South Guthrie, Tennessee

South Guthrie is an unincorporated rural community in Montgomery County, Tennessee, immediately south of the Kentucky state line.[1]

South Guthrie, Tennessee
Unincorporated community
South Guthrie, Tennessee Show map of Tennessee South Guthrie, Tennessee Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 36.641088°N 87.168289°W / 36.641088; -87.168289
Country	United States
State	Tennessee
County	Montgomery
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	931

South Guthrie is adjacent to the city of Guthrie, Kentucky; essentially, it is the part of the Guthrie community located south of the state line. In the Jim Crow era, South Guthrie was the African-American community associated with the white city of Guthrie, with the state line forming a dividing line between the races.[1]

The community of Guthrie was established in 1868 and experienced early growth after a railroad junction was completed in 1870. South Guthrie, which grew up alongside Guthrie, was known historically by the nicknames "Squiggtown" and "Niggertown", the latter being a pejorative used by white residents of Guthrie.[1]

In the early decades of the 20th century, residents of South Guthrie found industrial employment in a broom factory and a plant that made railroad ties. South Guthrie also had a small middle class of African-American professionals and benefited economically from African-American tobacco farmers in the surrounding "Black Patch" region.[1]

South Guthrie is still predominantly black, while Guthrie is predominantly white, although the divisions are not as sharply defined as they were historically.[1]

The building that houses the South Guthrie community center is a former Rosenwald school that was completed in 1922 and operated as a school until 1968.[1][2] It is the only survivor out of 22 Rosenwald schools that once existed in Montgomery County.[3] The Guildfield Missionary Baptist Church, also built in 1922, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]