HISTORY

OF

 CLEVELAND-BRADLEY COUNTY

Thousands of years before the pioneer became commonplace on the American scene, the lands of Bradley, McMinn, and Polk Counties were home to some of the nation’s first citizens. History records evidence of prehistoric Paleo Indians living in the Hiwassee Valley 10,000 years ago.

The most recent and best recorded Indian inhabitation of the Valley was that of the Cherokee in the 18th and 19th centuries. The modern highways that now pass north and south through the area, covers the rutted¹ and foot worn trails of the Great Indian Warpath used by the tribal nations in their quest for basic survival.

In 1835 the first permanent white settlement had begun to form at the present location of Cleveland. Prior to this date a white man by the name of Andrew Taylor, who had married an Indian woman and had been allowed a reservation in the Indian country, had built a log house on the lot now occupied by the Cleveland Post Office and was living there when the removal treaty (1835) was made with the Cherokee Indians. This place was known to the early settlers as “Taylor’s Place!’~ The loca­tion soon became a favorite stopping place for travelers because of the many springs in the vicinity~ As a result, when the first county court of Bradley County met in 1836 to call an election to select the permanent county seat, “Taylor’s Place” was one of the two sites placed before the voters.~ The other location was three miles east on the reservation of a wealthy Indian named Deer—in--the—Water~

The legislature formally designated Cleveland as the county seat of Bradley County in January 20, 1838, in honor of Colonel Benjamin Cleveland of North Carolina, a Revolutionary War hero of King’s Mountain~ Cleveland reported a population of 400 and was rapidly becoming a popular trading center~ Cleveland was incorporated on February 4, l842.