Mount Juliet
Mount Juliet Information
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Mt. Juliet is a city located in the western portion of Wilson County, Tennessee. It is a suburb of Nashville, and is contiguous with the metropolitan city/county limits, though it maintains its own government and is not included within the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. It is about 15 miles east of downtown Nashville. It is located roughly between two major national east-west routes, Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 70. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 12,366. The city completed a special census in May of 2006, certified by the State of Tennessee, which revealed a current population of 20,392. The official city charter from 1972 gave the name as the abbreviated “Mt. Juliet,” rather than “Mount Juliet,” though the longer version is accepted. The city’s official colors are the same as the town’s high school: black, white, and gold.
An urban legend states that Mt. Juliet was named after the alcoholic drink Mint Julep. Alternately, it has been suggested that the settlement was named after early settler Julie Gleaves. However, more recent research has revealed that Julia Gleaves was still in her teens when Mt. Juliet was established. The discovery of the Mount Juliet estate in Ireland points to there being a connection between the two. Mt. Juliet served as a stop on what is now the Nashville and Eastern Railroad beginning in the late 1800s, but did not see major growth until the mid-20th century, despite its close proximity to Nashville. A fair amount of people moved to the area after the damming of the nearby Cumberland River (Old Hickory Lake) in the 1950s, but the town’s major boon came around the time Interstate 40 was constructed just south of the city’s center in the early 1970s. Mt. Juliet was incorporated as a city in 1972. The first mayor of Mt. Juliet was Neland Carver (NC) Hibbett Jr.