History Pikeville, Tennessee



carl mydans photo showing local residents spelling in front of pikeville store in 1936


pikeville established in 1816 on lands donated charles love, sequatchie settler. origin of town s name unknown, although have suggested named explorer general zebulon pike. 1818, bledsoe county seat had been moved madison pikeville. town incorporated in 1830.


j.v. wigle (1890–1970), combustion engineer michigan , laboratory assistant @ eastern michigan state, met local woman, mattie lawson, , settled down in pikeville. first brought electricity town when electrified house lived near corner of poplar , wiegle streets (wiegle street, named after j.v. wigle, misspelled). in addition bringing electricity pikeville, wigle bottled coca-cola , made wrought iron railings in community. granted 2 u.s. patents in 1931 (1,798,289 & 1,814,535) coin selecting device , braking mechanism. 2 sons attended engineering school @ vanderbilt university. son tom (1933–2006) helped build u.s. route 127 heading north out of town rises mountain near county line, during summer job between semesters @ vanderbilt. wigle buried wife in pikeville city cemetery in family plot, along tom wigle.








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