East Nashville is an area east of downtown Nashville in Tennessee across the Cumberland River. The area is mostly residential and mixed-use areas with businesses lining the main boulevards. The main thoroughfares are Gallatin Ave (also known as Gallatin Pike or Gallatin Road along its course) and Ellington Parkway, with smaller arteries interconnecting the neighborhoods. Some of these smaller arteries include Main Street, Shelby Avenue, Porter Road, Riverside Drive, Eastland Avenue, McFerrrin Avenue, and Woodland Street in no significant order. Ellington Parkway, which parallels Gallatin Ave and Main Street, bypasses I-24 and I-65 and connects Briley Parkway and downtown Nashville and many other secondary streets along the way. The Cumberland River confines most of the area with a semicircle design on the south, southwest and east. Since East Nashville has no defined boundaries on the west and north the exact perimeter is the cause of some debate. Some would say that Ellington Parkway creates a boundary on the west and northwest, while Cahal Avenue and Porter Road create the northern boundary, in the confines of zipcode 37206. Many would also state that with I-65 and I-24 as the western border and Briley Parkway as the northern boundary, this defines an area that constitutes Greater East Nashville. [1] East Nashville is one of about 26 suburban neighborhoods in Nashville. [2]
The area of Smaller East Nashville in U.S. ZIP Code 37206 has many smaller neighborhoods, each with their own character and housing styles. Rediscover East is contained in area and includes the historic neighborhoods in which the Great Fire of 1916 and the tornado of 1933 devastated. It is a larger community that contains Historic Edgefield, East End, Lockeland Springs, Shelby Hills, Boscobel Hills, Rolling Acres, Eastwood, Maxwell, and Greenwood. Further east of Rediscover East lies the neighborhoods of Rosebank, Porter Heights, and Barclay Drive. These three neighborhoods are of the newest residential areas as they contain homes primarily built in the mid-century 1950s and 1960s. [3]
Greater East Nashville not only falls within 37206, but also extends further west and north to include ZIP code 37216 and 37207. This area includes Highland Heights, Cleveland Park, McFerrin Park and Inglewood. Inglewood comprises Inglewood, South Inglewood, Dalewood and Riverwood. It includes the area of Smaller East Nashville and extends to the west to reach I-65 and moves as far north as Briley Parkway. [3]
The area consisted of farms and trading posts early in Nashville's history. East End began in 1876 as an addition or outgrowth of the fashionable Edgefield community. It was called the East Edgefield addition at the time, but became known as East End because it was situated on the eastern city limits. By the turn of the century, East End’s population was in the hundreds. Families bought or built homes on the once farmland. Each home showcased the Victorian love of craftsmanship, intricate design and numerous decorative elements. The area was attractive because of the lack of pollution and quiet atmosphere. During the early 20th century, the East End neighborhood evolved into a stable, picturesque, and conveniently located inner city neighborhood. East End is typical of inner city neighborhoods, a well-preserved neighborhood with a high degree of visual integrity.
The Edgefield village became Nashville's most exclusive suburb, with streets lined of commanding Italianate, Renaissance Revival, and Queen Anne homes. Some of these homes can still be found on Russell, Fatherland and Woodland streets, but most of these homes burned in the Great Fire of 1916. Streetcar suburbs formed in the Lockeland and East End areas as farmland and country estates were sold off and subdivided. A tornado also ravaged parts of East Nashville in 1933. In the 1950s and 1960s more neighborhoods were created and in the 1970s, when “urban pioneers” moved into the area and rehabilitated neighborhoods, also called gentrification. [4]
Lockeland was named in 1880 when the subdivision was first being developed. The name comes from the Weakley family who originally built their homestead northeast of the original Fort Nashborough, and the tract of land passed through various family descendants over the years. Jane Locke was the wife of Col. Robert Weakley. His homestead called Lockeland was built in 1790, which was 10 years after Ft. Nashborough was founded. Weakley may have constructed the brick structure with an old log house as a part of the project. The more recent portion with an entrance to the north and the tower, facing west toward Woodland Street, was added long after the property had passed out of the ownership of the Weakley family. [4]
