Back in the 1930’s, William P. Morris and his family first brought the Catholic faith to Putnam County, Tennessee. Within a decade, other Catholics and a priest from Harriman would come and say Mass in the Moran family home on the 5th Sunday of the month. Early in the 1950, construction began on the original church building. The first mass was celebrated in the basement of that building on Christmas Eve, 1950, since the church itself was not quite finished. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church was dedicated on May 6, 1951, with Fr. Joseph Julius as its first pastor and a membership of 11 families.

The Catholic population increased to approximately 43 families by the late 1960’s and because of the continued growth of the Catholic faith in the Upper Cumberland area, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish was instrumental in helping establish mission parishes in Crossville, Sparta, Smithville and Celina. All of them, except for Celina, have by now grown into self-sustaining parishes. In the mid 1990’s there were about 200 Catholic families in the area and that number rapidly grew to over 550 registered families by 2001.

Currently, our parish serves about 900 families. The parish boundaries include all of Jackson, Overton and Putnam counties and is incredibly diverse. The area is slated to grow by many new jobs in the area and it continues to expand as well through Tennessee Technological University and growth in the medical services offered.