Fountain Head took its name from a large spring that emerged 2.4 miles northeast of here near Drake's Creek. Long hunters had explored the area, but James Gwin and his family, who arrived in 1792, were among the first permanent settlers. Gwin fought in the Revolution and later served as a chaplain with Andrew Jackson at New Orleans in the War of 1812. Several of his sons contributed to the growth of Fountain Head and the nation, including Samuel Gwin, who became Fountain Head's first postmaster in 1828, and William M. Gwin, who settled in the West and became one of the first U.S. Senators from California. Another early settler, William McKendree, became a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in Nov. 1812, at the home of Micajah House, he and Bishop Francis Asbury presided over the formation of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1874, McKendree Academy opened and was named for the bishop.