On January 31, 1836, the legislature passed an act creating a new county by taking portions of the counties of Rutherford, Smith, and Warren. The new county would extend from the beginning of the hills on the eastern edge of the Central Basin to some distance on the Highland Rim and from the northern line d the newly-created Coffee County (on January 8) to the south to the Caney fork River to the north- east.

Its name would be Cannon, in honor of Newton Cannon, then governor of Tennessee. (At first, the name was to be Marshall, in honor of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but the name Marshall was marked out and Cannon added before the act was passed.)

The boundary of the new county was to begin on the ridge between Rutherford and Bedford counties, in the southwestern corner of the new county, and run north by way of Readyville, splitting that community in two and leaving Colonel Ready's house sitting astride the Rutherford-Cannon line, and on, by way of Rucker's Knob near the future site of Porterfield, for twenty miles in all, to the Wilson County line. There, it would turn northeast and run with the Wilson County line to the juncture of Wilson and Smith. From there, the line would run between Smith and Wilson counties for tour miles, then with the line between Warren and Smith to the Caney Fork River. From there, it would run southeast with the river to Link Creek, then south by varying courses, but never closer than 12 miles to McMinnville, to the Coffee County line. From there, it would run west to the beginning.

The act creating the county does not mention the newly-created Coffee County, but Bedford instead, a result almost certainly of the fact that the bill creating Cannon was drawn up before the bill creating Coffee was passed and was never corrected.

But Cannon was to get still more territory. Another act was passed in 1838 attaching a part d Wilson County. In 1836, the Wilson County line came to the top of Dividing Ridge in the northwestern part of` present Cannon County. Therefore, the area now containing Auburntown and Sanders' Fork remained in Wilson until 1838, when it was added to Cannon.

The legislative act creating Cannon County caused some confusion in the minds of some of the former Smith County residents in the vicinity of Liberty. The language of the act left them in political limbo. Thirteen days after the act was passed, in February 1836, a resident of Liberty named McWhirter wrote to legislators Trousdale, Campbell, and McLean, asking that the legislature clarify the political status of the voters living in the so-called "Surplus" area. As he saw it, they were detached from Smith, yet Danville was holding them at arm's length until after the first meeting of the county court. This sounds like a bit of political maneuvering on the part of Danville. The delay would deprive the residents of the "surplus' area their right to help choose the officials of the new county. They, therefore, deplored the apparent loss of their "sacred right" of suffrage.

Their problem was soon to be resolved, but in quite another manner than Mr. McWhirter, and very unlikely Danville, expected. DeKalb County was formed the next year, and the unclaimed area, or most of it, became part of that county. After this division, Cannon County would be less than half its original size.

The act creating Cannon County directed that the first county court be held in Henry D. McBroom's house until the county court chose another place. It did hold its first meetings there, but in August 1837, the court adjourned to meet at the house of John Fisher, an innkeeper, 'for the Better convenience of Holding the same.

The legislative act creating the county also named commissioners and charged them with the responsibility of selecting a site for me county seat within five miles of Danville. They were also to secure 50 acres of land and lay off the town. The commissioners named were Daniel M. Stewart and James Taylor of Rutherford County, William Bates and Henry Trott of Warren County, and Abraham Overall and Leonard Lambereon of Smith County. (None were chosen from Wilson, since part of Wilson was, not yet added to Cannon.) The commissioners chose Danville as the site of the county seat and changed the name to Woodbury, in honor of Levi Woodbury, then Secretary of the Treasury under President Jackson. Having honored the governor of Tennessee, Newton Cannon, by naming the county for him, they chose to compliment Andrew Jackson.

The commissioners not only secured 50 acres of land for the county seat, but 62. Henry Trott, a surveyor, and William Bates laid out the town. With a population of about 100 people, Danville had only one street, called Water Street, running east and west parallel to the river. The commissioners added two other streets south of Water Street and named them Main and High Streets. They then laid out cross streets, beginning with Manchester Street on the east aide of town and moving westward to later-named Church Street, Wintis, Tatum, Dillon, Doolittle, and College streets.

Sixty-four lots were laid out on lands sold or donated to the town by W.Y. Hendereon, Nathan Neely, Adam Elrod, Joe Pinkerton, Henry Trott, Abel McBroom. H.D. McBroom, Robert Vinson, W.M. Young, Patsy Gannon, Mary Gannon and James Taylor. Some of the town lots already had buildings on them, in which case the owners reserved them when they sold or donated the land to the town or reserved the right to buy them back at the selling price of the vacant lot next to it.

The money raised by the sale of the town lots was used to build a courthouse and a jail. Both were built of brick by William Bates and were ready for use in 1838. Unfortunately, the jail was built on low ground at the bend of the river west of Doolittle Street, and it was washed away in the freshest of 1850. A second jail was built on Wintis Street (now South Cannon Street) in 1852. This jail served until 1880, when another jail was built of cut stone on Water Street, on the north side of the square. This jail, with additions and modifications, served until 1992.

The courthouse was built on a three-acre square in the center of town, at a cost of $13,000, and enclosed by an iron fence set on long cut stones. It was a plain, square, two-story structure built of large brick, with a door on each of its four sides. The front entrance, however, faced south on Main Street, though, at that time, the busiest street in town was Water Street, on the north side. The area between the courthouse and all four streets was rocky and rough. The walkway, no more than a rough, unpaved path from Main Street to the South door, was steep and crossed a wooden culvert to reach the gate of the courthouse yard. In rainy weather, the walkway was often flooded.

William Bates went a step beyond his contract with the county court and placed a gold-leaf spread eagle on the roof of the cupola. The court refused to pay for it. Bates told the court he would take it down. The court, reluctant to lose the eagle, told him he could not legally do so because the eagle was attached to the building. The court disagreed. So one morning at dawn, Bates climbed to the top of the cupola, before people in the town realized what was up, the eagle was down, and Bates walked triumphantly away with it.

The grounds around the courthouse remained in the original rough condition until the Great Depression, when the Civil Works Administration improved it.

Most Woodbury citizens looked upon the starting of this improvement with great relief, but some were fearful of it. Presly Lester watched the CWA workers from the door of his store on the square and said, "They will never finish the job, and we will have a mudhole the rest of our lives. The government never finishes a job." Lee McCrary, another merchant and always an optimist, said, "This is the greatest thing that ever happened to Woodbury. That old, rough square will be smooth." And it was. Nearly a hundred men worked on the project for thirty cents an hour. A wagon and team were paid a dollar a day. In the process, the iron fence was taken down. Only the foundation stores remain to show where the fence stood.

The courthouse, completed in 1838, burned on November 13, 1934, at 2:30 in the morning. The origin of the fire is unknown. Most land records and county court records were saved.

The Henry D. McBroom house, where the first few sessions of the county court were held, still exists. It was built of logs and sat on the northeast corner of High and Dillon streets. Christopher Brown bought the house about 1895 and moved it to its present site on South McCrary Street.

Though county government is our oldest form of government, counties in Tennessee have no constitutions or charters of their own. The structure of Cannon County, as of all other counties in the state, is set out in the constitution of the State of Tennessee. The County Board of Commissioners cannot pass any laws; instead, any authority given to the Board beyond the constitutional provision must come through enabling legislation passed by the State Legislature.