MIKE WEST
Posted: Saturday, October 4, 2008 7:09 am

Gone and probably forgotten is the home of John Price Buchanan, the only Rutherford County resident elected governor.

His home, part of The Big Creek Stock Farm, was located on the McGill property off of Manchester Pike in what became known as the Buchanan community.

It was built in 1873 by Buchanan and his wife, the former Frances McGill. A Confederate veteran, Buchanan entered the army at age 16 and served with Nathan Bedford Forrest in Alabama.

The most distinctive feature of the wood-frame structure was its long porches decorated by the gingerbred typical of the victorian age. There were matching porches on the ground level and on the second story.

It was from that second floor porch that Buchanan addressed his friends and neighbors following his return from the state 1890 Democratic Convention in Nashville.

Buchanan, a Confederate veteran, was president of the Tennessee Farmers Alliance. He received the party’s nomination following a nearly week-long deadlock between four candidates: Buchanan, Capt. Josiah Patterson of Memphis, Judge John M. Taylor from West Tennessee and Col. Jere Baxter of Nashville.

A one-term governor, Buchanan is best known for his efforts to expand free schools and to improve benefits for Civil War veterans.

Following his defeat in 1892 by Peter Turney, Buchanan returned to his farm where he lived until 1925 when he moved to Murfreesboro. His house was razed sometime prior to 1942.