19, 1820, under Sheriff James Perry's oversight, citizens elected Dr. Elisha Eldridge, Dr. Shadrack Nye, J.W. McCracken, Thomas Smith, German Lester, William Rose, and John Keeman as the first board; after Keeman left in November 1820, Aaron Brown was elected to fill the vacancy. On the Saturday immediately following the election, the board met at the courthouse and chose Dr. Eldridge as Pulaski's first mayor and Dr. Nye as recorder, elected James Lynch town constable, and adopted an ordinance fining anyone five dollars for shooting at a mark, at bats, or any bird on the wing, or for otherwise wantonly or unnecessarily discharging firearms anywhere in town.