The New International Encyclopædia/Nashville (Tennessee)

NASHVILLE. The capital of Tennessee, and next to Memphis its largest city, and the county-seat of Davidson County, 233 miles east-northeast of Memphis and 186 miles south by west of Louisville, Ky.; on the Cumberland River (mainly on the left bank), and on the Louisville and Nashville and the Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis railroads (Map: Tennessee, E 4). It has an area of about 9½ square miles, and is regularly laid out on gradually rising ground, which reaches an elevation of 550 feet above sea level. Macadam is very largely used in the pavement of streets, about 190 miles being laid with this material. There are a number of handsome structures. The State Capitol, situated on a hill, cost $1,500,000 and is the most imposing building in the city. The grounds contain the tomb of James K. Polk and a statue of Andrew Jackson. Among other notable public edifices are the United States Government building, the court-house, the city hall, the Tennessee School for the Blind, the State penitentiary, and the ‘Parthenon.’ The Tennessee Industrial School is in Nashville, and about six miles away is the State lunatic asylum. The Hermitage, of historic interest as the home of Andrew Jackson, is some ten miles distant to the east. The national cemetery, a short distance north of the city, has 10,643 graves, 4711 of unknown dead.

Nashville is one of the most prominent educational centres in the South. It is the seat of Vanderbilt University (q.v.); University of Nashville (q.v.), with the Peabody Normal College; Central Tennessee College (Methodist Episcopal), opened in 1866 (colored); Fisk University (q.v.) (colored); Roger Williams University (Baptist), opened in 1865 (colored); Boscobel College for women, opened in 1889; and Ward Seminary for women (Presbyterian), opened in 1865. There are also the medical and dental departments of the University of Tennessee, and numerous secondary institutions, among which are Belmont College and Saint Cecilia's Academy. The State library comprises 40,000 volumes; and Watkins Institute, the repository of the collections of the State Historical Society, has the Howard Library of 10,000 volumes. Nashville is the leading industrial city in the State, its manufactures, according to the census of 1900, having an aggregate capital of $13,173,000, and a production valued at $18,470,000. First in importance is the manufacture of flour and grist-mill products, the city being the chief centre of this industry in Tennessee. Next in rank are lumber and timber products. There are also extensive manufactories of fertilizers, cotton goods, clothing, saddlery and harness, confectionery, tobacco, soap and candles, foundry and machine-shop products, carriages and wagons, etc. Nashville controls a large trade in lumber, cotton, grain, and manufactured goods, and, as the distributing centre for a considerable area, has important wholesale interests in groceries, dry goods, drugs, boots and shoes, etc.

The government, under the charter of 1883, last revised in 1901, is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, and a unicameral council, which confirms the mayor's nominations of boiler inspector and of the boards of education and health. It elects the other administrative officers excepting the city attorney, comptroller, treasurer, tax assessor, city judge, and board of public works, these being chosen by popular vote. Nashville spends annually in maintenance and operation about $1,000,000, the principal items of expenditure being: for schools, $200,000; for interest on debt, $167,000; for the police department (including police courts, jails, etc.), $95,000; for the fire department, $92,000; and for the water-works, $60,000. The water-works are owned by the municipality and were built in 1832. The system now comprises about 80 miles of mains and cost more than $2,000,000. Population, in 1830, 5566; in 1850, 10,165; in 1860, 16,988; in 1870, 25,865; in 1880, 43,350; in 1890, 76,168; in 1900, 80,865, including 3037 persons of foreign birth, and 30,044 of negro descent.

Nashville was first settled in 1780 by a company of pioneers led by James Robertson, and in honor of Governor Abner Nash of North Carolina, was called Nashborough until 1784, when it was incorporated as a town under its present name. Throughout its early years the settlement was almost continually harassed by the Indians, and on April 2, 1783, a large body of Cherokees made a determined but unsuccessful attack. Nashville was chartered as a city in 1806, was the seat of the State Legislature in 1812-15 and again from 1826 to 1843, and became the permanent State capital in 1843. It was occupied by a Federal army in 1862, and in 1864 was the scene of a hotly contested battle. (See Nashville, Battle of.) The centennial of the admission of Tennessee into the Union was celebrated at Nashville in 1896, and the event was further commemorated by a grand exposition opened on May 1, 1897. Many well-known men, including Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Gen. Sam Houston, and Thomas H. Benton, made Nashville their home for the whole or a part of their lives. Consult Powell (editor), Historic Towns of the Southern States (New York, 1900).