MEMPHIS, Tennessee — People who helped bring the $5.6 billion BlueOval City project to Haywood County believe it will transform our region’s economy.

In Sept. of 2021, when Ford Motor Company announced the BlueOval City project in West Tennessee, many wondered if the company would be an economic gamechanger for the only major Tennessee city that seems stuck, especially when it comes to the Memphis metro area’s need to grow its middle class.

The mayor of Brownsville does not need convincing about what BlueOval City will mean to West Tennessee. Though it took 200 years for the Tennessee town to reach the population of 10,000 it has now, Mayor Bill Rawls said the project will bring a population explosion.

“We’re looking to double our population in the next 10-20 years, and that’s a conservative number,” said Mayor Rawls. He also said plans are already being drawn-up and permits are being issued.   

“We talk to developers on a daily basis, and we’re just looking to pull the trigger. We want to see some dirt moving and see some houses coming out of the ground,” he said.

What is already coming out of the ground is a massive new Ford truck assembly plant as well as another plant, operated by BlueOvalSK, to make batteries for a new generation all-electric pickup truck, codenamed “T-3.”