After the Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church South was moved to this place in 1852, a small unplanned village called Mt. Zion grew up on adjoining lands owned by Arthur Forbes Wooten, who first settled here in 1835. A post office opened at Mt. Zion in 1856 and closed in 1874, then reopened in 1886 under the new name Munford in honor of Col. Richard Henry Munford, a former Randolph merchant, Covington mayor, and local official who served at times as County Court Clerk, Register, and Clerk & Master of the Chancery Court. The community's first school, Tipton Institute, opened in 1853 under the auspices of Tipton Lodge No. 226, F. & A. M. In 1876 the District High School opened under the direction of the Methodist Conference, and in 1913 Tipton County assumed management of that institution, creating Munford High School. Munford was incorporated in 1905 by the Tennessee General Assembly, and after a contested election Sterling Hicks Bass, Sr. was chosen as the first mayor.