South Pittsburg, Tennessee, is marking its 150th birthday in 2023, and officials and the community are holding a yearlong celebration.

A series of moves in the early 1870s by companies interested in taking commercial advantage of the natural resources of the region's coal and iron deposits led up to the birth of the city as a company town in 1873.

The South Pittsburg Co. then purchased 3,000 acres in 1885 to develop the city that stands today, according to history included in a city proclamation declaring 2023 the Sesquicentennial Year of the City of South Pittsburg, signed by city Mayor Samantha Rector on Jan. 21.

"We're actually going to celebrate it for the whole year -- an event every month," Rector said in a phone interview.

Read more from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.