Baxter, TN

Baxter is a small city in western Putnam County, set around the I-40, U.S. 70, and State Route 56 crossroads west of Cookeville. The Nashville and Eastern Railroad runs through its central business and industrial districts, so the town's map still has a clear road-and-rail shape. Three Putnam County schools are in Baxter: Baxter Elementary, Cornerstone Middle, and Upperman High. Upperman carries the name of Harry Lee Upperman, who led Baxter Seminary from 1923 until 1957; the former private school became part of the public-school story when Upperman High School took its name. Baxter is tied into the Cookeville area through the micropolitan region and the I-40 interchange. It is a small Tennessee town with a simple local read: highway access at the edges, railroad through the middle, and schools carrying the oldest institutional thread.