Highway 47 West

Vanleer

The earliest settlement began about 1796, the same year that Tennessee became a state.  Agriculture, timbering and supplying raw materials for the operation of the Cumberland Furnace provided the basic economic mainstays for the settlement.

In 1825, Anthony Vanleer purchased the Cumberland Furnace Iron Works.  He also owned and operated an “iron store” in Nashville.  Vanleer successfully operated his iron furnace and expanded his agricultural operations in the Vanleer area, owning approximately 20,000 acres at the time of his death in 1870. 

The completion of the Louisville & Nashville Mineral Spur from the Pond community through Vanleer to the Cumberland River accelerated the growth and development of the town.  The town was incorporated in 1915.  Originally known as McKee, the name was changed to Vanleer in 1891 when the first post office was established.   When the rail service was discontinued in the mid-1930s, the prosperity of the area declined.  Today Vanleer is predominately an agricultural community.