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Cowan lies on the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad at the base of the Cumberland Mountains on the north side and is noted for
its extensive iron manufactory. The Sewanee Furnace was established here in 1880 with a capital stock of $200,000. It has since passed into the
hands of the Tennessee Coal Iron & Railroad Company with the capital increased to $300,000. The company employs 100 hands and manufactures seventy
tons of pig iron per day. The buildings are large and extensive.
Cowan is an old town located in one of the earliest settlements made in the county. It is at the junction of the Sewanee & Tracy City Railroad. Its
present business aside from that of the iron furnace consists of four general stores, one drug store, one family grocery, one grist-mill, some
mechanical shops, five churches (three white and two colored), two good hotels, and one academy. The place has about 800 inhabitants a large
proportion being colored. It is pleasantly located and the surrounding scenery is delightful.
Source: History of Tennessee, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1886
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