Calhoun, TN

Calhoun is a McMinn County town where the 2020 estimate put the population at 536 residents, on the north bank of the Hiwassee River. The river separates Calhoun from Charleston in Bradley County and continues west toward Chickamauga Lake. US 11 and State Route 163 meet in the town's road network, connecting it north toward Athens, south toward Charleston and Cleveland, and west toward Interstate 75.

Calhoun began around 1808, when John Walker established a ferry across the Hiwassee. McMinn County was organized at Walker's home in 1819, and he laid out the town in 1820, naming it for treaty negotiator John C. Calhoun. Today, one government building houses the library, courthouse, police station, and fire station; a baseball field sits across the road. Calhoun Elementary is part of McMinn County Schools, while the Bowater paper mill established in 1954 shaped the western side of town. River, ferry, courthouse, school, and mill give Calhoun a compact civic history that still structures the town.