The site of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell is located about 10 miles (16 km) from downtown Clarksville and straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky state line.

[17] In the years between 1771 and 1775, John Montgomery, the namesake of the county, along with Kasper Mansker, visited the area while on a hunting expedition.

In 1771, James Robertson led a group of 12 or 13 families involved with the Regulator movement from near where present-day Raleigh, North Carolina now stands.

In 1772, surveyors placed the land officially within the domain of the Cherokee tribe, who required negotiation of a lease with the settlers.

The land thus delineated, 20 million acres (81,000 km2), encompassed an area half as large as the present state of Kentucky.

[18][20] In 1779, Hadley W. and Hannah W. brought a group of settlers from upper East Tennessee via Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road.

Clarksville was designated as a town to be settled in part by soldiers from the disbanded Continental Army that served under General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.

On January 16, 1784, John Armstrong filed notice with the Legislature of North Carolina to create the town of Clarksville, named after General George Rogers Clark.

After an official survey by James Sanders, Clarksville was founded by the North Carolina Legislature on December 29, 1785.

Armstrong's layout for the town consisted of 12 four-acre (16,000 m2) squares built on the hill overlooking the Cumberland as to protect against floods.

The city exported flour, tobacco, cotton, and corn to ports such as New Orleans and Pittsburgh along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

Planters in the area depended on enslaved African Americans as workers in the labor-intensive tobacco industry, one of the major commodity crops.

The birthplace of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was about 20 miles across the border in Fairview, Christian County, Kentucky.

Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston set up a defense line around Clarksville expecting a land attack.

Before leaving, Confederate soldiers tried to burn the railroad bridge that crossed the Cumberland River, so that the Union could not use it.

The USS Cairo tied up in Clarksville for a couple of days before moving to participate in the capture of Nashville.

The army set up contraband camps in mid-Tennessee cities, to provide shelter for the freedmen families.

The Army enlisted freedmen in all-black regiments, in some cases putting them to work in building defenses.

The city was flourishing until the Great Fire of 1878, which destroyed 15 acres (60,000 m2) of downtown Clarksville's business district, including the courthouse and many other historic buildings.

With the entry of the United States into World War II, defense investments were made in the area.

It was capable of holding 23,000 troops, and as staffing built up, the base gave a huge boost to the population and economy of Clarksville.

Downtown, the Lillian was renamed the Roxy Theater, and today it still hosts plays and performances weekly.

The Roxy has been used as a backdrop for numerous photo shoots, films, documentaries, music videos and television commercials;[citation needed] most notably for Sheryl Crow's Grammy Award-winning song "All I Wanna Do.

This increase was due in part to annexation, as the city acquired communities such as New Providence and Saint Bethlehem.

The construction of Interstate 24 north of Saint Bethlehem added to its development potential and in the early 21st century, much of the growth along U.S. Highway 79 is commercial retail.

Precipitation is abundant year-round without any major difference, but May tends to have the highest cumulative amount of 142 mm in the form of rain.

[45] They were called the Clarksville Villagers (1903), Grays (1904), Volunteers (1910 and 1916), Billies (1911), Rebels (1912), Boosters (1913–1914), Owls (1916), and Colts (1947–1949).

[45] In 1907, Clarksville was among several cities in Tennessee that gained legislative approval to adopt a board of commission form of government, with commissioners elected by at-large voting.

[46] Clarksville changed its government system, and in the 21st century, has a 12-member city council elected from single-member districts, which has increased the range of representation.

Portions in Fort Campbell are instead use the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) as their school district.