In the 1890s, the Nashville Railway built a casino in Shelby Park that included an amusement park. This park went bankrupt by 1903. In 1909 the city of Nashville purchased property on which the amusement park had been located. A basin was dug for a lake. The dirt was used in building roads through the park. There were plays performed here, as well as paddleboats for rent, a large Dutch windmill, and a picnic lodge called Sycamore Lodge. Today, Shelby park remains, and Shelby Bottoms is the largest green preserve in the Nashville metro area. [4]
Shelby Bottoms Greenway is an 810-acre linear park approximately three miles long and one-half mile wide. Shelby Park marks the southern boundary, a residential area the western edge, the Cumberland River the east side, and Cooper Creek and another residential area define the northern boundary. The landscape is mostly flat alluvial floodplain with small upland areas and is drained by several deep ravines. Approximately 75% of the area is mowed or irregularly mowed fields that had been in agricultural use before the area became a park in 1994. The wooded area includes some upland forest with native trees. Shelby Bottoms, which has a north and south entrance with parking areas and orientation signage, includes approximately eight miles of paved multiuse greenway trails and five miles of mulched trails, an observation platform, and river overlooks. [5]
Cornelia Fort Airpark was a privately owned, public-use airport located five nautical miles (9 km) northeast of the central business district of Nashville, in Davidson County, Tennessee, United States. The 141-acre airport was located on a bend of the Cumberland River in East Nashville from 1944 until 2011.
In 2011 Nashville bought the private Cornelia Fort Airpark which was the destination of singer Patsy Cline in her 1963 fatal plane crash. The combination of Shelby Park/Shelby Bottoms/Cornelia Fort makes up more than 1,000 acres and is the fourth largest park complex in Nashville.(trailing Beaman, Bells Bend and Warner). [6] [7]
East Park, formed after the Great Fire of 1916, once had homes built in the late 1800s of Victorian and Italianate character. After the fire consumed these homes, the city demolished what was left and created East Park. It runs from 6th Street to 8th Street and borders Woodland Street and Russell Street. It provides a green space for East End, Edgefield and McFerrin Park neighborhoods. [5]
Architect Donald W. Southgate was hired by design the bandstand in the park, but it was removed in 1956. [8]
Cumberland Park is East Nashville's newest park. It took shape along the east bank of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. The park sits just south of Nissan Stadium, between the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge and the Gateway Bridge. The area was once a high industrial and factory based river bank that was easily accessible to ships. It also includes the former Nashville Bridge Co. building immediately adjacent to the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge. Nashville's new riverfront development is 10 times the size of the existing Riverfront Park on the west side of the river. The park is just one stage of developing the riverfront and it cost around 17 million to create.
Other parks in East Nashville include: Kirkpatrick Park, Cleveland Park, Douglas Park, South Inglewood Park, Tom Joy Park, McFerrin Park, Oakwood Park and Eastland Park.
On the morning of Wednesday, March 22, 1916, a fire erupted in East Nashville, destroying over 500 houses and leaving over 2,500 people homeless. The fire originated at the home of Joe Jennings, who lived next to the Seagraves Planing Mill located on North First Street. Sparks from Jennings’ home set the mill ablaze and from there the fire swept from 1st Street to Dew Street, consuming any homes and businesses in its path. Fortunately, there were few injuries and only one fatality, Johnson H. Woods, who was electrocuted by a live power line.
Unusually high winds gusting from 44–51 miles per hour across wooden-shingled roofs caused the fire to spread at a rapid pace, severely impeding the Nashville fire department’s effort to control the blaze. Desperate to contain the fire, residents formed "bucket brigades" to help fight the flames, and many hastily removed furniture from their homes in an effort to save their belongings. Nashville Fire Chief Rozetta sent telegraphic messages appealing to every city within several hundred miles asking for engines and men to help combat the flames, and Governor Tom C. Rye mobilized the companies of the Tennessee National Guard in Nashville for guard duty and assistance with the rescue work.
