Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Milan, TN

Milan is a city in Gibson County, Tennessee, and the largest city in the county, although the county seat is Trenton.

Milan is named after Milan, Italy, but locals pronounce it "MY-lin," a pronunciation that serves as a shibboleth distinguishing natives from newcomers.

The city was established in 1858 on land owned by B. A. Williamson and John Sanford, where John G. Shepherd erected a small house and opened a grocery.

Milan was incorporated by an act of the Tennessee legislature in 1866, and John G. Shepherd became its first mayor.

Completion of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1873 made Milan an important commercial point; today the city is served by the West Tennessee Railroad and connects to four Class I rail lines.

The 2020 census counted 8,171 residents in Milan, up from 7,851 in 2010.

In the 2010 census, Milan had 3,183 households and 3,581 housing units.

Construction began in 1941 on the Wolf Creek Ordnance Plant and the Milan Ordnance Depot near the city, and the two facilities merged in 1945 to become the Milan Arsenal, renamed the Milan Army Ammunition Plant in the 1960s.

The ammunition plant sprawls across about 36 square miles with 88 miles of railroad track and 231 miles of roadway, and it employed more than 10,000 people during World War II and over 8,000 during the Korean War.

Ammunition plant employment collapsed in the 2000s as the operating contractor, American Ordnance, shifted operations to Iowa, falling to about 110 jobs by March 2013.