Tom Rowland

Tom Rowland is an American politician who was the mayor of Cleveland, Tennessee. He was the longest-serving big city mayor in Tennessee history.

Early life and broadcast career Rowland was born in Safety Harbor, Florida. His father worked in the hotel business, so he grew up moving between various southeastern states and attended C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana. As a child, Rowland knew he wanted to be in the radio business and started work at KWKH. He later moved to Barksdale, Mississippi, and won contests to speak on major radio stations in Knoxville and Memphis, Tennessee. Cleveland became the sixteenth-largest city in Tennessee and had the fifth-largest industrial economy in the state. He helped implement Cleveland’s greenway system and worked to establish Red Clay State Historic Park. He revitalized the city’s former rail depot into a modern transportation hub and was a major advocate for bringing Amtrak rail service to Cleveland, which has not happened as of 2024.