Buildings belonging to the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, Woodland Street Presbyterian Church, Warner Public School, and Engine Company No. 5 were burned to the ground. Tulip Street Methodist Church and St. Ann's Episcopal Church survived, thanks to church members who left their burning homes to form bucket brigades to save them. All of East Nashville southeast of Fifth and Woodland Street was destroyed. Total property loss was estimated at more than 1.5 million dollars. [9]
It was an unusually mild late-winter day in Nashville. A warm, moist air mass covered most of the southeast. A powerful cold front lay to the northwest, and centers of low pressure sat over the Great Lakes and western Arkansas. The warming trend had begun after the 10th of March, when the temperature had failed to rise out of the 30s. As a persistent southerly wind fed air from the Gulf of Mexico several hundred miles northward the days before. The sky remained mostly cloudy on the 14th, the thermometer climbed to a remarkable 80 degrees at 3:00 p.m., which is unusually early in the year for such a warm temperature. Despite high humidity, the citizens of Nashville no doubt enjoyed their first real taste of spring that afternoon. The fast moving cold front pushed a storm through the city rather quickly, dumping 0.81 inches of rainfall in a relatively short time. But what accompanied the squall line of severe thunderstorms was the deadliest tornado in Nashville's history. By the early evening, while the air was still warm and humid, destruction began four miles west of downtown over the rim of hills, near Charlotte Pike and Fifty-first Avenue. The damage between this point and downtown was not great, but the tornado quickly intensified. It passed either directly over or very near the State Capitol, on Charlotte Avenue, shaking glass from its windows. Then the storm hit with force on the north side of the Public Square downtown, significantly damaging several buildings, and passing within 400 feet of the Weather Bureau.
The tornado thereafter crossed the Cumberland River to reach East Nashville north of the Woodland Street Bridge, and traveled eastward. The path widened from 200 to 400 yards, and damaged a row of four-story factory buildings along First Street, and a large portion of a brick wall of the building occupied by the National Casket Company, located at Second Street and Woodland. From this point, the path of destruction spread out to a width of 600 to 800 yards. For three miles, the tornado tore through a district of homes, churches, schools, and stores. Weather Bureau meteorologist Roger M. Williamson, whose home on Eastland Avenue narrowly escaped the storm's destruction, reported "for a terrifying fraction of a minute...walls, roofs, chimneys, garages and trees were crashing only a few yards away." Property damage was extensive, numbering 1,400 homes, 16 churches, 36 stores, five factories, four schools, one library, and a lodge hall. It then continued towards Donelson and Hermitage and then weakened.
Every available policeman and substitute rushed to the area, joined soon by National Guardsmen, legionnaires, Red Cross workers, Boy Scouts, and Salvation Army members. Virtually no pillaging or looting was reported, and no panic or disorder developed in the immediate aftermath. The guardsmen continued on duty throughout the damaged areas until the city was declared under control by civil officers on the morning of March 16. By then, some of the guardsmen had been on duty up to thirty-six hours. All refused compensation for their services.
The day after the storm, Wednesday, March 15, telegraph companies reported a strenuous workload of handling messages from residents to relatives and friends who lived elsewhere, as well as telegraphic inquiries from outsiders about the storm. Long distance telephone service suffered similar stresses. By Thursday morning, work crews had cleared the streets of all debris, thus re-opening them to traffic. Organized relief was making progress in restoring order, and clearing and re-building East Nashville. Coordinated by the American Red Cross, the city's relief agencies were providing shelter, clothing, and food to storm victims. [10]
In the early 20th century, Nashville was home to a network of electric streetcars that gave suburbanites convenient access to the thriving business center of downtown Nashville. These streetcars were owned by Percy Warner, of the famous Nashville industrialist family. Percy Warner followed the lead of his father, James C. Warner, in the New South exploitation of natural resources with his Warner Iron Corporation in the 1870s and 1880s. The younger Warner developed an interest in the new areas of electric utilities and urban mass transportation. From 1903 to 1914 he presided over the Nashville Railway and Light Company, controlling all the city’s streetcars. [4]
East Nashville was hit in a two-day tornado outbreak on April 15 and April 16, 1998. On April 16, a tornado touched down in East Nashville while cutting a swath through the greater Nashville area. At least 300 homes were damaged in East Nashville; many of which lost a good part of their roofs, and a few were destroyed. Tulip Street United Methodist Church, which was well over 100 years old, also received major damage. Trees were uprooted and telephone poles were knocked down in this area.
A tornado touched down in far western Davidson County about half an hour past midnight local time on March 3, 2020. It reached major EF-3 strength by the time it reached East Nashville and caused significant damage. It hit the neighborhood of Five Points particularly hard, even resulting in the deaths of two pedestrians who were struck by debris.
