The home of one such settler, William Russell, served as the Franklin County Courthouse until the establishment of Winchester in 1810.

[5] The town was named for Dr. James Benjamin Cowan,[6] a Civil War-era doctor whose family had lived in the area since the early 1800s.

As the last stop before the uphill climb onto the nearby Cumberland Plateau, pusher engines to assist trains in making the steep ascent were based there, and are still in use today.

[9] The city is situated at the western base of the Cumberland Plateau, and is concentrated around the point where U.S. Route 41A crosses the CSX railroad tracks.

US 41A (Cumberland Street) is the primary road in Cowan, connecting the city with Winchester and the Tims Ford Lake area to the west.

To the east of Cowan, US 41A ascends nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) to the top of the Cumberland Plateau, where it passes through Sewanee and Monteagle.

[2] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2), all land.