Timeline of Nashville, Tennessee

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Prior to 19th century

• 1780
  • Fort Nashborough established.^[1]
  • Cumberland Compact signed; Cumberland Association formed.^[1]
• 1784 - Nashville established.^[2]
• 1785 - Davidson Academy incorporated.^[3]
• 1789 - Methodist church built.^[4]
• 1796 - Settlement becomes part of the state of Tennessee.
• 1797 - The Tennessee Gazette and Mero District Advertiser newspaper begins publication.^[5]

19th century

• 1806
  • Town incorporated.^[2]
  • Joseph Coleman becomes mayor.^[2]
• 1812 - Tennessee General Assembly relocates to Nashville from Knoxville.^[6]
• 1813 - Nashville Library Co., Inc. established.^[7]
• 1817 - Tennessee General Assembly relocates from Nashville to Knoxville.^[6]
• 1818
  • Earl's Nashville Museum opens.^[8]
  • Population: 3,000 (approximate).^[9]
• 1820 - Christian Church built.^[4]
• 1822 - Nashville City Cemetery established.
• 1823 - Presbyterian church built.^[4]
• 1825 - Decker & Dyer Reading Room established.^[7]
• 1826 - Tennessee General Assembly relocates to Nashville from Murfreesboro.^[6]
• 1829 - Christ Church built.^[4]
• 1831 - Tennessee State Penitentiary built.^[4]
• 1833 - Water-works established.^[4]
• 1835 - Tennessee Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge organized.^[10]
• 1837 - House of Industry for Females established.^[4]
• 1838 - First Baptist Church built.^[4]
• 1841 - Mechanics' Library Association formed.^[7]
• 1842 - Burns & Co. in business.^[11]
• 1843 - Nashville becomes capital of Tennessee.^[6]
• 1844 - Tennessee School for the Blind,^[12] and Mechanics Institute and Library Association established.^[10]
• 1845 - Protestant Orphan Asylum established.^[4]
• 1847 - St. Mary's Cathedral built.^[4]
• 1849 - Merchants' Library and Reading Room^[7] and Tennessee Historical Society founded.^[10]
• 1850
  • June: Nashville Convention held.
  • Suspension bridge built over the Cumberland River.^[4]
• 1851 - Nashville Gas Light Company in operation.^[4]
• 1852
  • Public school system inaugurated.^[4]
  • Davidson County Jail built.^[4]
• 1854 - Tennessee State Library established.^[10]
• 1856 - Church of the Assumption built.^[4]
• 1857 - Davidson County Court House rebuilt.^[4]
• 1858 - City Workhouse and Church of St. Ann's built.^[4]
• 1859
  • Tennessee State Capitol, draw-bridge, and Central Baptist Church built.^[4]
  • Louisville and Nashville Railroad begins operating.
• 1862
  • City under Union control.^[13]
  • Fort Negley built.
• 1863 - St. Mary's Catholic Orphan Asylum founded.^[4]
• 1864 - December 15–16: Battle of Nashville.
• 1865 - Fisk Free Colored School,^[14] Ward Seminary for Young Ladies,^[13] and Earhart's Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College established.^[4]
• 1866 - Central Tennessee College founded.^[13]
• 1867
  • Montgomery Bell Academy opens.^[2]
  • Nashville Lyceum Association incorporated.^[15]
• 1869 - Howard Chapel built.^[4]
• 1870 - Sulphur Dell ballpark opens.
• 1871
  • Tennessee and Pacific Railroad (Lebanon-Nashville) begins operating.
  • Fisk University Jubilee Singers,^[13] Library Association,^[7] and Nashville Saddlery Company established.^[16]
• 1873 - Vanderbilt University established.
• 1874 - Hebrew temple and First Cumberland Presbyterian Church built.^[4]
• 1876 - Nashville Banner newspaper begins publication.^[17]
• 1884 - Nashville Athletic Club formed.
• 1885 - Industrial School^[2] and Query Club (women's group) established.^[18]
• 1889
  • The Hermitage museum opens.
  • Boscobel College for Young Ladies established.^[13]
  • Peabody Normal College active.^[19]
• 1890 - Population: 76,168.^[13]
• 1892 - Union Gospel Tabernacle built.^[20]
• 1897 - Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition held.
• 1898
  • Howard Library established.
  • Tennessee State Penitentiary rebuilt.