East Nashville is an area of creative and artistic flair. It has a trendy progressive atmosphere and after ten plus years of a slow and steady rise, the neighborhood has managed to keep its eclectic, artsy vibe while welcoming a diverse mix of newcomers. [11] Like it attracted many in the late 19th century, it continues to attract young urban professionals and liberal minds because of the easy-going environment and quaint neighborhood qualities. There are many coffee shops and art galleries interwoven within the neighborhoods making it a biker's or walkers' paradise. The Tomato Art Fest is a popular summer festival in East Nashville specifically at the Five Points, where Woodland, Clearview and 11th streets intersect. There are many other festivals and fairs throughout the year also. Residential redevelopment has taken hold of the outer neighborhoods since it has been spreading from the Edgefield area and has significantly brought up home prices and more young people are calling it home. [11]
Cumberland Park took shape along the east bank of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. The park sits just south of Nissan Stadium, between the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge and the Gateway Bridge. The area was once a high industrial and factory based river bank that was easily accessible to ships but now parks will litter the banks on both sides of the river. The project also included renovating the former Nashville Bridge Co. building immediately adjacent to the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge. The building houses office space, concessions and public restrooms. Nashville's new riverfront development is 10 times the size of the existing Riverfront Park on the west side of the river. [12]
On December 10, 2017, Mayor Megan Barry dedicated the first historical marker in Tennessee to honor an LGBT activist, Penny Campbell, in East Nashville. [13]
Today East Nashville has three public housing projects within it: James A. Cayce, Sam Levy Homes, and Parkway Terrace. James A. Cayce, the largest housing project in Nashville, is still bricks and very dated but is now being torn down and replaced by the Envision Cayce plan. Sam Levy Homes, which was known as "Settle Court", was bricks until the early 2000s but has been replaced by updated public housing.
As Nashville tries to urbanize and erase the effect of mid-century urban sprawl, East Nashville is one neighborhood that is becoming very conscious of its future. The city wants an urban environment like that of Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon. Nashville, along with East Nashville, is trying to set stricter building codes and design the city around pedestrians rather than cars. Along with building design and function, mass transit train system is also in the plans, which will run from the East Nashville neighborhood to midtown, just west of downtown Nashville. In "The Plan of Nashville" Gallatin Pike will be greatly affected with a complete overhaul in its function and design. In the Plan of Nashville the east bank of the Cumberland River will be greatly changed as Nissan Stadium will be surrounded by greenways and walkable streets. [14]
Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state, after Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 2020 census.
The tornado outbreak of April 15–16, 1998, also known as the 1998 Nashville tornado outbreak, was a two-day tornado outbreak that affected portions of the Midwestern United States, Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys on April 15 and April 16, 1998, with the worst of the outbreak taking place on the second day. On that day, 13 tornadoes swept through Middle Tennessee—two of them touching down in Nashville, causing significant damage to the downtown and East Nashville areas. Nashville became the first major city in nearly 20 years to have an F2 or stronger tornado make a direct hit in the downtown area.
Madison is a former settlement, now a suburban neighborhood of northeast Nashville, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is incorporated as part of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
State Route 155, mostly designated as Briley Parkway, is a major freeway and parkway beltway around Nashville, Tennessee. It is 35.1 miles (56.5 km) long.
The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge is a truss bridge that spans the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The bridge spans 3,150 feet (960 m) and is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world.
State Route 24 is an unsigned west–east state highway in Tennessee, as it coincides with U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 70N for its entire duration from Nashville to Crossville. The road begins in western Nashville and ends in Crossville. It runs alongside Interstate 40 for its entire length.
Downtown Memphis, Tennessee is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south and I-240 to the east, where it abuts Midtown Memphis.
This article pertains to the history of Nashville, the state capital of Tennessee. Native Americans had not lived in the area in the century before a frontier post of Fort Nashborough was built here in 1779 by pioneers from North Carolina. In 1784 it was incorporated as a town by the North Carolina legislature; it became a city in 1806. In 1843 it became the state capital. In the Civil War Nashville was seized by Federal troops in 1862 and became a major Union military base. Confederate General J. B. Hood was decisively defeated in the Battle of Nashville in 1864. The city became the political, transportation, business and cultural center of the Middle Tennessee region. Besides the state government, it is best known for its educational, musical and religious establishments. In 1963 Nashville and Davidson County were consolidated under a single charter and are administered by a mayor and a council.
