James Polk: The Iowa county's namesake

The president gave his name to Des Moines' county

Like many residents of Polk County, Iowa, I have known a bit about President James K. Polk. But not much.

I could tell you that Polk was the 11th president. That he kept every major campaign promise. That he was a personification of the Manifest Destiny policy and expanded American territory through land deals and the Mexican-American War.

I was also aware, after reading a book about him, that Polk was a disciple of Andrew Jackson and died soon after leaving office.

Yet I’ve always wanted to know more about Polk. After all, I’ve lived most of my life in a county named for him. When I visited Tennessee early this week, I made time to visit Polk’s former home in Columbia, Tennessee, southwest of Nashville.

The former James Polk home in Columbia, Tennessee, is open for tours. (Photo by John Naughton.)

Columbia is the county seat of Maury County (pronounced “Murray” by locals). The city has a population of more than 40,000. Once a very rural part of the state when Polk lived there as a young man, it’s now apparently a growing part of central Tennessee.

Polk lived in the home as a young man, but most of his adulthood was spent in other residences, including the White House. Most of them are gone now, including his main Columbia home — according to a docent, a fight by heirs led to the wrecking ball.

The home and grounds feature a mix of period antiques and Polk relics, such as White House dishware. It’s not a presidential residence on the scale of Washington’s Mount Vernon or Jefferson’s Monticello, but it does have a pleasant, stately nature to it.

There’s also a building on the grounds that was once occupied by enslaved people. That’s right — the Polk family, including the future President, were slaveholders.

Statues of President James K. Polk and Sarah (Childress) Polk are on display in Columbia, Tennessee. (Photo by John Naughton.)

Polk was hard worker, energetic and decisive. He expanded the power and scope of the presidency from 1845 to 1849. Iowa became a state in 1846, and thus Des Moines’ county was named after the current president.