OLD MARSHALL COUNTY COMMUNITIES
WRITTEN BY JUSTIN LAMB
With the passing of time, several communities and towns have disappeared from Marshall County’s map. Here is a look back at some of those once bustling settlements that are now only footnotes in Marshall County’s past:
MYERSTOWN
Located on top of the hill past H.H. Lovett Park on Main Street in the south end of Benton. The community received its name from the Myers family who were early settlers of the area. The small hamlet centered around the Myres & Powell Grocery Store which was a very popular gathering place. The community was eventually annexed into the city of Benton in the 1950s and the Myres & Powell Grocery soon shut down.
Myerstown Grocery in the 1940s.
COLE’S ADDITION:
Cole’s Addition was located from West 14th Street out Walnut Street and the area was first settled by the Cole family. County Judge Walter Prince bought up most of the land in Cole’s Addition where he operated a farm. He soon lobbied the city council to annex Myerstown into the city of Benton and Walnut Court Apartments was constructed in what was Cole’s Addition years after.
JOPPA:
Joppa was located on HWY 402 in between Hardin and Jonathan Creek. The community was mostly farm land and had a school which operated until the 1940s. When the school shut down, Joppa became a distant memory.
Joppa School in 1923
BOOKER HOLLER:
Booker Holler is located near Aurora along Jonathan Creek. It was named for the Booker family who lived in the area and its history centers around moonshining which was prevalent in the holler from the 1850s until the 1940s. The population of Booker Holler took a large hit in 1918 due to an influenza pandemic. As the Great Depression weighed in by the 1930s, many of the residents of the area moved and Booker Holler became just a footnote in Marshall County history.
ALTONA:
This small community was located just north of Calvert City along the Tennessee River. It was originally known as Patterson’s Ferry and was a busy river landing. In 1822, a man named Burradell opened a general store and the name changed to Burradell’s Landing. In 1870, a post office was established and the name of the community changed to Altona. During the War Between the States, steamboats used Altona as a dropping point for mail and other cargo. When the Paducah & Elizabethtown Railway came through Altona in 1867, the community began to grow. However, when the railroad extended service to Calvert City, the tracks were rerouted away from Altona and the community began to slowly fade away. Today the area is largely housed by the chemical plants.
FRISTOE:
Not much is known about Fristoe except that it was located in between Elva and Iola in western Marshall County on modern day New Harmony Road. It was a flag stop on the N.C. & St. L. Railroad during World War I as a deployment station.
ELVA:
The community of Elva, or ‘Elvy’ as the locals call it, was located in the western section of the county near the Graves County line. The area was first called Stringtown and a school was soon built. When the Paducah, Tennessee, & Alabama railroad came through following the Civil War, the community name changed to Elva. The area became a shipping point for gravel, tires, and lumber. Pomp Barnes operated a store in Elva for a number of years and he served a magistrate of the district for several terms. A post office was established in the 1870s and a telephone exchanged arrived in the early 1900s. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad took over the P.T. & A. railroad and established a flag station by 1900. When the railroad left, Elva soon withered away.