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1900
  • Meharry Medical College active.^[21]
  • Population: 80,865.^[13]
  • Polk Place demolished.
• 1904 - Carnegie Library opens.^[22]
• 1905 - Centennial Club (women's group) active.^[23][24]
• 1906
  • Tennessee State Fair begins.
  • Nashville Globe newspaper begins publication.^[17]
• 1907 - Nashville Tennessean newspaper in publication.^[17]
• 1909 - Sparkman Street Bridge opens.
• 1910
  • Nashville Art Association chartered.^[25]
  • The Hermitage Hotel in business.
  • Advance Publishing Company incorporated.^[26]
  • Population: 110,364.^[13]
• 1916 - Nashville Housewives League organized.^[18]
• 1918 - July 9: Great Train Wreck of 1918.
• 1920 - Population: 118,342.^[27]
• 1925
  • Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting.
  • Belcourt Theatre built.^[20]
• 1927 - Warner Parks open.
• 1930
  • First American National Bank formed.
  • Population: 153,866.^[27]
• 1931
  • Nashville Children's Theatre established.
  • Parthenon rebuilt.
• 1936 - Berry Field (airport) dedicated.
• 1937 - Tennessee State Museum established.
• 1941
  • W47NV radio licensed.
  • Iroquois Steeplechase begins.
• 1942 - Acuff-Rose Music and Harveys (department store) in business.
• 1946 - Nashville Symphony founded.

1950s-1990s

• 1950
  • WSM-TV begins broadcasting.
  • Population: 174,307.^[27]
• 1951 - Ben West becomes mayor.
• 1952 - Tennessee Theatre opens.^[28]
• 1953 - WSIX-TV begins broadcasting.
• 1954 - WLAC-TV begins broadcasting.
• 1957 - Life & Casualty Tower built.
• 1960
  • Nashville sit-ins.
  • Cheekwood Museum opens.
• 1961 - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum established.
• 1962 - WDCN-TV begins broadcasting.
• 1963
  • Metropolitan Council (Nashville) established.^[29]
  • Beverly Briley becomes mayor.
• 1967 - 100 Oaks Mall in business near city.
• 1968 - Third National Bank Building constructed.
• 1972
  • Fan Fair music festival begins.
  • Opryland USA opens.
• 1974 - Regions Center (Nashville) built.
• 1975 - Richard Fulton becomes mayor.
• 1980
  • Tennessee Performing Arts Center opens.
  • Sri Ganesha Temple established.^[30]
• 1981 - Nashville Opera Guild chartered.
• 1985 - Starwood Amphitheatre opens.
• 1986 - Tennessee Players founded.^[26]
• 1987
  • Nashville Airport terminal built.
  • Bill Boner becomes mayor.
• 1988 - Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Nashville Pride begin.
• 1989
  • Nashville Scene begins publication.
  • Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack in business (approximate date).^[31]
• 1991 - Phil Bredesen becomes mayor.
• 1994 - South Central Bell Building constructed.
• 1996
  • Bicentennial Mall State Park opens.
  • Magdalene program for women, and Nashville Zoo at Grassmere established.
  • Nashville Arena built.
• 1998
  • April 15–16: Tornado.
  • Nashville Predators ice hockey team formed.
• 1999
  • Adelphia Coliseum opens.
  • Bill Purcell becomes mayor.^[32]
  • Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000 headquartered in city.^[33]

21st century

• 2000 - The City Paper begins publication.
• 2001
  • Tennessee Immigrant Rights Coalition headquartered in city.
  • Frist Center for the Visual Arts established.
• 2002 Nashville Public Education Foundation established by Nelson C. Andrews and Thomas J. Sherrard
• 2003 - Shelby Street pedestrian bridge opens.
• 2006
  • Schermerhorn Symphony Center opens.
  • Viridian Tower built.
• 2007 - Karl Dean becomes mayor.^[34]
• 2008 - Nashville for All of Us (group) organized.
• 2009
  • Third Man Records in business.
  • The Pinnacle at Symphony Place built.
  • Music City Drum and Bugle Corps founded.
  • Live on the Green begins.
  • Voters reject Nashville English Only Amendment.^[35]
• 2010
  • April–May: Flood.
  • Population: 601,222.
• 2011
  • October: Occupy Nashville begins.
  • Parnassus Books in business.^[36]
• 2012
  • March: Occupy Vanderbilt begins.
  • MyCity Academy (government program) established.
• 2013 - Music City Center opens.

