Source: Dyer County Volume II - Past and Present
Fowlkes is mainly a farming community and depends on Dyersburg for the supplies. The train does travel thru Fowlkes and use to stop in the morning and evening. At one time the mail was just throw off the train for the post office. The train picked up the mail off a mail hanger. This community has remained mainly a farming community through out the years.
Tatumville is a small unincorporated community in Dyer County near the Gibson County border. Tatumville began about 1830 when George Tatum set up a grocery store. The people just added the 'ville' and named the town Tatumville in his honor. E. W. Tigue opened another general store and then a barber shop, blacksmith, cotton gin and garage were opened.In the 1800s the first school house was two large rooms of yellow poplar with two fireplaces, teaching up to three years of high school.
Tatumville had Dyer County's first guym built in 1911. The school burned in 1935 and was rebuilt but only included the first eight grade. This school was closed in 1958 and children attend school in Trimble - about seven miles away.
The first church in Tatumville was built with the aid of slave labor. It was founded in 1840 by the Spring Hill Baptist Chruch in Gibson County. It was named Mt. Tirzah Baptist Church. In 1878, a new church was built on the land of W. A. Hall. In 1903 the building was sold for $65.00 and its 1 1/2 acres of land for $35.50. Two acres of land was purchased for $100. A church and school was built here but the owner would not allow a cemetery. This church was a tall white building and it housed lodgers upstairs. In 1949 the church was rebuilt. In 1954 its membership was 154 people.
Tatumville's stores have closed in the past years and it has become a suburb of both Dyersburg and Newbern.
Trimble is a small town settled after the Civil War in northeast Dyer County sitting at the edge of two counties - Dyer and Obion.
Trimble has changed very little during the years. Railroad growth help Trimble by have a turn-around "Y" there. This was the end of the tracks. Trimble's main street today faces the main line of the Illinois Central Gulf railroad.
From 1873 to present time, Trimble has remained true to its logo of being a diverse community.