They agree only in that the "Jack" after whom it was named was a young African-American slave boy, who either drowned in the creek, discovered the excellence of its water, or was captured by Indians on its banks.

[6] There were two minor incidents near Jacks Creek during the Civil War: a skirmish one mile north of town, on September 12, 1863; and a one-day battle one mile south of town involving a Confederate unit under Nathan Bedford Forrest and United States Army troops out of Corinth, Mississippi, on December 23, 1863.

[7] In 1937 the community became the site of the Jack's Creek Intermediate Landing Field, an airport on the flight line between Nashville and Memphis that was designated as an emergency landing field.

At one time it was the second largest landing field in the United States, with two runways, a beacon light and a radio control tower.

During World War II the airfield was used by the U.S. Army Air Force as a practice site.