Last updated: April 18, 2026
- Type: Town (one of the smallest in Tennessee)
- Founded as Needmore: early 1890s
- Renamed Orme: c. 1902
- 2020 population: 87 (down from 126 in 2010)
- Named for: Richard Orme Campbell (1860–1912), mine operator
Orme is a small former coal-mining town tucked into a remote valley against the western escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau, in the southwestern corner of Marion County. At its peak it was a busy company town shipping 1,000 tons of coal a day; today it is one of Tennessee's smallest incorporated towns and functions as a quiet residential community.
Origins as Needmore (1890s)
A coal-mining community called Needmore was established in the valley in the early 1890s. Mining was slow to develop because of the valley's isolation and the lack of adequate rail connections. In the late 1890s, Chattanooga businessman Frederick Gates purchased the Needmore operations and began negotiating with the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway to build a branch line into the valley.
Campbell's coal and coke operation (1902)
The NC&StL agreed to build the branch line in 1902. Gates then sold the Needmore operation to Richard Orme Campbell (1860–1912), who reorganized it as the Campbell Coal and Coke Company and renamed the town Orme.
Campbell built out a proper company town: a commissary, storehouse, office building, a three-story hotel, workers' cottages, a large schoolhouse for the white miners' children, and a smaller school and church for the families of Black miners farther up the mountain. At its peak the operation was shipping about 1,000 tons of coal per day.
Decline (1939–1970)
After a major miners' strike in 1939, large-scale mining at Orme shut down. The rail company pulled up the tracks, and the steel was reused for World War II munitions production. Smaller sublease mining continued on and off into the 1960s but was finished by about 1970.
Modern Orme
A few of the original workers' cottages and the depot still stand, giving a sense of the town's boom-era layout. The population has continued to shrink, 87 at the 2020 census, but Orme remains incorporated and proud of its coal-mining heritage.
Landmarks
- Former NC&StL depot area
- Surviving workers' cottages
- Remnants of mine workings on the surrounding mountain