[10] Heading southwest along the Holston River from Virginia, Adam and Elizabeth Peck arrived on the banks of Mossy Creek in 1788, soon settling the area with a fort, a house of worship, and a gristmill.

Around the beginnings of the American Civil War in September 1861, Union Army General Ambrose Burnside liberated the city from the Confederacy, but was attacked in an unsuccessful siege by Confederate General James Longstreet.

In 1890, the historically segregated African American school of Nelson Merry College was founded in Mossy Creek.

Many residents reluctantly gave up their farms and homes for the promise of flood control and electricity offered by the TVA.

[14][1] Since 2010, redevelopment and revitalization efforts have been underway in the downtown district of Jefferson City.

The Mossy Creek Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 2012 to advance these efforts, receiving funding a for a public park with a mock train depot pavilion on the original site of the Mossy Creek station, and facade grants for existing structures downtown.

U.S. Route 11E, the Andrew Johnson Highway, passes through the south side of the city.

[10] The northwestern boundary of the city touches the southernmost arm of Cherokee Lake, a reservoir on the Holston River.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,419 people, 2,846 households, and 1,703 families residing in the city.

[24][25] In the Tennessee State Senate, Jefferson City is represented by the 8th district by Republican Frank Niceley.