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City Manager Jim Shipley

Welcome to the City of Cookeville’s web site. Cookeville, the county seat of Putnam County, is one of the fastest growing communities in the state, and is listed as among the top 40 micropolitan areas is the nation, and is the largest micropolitan area in Tennessee. Located at the intersection of Interstate 40 and Highway 111 at the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, Cookeville is 80 miles east of Nashville, 100 miles from Knoxville, and 90 miles from Chattanooga, and our city is within a day’s drive of about 75% of the nation’s population. Tennessee Technological University is located in Cookeville.

The city’s current population is 30,000, and is the regional center for shopping, eating, education, health care and recreational/cultural activities for approximately 300,000 people that live in the surrounding counties. The Cookeville area (known as "The Upper Cumberland") offers a wide variety of recreational and cultural opportunities. The city owns and operates nine city parks; the largest, Cane Creek, includes 260 acres with a 56 acre lake. Three state parks, all within a one-hour drive, offer many camping, picnicking, hiking and other recreational opportunities. Three Corps of Engineer lakes, with over 1,200 miles of shoreline, are within a 30 minute drive. The city owns and operates the Cookeville Performing Arts Center, which offers a full schedule of touring plays and performances in addition to presentations by the Cookeville Summer Theater and the Cookeville Children’s Theater. The university’s symphony orchestra presents several concerts each year.

We are in the midst of constructing a six-acre addition to our downtown park (known as Dogwood Park). The improvements will include a major water feature, a meandering stream, Concession and restroom building, and improved seating for the performance pavilion.

Cookeville is the educational center for the region.  Tennessee Tech University calls Cookeville home, and is nationally recognized as one of the top 100 universities in the southeast.  Cookeville and Putnam County have a consolidated school system. The Putnam County Board of Education operates 20 schools with an enrollment of approximately 10,000 students.  Putnam County schools rank in the top ten systems in the state for academic performance, and have received the Governor’s A+ Award for Excellence in Education, and ACT scores of our students are above the national average.

Cookeville’s health care is anchored by Cookeville Regional Medical Center, one of the nation’s top performance improvement hospitals, and one of only 100 hospitals in the nation to make the greatest progress in improving hospital-wide performance over five years.

Beginning in 2009, Cookeville and Tennessee Tech were chosen to host the TSSAA High School Football Championship Games through 2012. This event brings thousands of visitors to our city, and affords us the opportunity to showcase our great city.

We are a designated Tennessee "Main Street" community. Several million dollars have been invested in the downtown district. Improvements included burying electric lines, installing new sidewalks, replacing typical street lighting with decorative lamp posts, and planting trees.

Thanks again for visiting our web site. If you have any questions about our fine city, you can visit with me via e-mail at jshipley@cookeville-tn.org, or give me a call at 931-520-5240.