See also

• History of Nashville, Tennessee
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Davidson County, Tennessee
• List of mayors of Nashville, Tennessee
• List of companies based in Nashville

Other cities in Tennessee

• Timeline of Memphis, Tennessee
• Timeline of Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Timeline of Knoxville, Tennessee

References

Further reading

Published in the 19th century

• John P. Campbell (1855). Nashville Business Directory. Nashville. 
• "Cumberland River: Nashville". James' River Guide ... Mississippi Valley. Cincinnati: U.P. James. 1860. 
• R.H. Long (1863), "Nashville", Hunt's Gazetteer of the Border and Southern States, Pittsburgh, Pa.: John P. Hunt 
• Singleton's Nashville business directory for 1865, Nashville: Singleton, 1865 
• Charles E. Robert. Nashville and Her Trade for 1870. 
• A.S. Colyar (October 1889). "Nashville". New England Magazine. 
• The Wayne Hand-book of Nashville, and the Tennessee Centennial + Exposition, Ft. Wayne, Ind: Wayne Publishing Company, 1897, OCLC 12548494 
• Jane Henry Thomas (1897), Old days in Nashville, Tenn., Nashville, Tenn: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, South 

Published in the 20th century

1900s-1940s

• Centennial Album of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville: J. Prousnitzer & Company, 1906 
• Dau's blue book of selected names of Nashville and suburbs. 1907. 
• The charter of the city of Nashville, Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Co., 1909, OCLC 7184909 
• Social Directory, Nashville, Tennessee. Cumberland Press. 1911. 
• All about Nashville, Nashville, Tenn: Marshall & Bruce Co., 1912 
• "Nashville". Automobile Blue Book. USA. 1919.  Map
• The charter of the city of Nashville, Nashville, Tenn: Ambrose, 1921, OCLC 10981902 
• F. Garvin Davenport (1937). "Cultural Life in Nashville on the Eve of the Civil War". Journal of Southern History 3. 
• Tennessee Historical Records Survey (1940), "Davidson County (Nashville)", Directory of Churches, Missions, and Religious Institutions of Tennessee (Nashville) (19) 
• William Henry McRaven (1949), Nashville, Athens of the South, Chapel Hill: Scheer & Jervis, OCLC 1397316 

1950s-1990s

• Eleanor Graham (1957). "Nashville Community Study". Peabody Journal of Education 35. 
• Egerton, John (1979). Nashville: The Faces of Two Centuries, 1780–1980. Nashville, Tennessee: PlusMedia. LCCN 79089173. 
• Doyle, Don H. (1985). Nashville Since the 1920s
• Anita Shafer Goodstein (1989), Nashville, 1780-1860: from frontier to city, Gainesville: University of Florida Press, ISBN 0813009405 
• Robert G. Spinney (1995). "Municipal Government in Nashville, Tennessee, 1938-1951: World War II and the Growth of the Public Sector". Journal of Southern History 61. 
• Lovett, Bobby L. (1999). African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780–1930: Elites and Dilemmas. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-555-1. 

Published in the 21st century

• Carey, Bill (2000). Fortunes, Fiddles, & Fried Chicken: A Nashville Business History. Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press. ISBN 1-57736-178-4. 
• Egerton, John and E. Thomas Wood (eds.) (2001). Nashville: An American Self-Portrait. Nashville, Tennessee: Beaten Biscuit Press. ISBN 0-9706702-1-4. 
• Duke, Jan (2005). Historic Photos of Nashville. Nashville, Tennessee: Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59652-184-1. 
• David A. Padgett (2007). "Nashville". In Robert D. Bullard. Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities, Environmental Justice, and Regional Equity. MIT Press. p. 127+. ISBN 978-0-262-52470-4. 
• McGuire, Jim (2007). Historic Photos of the Opry: Ryman Auditorium 1974. Nashville, Tennessee: Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59652-373-9. 
• Zepp, George R. (2009). Hidden History of Nashville. Charleston, South Carolina: History Press. ISBN 978-1-59629-792-0. 
• Haugen, Ashley Driggs (2009). Historic Photos of Nashville in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Nashville, Tennessee: Turner Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59652-539-9. 
• Houston, Benjamin. The Nashville Way: Racial Etiquette and the Struggle for Social Justice in a Southern City. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0820343273

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nashville, Tennessee.

• "Nashville/Davidson County Timeline". Nashville Public Library. 
• "Local History & Information". Nashville Public Library. 
• "History of Nashville". Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. 
• Library of Congress, Prints & Photos Division. Materials related to Nashville, Tennessee, various dates
• Tennessee State Library and Archives. Nashville City Directories, various dates (digitized)
• Digital Public Library of America. Items related to Nashville, various dates.

Coordinates: 36°10′00″N 86°47′00″W / 36.166667°N 86.783333°W / 36.166667; -86.783333