Pulaski, Tennessee the vicinity of Pulaski was the site of a number of skirmishes during the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. Union troops occupied the state from 1862. In 1863, Confederate courier Sam Davis was hanged in Pulaski by the Union Army on suspicion of espionage. In late 1865, during the early days of the Reconstruction Era, the city was the site of founding the first Ku Klux Klan (KKK) by six Tennessee veterans of the Confederate Army. John C. Lester, John B. Kennedy, James R. Crowe, Frank O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, and J. Calvin Jones established the KKK in Pulaski on December 25,
Pulaski Expressway from Adams Avenue was selected to avoid displacing residents and businesses. The routing had several alternatives including aligning with Adams Avenue (cutting through cemeteries or avoiding them), go through Tacony Creek Park, using the Reading Railroad spur east of Adams Avenue, or cutting through Simpson Memorial Park. At this time, the Pulaski Expressway north of US 1 was canceled. During the 1970s, opposition grew toward the construction of the Pulaski Expressway. In 1975, the first two houses were demolished for the new freeway, and a group called United Communities Against the Pulaski Expressway erected a monument at the site that