History of Monteagle, Tennessee

Monteagle is a town in Franklin, Grundy, and Marion counties in the Cumberland Plateau region of the southeastern part of Tennessee. The population was 1,238 at the 2000 census – 804 of the town's 1,238 residents (64.9%) lived in Grundy County, 428 (34.6%) in Marion County, and 6 (0.5%) in Franklin County.

The Marion County portion of Monteagle is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Franklin County portion is part of the Tullahoma, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Monteagle is most famous for the treacherous stretch of Interstate 24 that passes through the town. It is here that the highway passes the mountain of the same name, The Monteagle, a major landmark on the road between Chattanooga and Nashville. The interstate regularly shuts down in inclement weather, routing traffic onto U.S. Highway 41. In the Jerry Reed song "The Legend", which is the opening track in the film Smokey and the Bandit, Reed tells the story of the Bandit miraculously surviving brake failure on the "Monteagle Grade."

The town is home to the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly. The Highlander Folk School, long involved in the labor and civil rights movements, was located here from 1932 to 1961. Rosa Parks attended workshops there shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott.