Chartered in 1886 to build a railroad from Memphis to Virginia, the Tennessee Midland Railway Company completed 135.6 miles of track to Perryville by 1889, where construction stopped for lack of funds. In 1892, a rail connection at Lexington removed the need to extend the line beyond Perryville. By 1896, the 24.1 miles from Lexington to Perryville belonged to the Louisville & Nashville and were operated by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway under lease. Locally called the “Pea Vine,” the Perryville branch ran daily until it was abandoned in October 1936. Parsons began taking shape on April 11, 1889, when landowner Henry Myracle deeded 143 acres to the Tennessee Midland Railway Company in exchange for a depot and a planned town of 44 numbered blocks, with even-numbered blocks belonging to the railroad and odd-numbered blocks to Myracle. On April 20, 1889, George W. Partin bought the first lot in Parsons and later that year moved his general merchandise store and post office there from nearby Partinville. In 1893, the post office was officially renamed Parsons.