After the first commissioners of Lawrenceburg selected the site of the new city, surveyed it, and obtained the property from the State of Tennessee (although the deed would not be recorded until 1823), they held a public auction to sell lots of the new county seat. According to this ad from the Nashville ‘Clarion,’ that auction was scheduled for April 4, 1821.

Noticeably absent among the names of the first commissioners of Lawrenceburg is David Crockett, who had stormed out of the commission meeting in a rage in November 1819 when they voted 3-to-2 to situate the new city in its present location on Shoal Creek and the Military Road instead of the geographic center of the county, as the state legislature had instructed.

Crockett and another commissioner went to work immediately, circulating a petition with hundreds of signatures of citizens to have the site changed to the center of the county (which would have placed the Public Square of Lawrenceburg near the modern Gandy Fire Hall).

But Crockett’s work was to no avail. When the commission’s decision was approved by the Legislature, Crockett resigned from the commission. Although personal pride no doubt played a large part in his decision to resign from the commission, Crockett’s decision to run for the state legislature probably helped.

Among the other attributes of Lawrenceburg listed in this ad, the commissioners touted that the 400-acre site included “about one dozen of never failing springs of as good water as any on earth.” In addition to the springs, the commissioners pointed out the fertile soil found in the tract and its access to the Military Road, as well as the abundance of iron ore in the country surrounding the town.

Said the commissioners, “all those who regard a pleasant [site] for life, in a line of trade or public house keeping, are desired to attend the sale and buy for themselves.”