McNairy County, Tennessee: History
McNairy County was formed in 1823 from parts of Hardin County, and was named for Judge John McNairy.
Purdy was the county seat of McNairy County until 1890. Since then, Selmer has been the county seat.
During the Civil War, McNairy County was among the most divided counties in Tennessee. In Tennessee's Ordinance of Secession referendum on June 8, 1861, McNairy County voted to secede by a margin of 1,318 to 586. However, earlier on February 9, 1861, McNairy County voters had voted against holding a secession convention by a margin of 916 to 811. Despite the strong overall support for secession, there was a strong Unionist minority in the northern half adjacent to solidly pro-Union Henderson County.
The history of McNairy County also includes a very small, almost-unheard-of school. The Trantham School, listed on the 1940 census, operated from 1922 through 1948, with a single teacher serving grades 1 through 8.
Buford Pusser served as the sheriff of McNairy County from 1964 to 1970. The courthouse and jail in Selmer were his base of operations. He gained prominence for his fight against illegal distilleries, bootleggers, gambling establishments, and corruption in the county. His story has been made famous in the Walking Tall series of movies starring Joe Don Baker, Bo Svenson, Brian Dennehy, and Dwayne Johnson, and in numerous documentaries and books. However, in August 2025, following a three-year investigation conducted together with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the local district attorney's office concluded that Pusser killed his wife, Pauline Mullins Pusser, in 1967.