Last updated: April 29, 2026
Marion County has been governed continuously since its creation by the Tennessee General Assembly on November 20, 1817. The county seat was fixed at Jasper, on forty acres that Betsy Pack sold to the county commissioners in 1819 for one dollar, and a quarterly court began meeting at the first log courthouse by 1820. Over the next two centuries, governance evolved through a county judge system, a 1978 statewide reform that replaced the judge with an elected county executive (later restyled county mayor), and the modern county commission. The sheriff's office, the county's oldest continuous law-enforcement institution, has operated from the courthouse square since the county's first year.
Below the county level, six incorporated municipalities operate their own town governments: Jasper (incorporated 1851), South Pittsburg (incorporated 1887), Whitwell (incorporated 1956), Kimball (incorporated 1962), New Hope (incorporated 1974), and the Marion County portion of Monteagle (incorporated 1962, shared with Grundy and Franklin counties). Each town has its own mayor and board of aldermen or city council, while the county commission handles unincorporated areas and county-wide services.
County Government
The Marion County Courthouse
Three courthouses on the same Jasper square since 1820: Betsy Pack's land sale, the 1880 courthouse destroyed in the 1922 election-night fire, the mid-1920s brick building that stands today, and the war memorials on the grounds.
The Marion County Sheriff
Two centuries of law enforcement from James Jones in 1820 to Bo Burnett today: the complete sheriff roster, the Coppinger dynasty, the 1927 Christmas Night Shootout, the county jail, and town police departments.
Elections and County Commission
From the quarterly court of 1820 through the county judge era, the 1978 statewide reform that created the county executive and commission, and the modern county mayor. Includes the full county judge roster from the TNGenWeb officials list.