U.S. Route 31E (US 31E) is the eastern parallel route for U.S. Highway 31 from Nashville, Tennessee, to Louisville, Kentucky.
Robert Weakley was an American politician who represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives from 1809 to 1811.
U.S. Route 45E (US 45E) is a 61.23-mile-long (98.54 km) state highway in West Tennessee, connecting Jackson with South Fulton via Milan and Martin. For the majority of its length, it runs concurrently with unsigned State Route 43 (SR 43) for most of that highway’s length except for short segments at Martin and South Fulton, where it is cosigned with SR 216 and SR 215, respectively.
The Lockeland Springs historic neighborhood is a turn-of-the-20th-century streetcar suburb two miles northeast of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, in East Nashville. In 1786, this land was granted by the State of North Carolina to Daniel Williams, in payment for service in the Revolutionary War. The first house in the area was the log cabin Williams built on the site of the present Lockeland School.
Louisville, Kentucky is home to numerous structures that are noteworthy due to their architectural characteristics or historic associations, the most noteworthy being the Old Louisville neighborhood, the third largest historic preservation district in the United States. The city also boasts the postmodern Humana Building and an expanding Waterfront Park which has served to remove the former industrial appearance of the riverfront.
Shelby Park is a large urban park located approximately three miles east of downtown Nashville along the Cumberland River. The park includes playgrounds, a dog park, baseball fields, two golf courses, and a community center. The park is located between the Lockeland Springs, Shelby Hills, and Rolling Acres neighborhoods. Until the 2011 opening of E. S. Rose Park, the Belmont Bruins baseball team played a portion of its home games at the park. The park includes over 361 acres (1.46 km2) of land.
Sam Cooper Boulevard is an urban highway in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The more recent western segment of the road follows a parkway design, while the older eastern portion, which was proposed and constructed as a segment of Interstate 40 (I-40), is built as a freeway, without at-grade intersections and traffic lights. The western terminus of Sam Cooper Boulevard is at East Parkway North. At the western termination point of the road there is a short concurrency of East Parkway North with U.S. Route 64 (US 64), US 70, and US 79. From its western end, Sam Cooper Boulevard continues east for 5.8 miles (9.3 km) to reach its eastern terminus at the I-40/I-240 interchange.
U.S. Route 441 (US 441) stretches for 83.28 miles (134.03 km) through the mountains of East Tennessee, connecting Rocky Top with Knoxville, Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, crossing into North Carolina at Newfound Gap. Near its northern terminus, US 441 crosses over Norris Dam and passes through Norris Dam State Park.
Cornelia Fort Airpark was a privately owned, public-use airport located five nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Nashville, in Davidson County, Tennessee, United States. It is named in honor of Nashvillian, Cornelia Fort, the first female pilot to be killed on war duty in American history. The airpark was built in 1945 near her family farm. The 141-acre airport was located on part of a plot of land granted to early Nashvillian Ephraim McLean for service in the Revolutionary War, near what is still known as McLean's Bend in the Cumberland River in East Nashville. The airport operated from 1944 until 2011, when the city of Nashville acquired it to include it as non-aviation part of Shelby Park.
The Miles House is a historic building located at 631 Woodland Street in Nashville, Tennessee It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 8, 1978. Since 1978 the Miles House has been cared for by Phillip Miller and is currently home to the Miller Law Offices.
A small but deadly tornado outbreak affected West and Middle Tennessee on the night of March 2 and into the morning of March 3, 2020, including a high-end EF3 tornado that hit Nashville and Mount Juliet, becoming the 6th costliest tornado in United States history, and a violent EF4 tornado that impacted areas in and just west of Cookeville. A total of 25 people were killed by the tornadoes, with an additional 309 being injured, and more than 70,000 lost electricity. The path of the Nashville tornado was very similar to the one that hit East Nashville in 1998. A few additional tornadoes were also confirmed in Alabama, southeastern Missouri, and western Kentucky. Total damage from the event reached $1.607 billion according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.