Tiptonville

• Official Name — Tiptonville, Tennessee • Type — Town • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Type1 — State • Subdivision Name1 — Tennessee • Subdivision Type2 — County • Subdivision Name2 — Lake • Established Title — Established • Established Date — 1857 • Established Title2 — Incorporated • Established Date2 — 1900 • Named For — William Tipton (early settler) • Unit Pref — Imperial • Area Total Km2 — 8.65 • Area Land Km2 — 8.59 • Area Water Km2 — 0.06 • Area Total Sq Mi — 3.34 • Area Land Sq Mi — 3.31 • Area Water Sq Mi — 0.02 • Population As Of — 2020 • Population Total — 3976 • Population Density Km2 — 463.02 • Population Density Sq Mi — 1199.40 • Time Zone — Central (CST) • Utc Offset — -6 • Time Zone Dst — CDT • Utc Offset Dst — -5 • Elevation Ft — 302 • Postal Code Type — ZIP code • Postal Code — 38079 • Area Code — 731 • Custom Label Sec1 — FIPS code • Custom Data Sec1 — 47-74540 • Custom Label1 Sec1 — GNIS feature ID • Custom Data1 Sec1 — 1272690 • Website — tiptonville.org

• Illustration — Aerial view of Tiptonville in 1922 Tiptonville was established in 1857, but was not incorporated until 1900. It was designated the county seat when Lake County was created in 1870.

Tiptonville was the scene of the surrender of Confederate forces at the end of the 1862 Battle of Island Number Ten in the American Civil War. The monument for this battle is located on State Route 22 approximately three miles north of Tiptonville, since the island itself, the focal point of the battle, has been eroded by the flow of the Mississippi River and no longer exists.

On March 19, 1901, Tiptonville was destroyed by a fire three days after a mob of white townsmen had lynched Ike Fitzgerald, a black man accused of raping a white woman. Whites speculated that the blaze, which burned 30 buildings and residences, including all of the stores on the main street, had been deliberately set by African Americans in reprisal for Fitzgerald's lynching. In 1904, the Dyersburg Northern Railroad was chartered. This line connected Dyersburg to Hickman, KY, via Tiptonville, and began operating in 1910. The company changed their name to the Chicago, Memphis, & Gulf Railroad in 1909.

In July 2025, the city gained attention nationwide when a man killed four people and left an infant abandoned in a random person's yard.

Tiptonville is located at (36.377610, −89.476022), on a small rise known as the Tiptonville Dome and within the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The Mississippi River is to the west and north, the Kentucky Bend is to the north, and Reelfoot Lake is to the east. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.4 sqmi, all land.

As of the 2020 census, Tiptonville had a population of 3,976. The median age was 41.4 years. 10.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 274.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 325.1 males age 18 and over. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas. There were 872 households in Tiptonville, of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 26.3% were married-couple households, 20.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 46.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 40.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 1,006 housing units, of which 13.3% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.5%. Racial composition as of the 2020 census • Race — Number — Percent • White — 2,362 — 59.4% • Black or African American — 1,443 — 36.3% • American Indian and Alaska Native — 6 — 0.2% • Asian — 6 — 0.2% • Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander — 2 — 0.1% • Some other race — 58 — 1.5% • Two or more races — 99 — 2.5% • Hispanic or Latino (of any race) — 108 — 2.7%

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,439 people, 918 households, and 570 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,704.0 PD/sqmi. There were 992 housing units at an average density of 693.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 62.57% White, 36.16% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.08% Asian, 0.12% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population. There were 918 households, out of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.5% were married couples living together, 19.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.87. In the town, the population was spread out, with 20.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $19,475, and the median income for a family was $24,929. Males had a median income of $25,089 versus $18,333 for females. The per capita income for the town was $11,843. About 21.1% of families and 26.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 43.0% of those under age 18 and 28.7% of those age 65 or over.

A local newspaper, The Lake County Banner, is published in Tiptonville. Tiptonville is located in the southernmost portion of the Cape Girardeau–Paducah–Harrisburg television market. Union City based Low-Power Class A television station WUWT-CD (channel 26) serves Obion, and Lake counties (and Tiptonville) with programming from Retro TV, supplemented with programming from The Family Channel airing on its second digital subchannel. The main television broadcast stations serving extreme northwest Tennessee are: • WSIL-TV 3 Harrisburg (ABC) • WPSD-TV 6 Paducah (NBC) • WLJT 11 Lexington, TN (PBS) • KFVS-TV 12 Cape Girardeau (CBS) • KFVS-TV 12.2 Cape Girardeau (The CW) • KBSI 23 Cape Girardeau (Fox) • WUWT-CD 26 Union City (RTV) • WKPD 29 Paducah (PBS) • WDKA 49 Paducah (MNTV)

• Lake County High School

• Clifton Cates (1893–1970), 19th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps • Carl Perkins, musician • Jerry Reese, former general manager of the New York Giants