Telford, TN

Telford is a Washington County census-designated place between Jonesborough and Limestone in northeast Tennessee. The 2020 census counted 909 residents. Grandview Elementary is the community’s local school, while the wider Washington County system and nearby Johnson City provide the larger education, employment, and service connections. Mill Street and the railroad line still give Telford a recognizable center, with farms and wooded ridges spreading out beyond the old depot site.

The community was first called Millwood. In 1855, Colonel George Whitfield Telford donated about four acres for operations of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, and Millwood became Telford Depot. The railroad reached the community in 1858; the depot handled livestock, logs, cattle, poultry, eggs, farm products, and freight for nearly a century. The depot closed in 1960 and was demolished in 1962, though passenger service continued as a flag stop until 1974. Telford’s present-day streets sit beside that working rail history, with a school and county roads carrying the daily routine.