Crossville, once known as a little village, was named by James A. Copeland for the area’s many crossroads. In the mid-1800s, mail came through Crossville by stagecoach from Rome, Georgia, and Guntersville, Alabama. Its first church was the Methodist Episcopal Pine Bark Church, formed before the War Between the States, and its first school was built in the late 1800s at Bryant’s Chapel Church. The first post office was established in 1870 with A.C. Copeland as postmaster. G.W. Justice established the first business in 1888, and in 1901 W.B. Jones installed machinery for cotton mills and the first car came through Crossville. A government distillery once operated there. J.J. England created the first telephone exchange and built the only hotel Crossville ever had, and George Jones operated the first service station. Sam P. Smith, the town’s first doctor, traveled on horseback to see patients. Until 1914, only two stores and a few homes made up the town, and the first bank opened that year through N.W. Black and Boyce Raines. In 1919, Charley Crump, J.K. Dobbs, B.F. Kirby, A.C. Copeland, Walter Roden, G.W. Justice, J.M. Carnes, and J.T. Gaines worked to incorporate the town, with C.J. Crump as first mayor, but little progress was made and the township failed as incorporated. On December 21, 1942, Crossville was incorporated for the second time, with Dr. L.F. Erwin chosen as mayor. In 1948, C.W. (Bill) Russell was elected mayor, and Colonel Mack Kilcrease was hired as legal advisor to the mayor and council. Together they established a solid town government that became the foundation for Crossville, and the new Town Hall was dedicated on July 12, 1964.