Timeline of Nashville, Tennessee

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

Prior to 19th century

Part of a series on the
History of Tennessee
By year Pre-statehood U.S. Civil War Since 1900 Topics: African-Americans - Cities - Military - Politics
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• 1780
  • Fort Nashborough established.^[1]
  • Cumberland Compact signed; Cumberland Association formed.^[1]
• 1784 – Nashville established.^[2][3]
• 1785 – Davidson Academy incorporated.^[4]
• 1789 – Methodist church built.^[5]
• 1796 – Settlement becomes part of the
  state
  of Tennessee.
• 1797 – Tennessee Gazette and Mero District Advertiser newspaper begins publication.^[6]

19th century

• 1806
  • Town incorporated.^[2][3]
  • Joseph Coleman becomes mayor.^[2]
• 1812 – Tennessee General Assembly relocates to Nashville from Knoxville.^[7]
• 1813 – Nashville Library Co., Inc. established.^[8]
• 1817 – Tennessee General Assembly relocates from Nashville to Knoxville.^[7]
• 1818
  • Earl's Nashville Museum opens.^[9]
  • Population: 3,000 (approximate).^[10]
• 1820 – Christian Church built.^[5]
• 1822 – Nashville City Cemetery established.
• 1823 –
  Presbyterian church built.^[5]
• 1825 – Decker & Dyer Reading Room established.[8]
• 1826
  • Tennessee General Assembly relocates to Nashville from Murfreesboro.^[7]
  • Cumberland College opened.
• 1829 – Christ Church built.^[5]
• 1830 –
  Population: 5,566.^[11]
• 1831 – Tennessee State Penitentiary built.^[5]
• 1833 – Water-works established.^[5]
• 1835 – Tennessee Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge organized.^[12]
• 1837 – House of Industry for Females established.^[5]
• 1838 – First Baptist Church built.^[5]
• 1840 –
  Population: 6,929.^[11]
• 1841 – Mechanics' Library Association formed.[8]
• 1842 – Burns & Co. in business.^[13]
• 1843 – Nashville becomes capital of Tennessee.^[7]
• 1844 – Tennessee School for the Blind^[14] and Mechanics Institute and Library Association established.^[12]
• 1845 – Protestant Orphan Asylum established.^[5]
• 1847 – St. Mary's Cathedral built.^[5]
• 1849 – Merchants' Library and Reading Room^[8] and Tennessee Historical Society founded.^[12]
• 1850
  • June: Nashville Convention held.^[3]
  • Suspension bridge built over the Cumberland River.^[5]
  • Population: 10,165.^[11]
• 1851
  • Nashville Gas Light Company in operation.[5]
  • Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway starts operating.
• 1852
  • Public school system inaugurated.^[5]
  • Davidson County Jail built.^[5]
• 1854
  • Southern Methodist Publishing House headquartered in Nashville.^[15]
  • Tennessee State Library established.^[12]
• 1855 – Giers photo studio in business.
• 1856 – Church of the Assumption built.^[5]
• 1857 – Davidson County Court House rebuilt.^[5]
• 1858 – City Workhouse and Church of St. Ann's built.^[5]
• 1859
  • Tennessee State Capitol, draw-bridge, and Central Baptist Church built.^[5]
  • Louisville and Nashville Railroad begins operating.^[3]
• 1860 -
  Population: 16,988.^[11]
• 1862
  • City under Union control.^[3]
  • Fort Negley built.
• 1863 – St. Mary's Catholic Orphan Asylum founded.^[5]
• 1864 – December 15–16: Battle of Nashville.
• 1865 –
  Ward Seminary for Young Ladies,^[3] and Earhart's Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College established.^[5]
• 1866 –
  Central Tennessee College founded.^[3]
• 1867
  • Montgomery Bell Academy opens.^[2]
  • Nashville Lyceum Association incorporated.^[17]
• 1869 – Howard Chapel built.^[5]
• 1870
  • Sulphur Dell ballpark opens.
  • Population: 25,865.^[11]
• 1871
  • Tennessee and Pacific Railroad (Lebanon-Nashville) begins operating.
  • Fisk University Jubilee Singers,^[3] Library Association,^[8] and Nashville Saddlery Company established.^[18]
• 1873 – Vanderbilt University established.^[3]
• 1874 – Hebrew temple and First Cumberland Presbyterian Church built.^[5]
• 1876 – Nashville Banner newspaper begins publication.^[19]
• 1880 –
  Population: 43,350.^[11]
• 1884 – Nashville Athletic Club formed.
• 1885 – Industrial School^[2] and Query Club (women's group) established.^[20]
• 1889
  • The Hermitage museum opens.
  • Boscobel College for Young Ladies established.^[3]
  • Peabody Normal College active.^[3][21]
• 1890 –
  Population: 76,168.^[11][3]
• 1891
  • Nashville Bible School founded.
  • Cumberland Park opened as a horse racing track.
• 1892
  • March 17: St. Patrick's Day Snowstorm dumps 17 inches of snow on the city.^[22]
  • Union Gospel Tabernacle built.^[23]
  • Maxwell House coffee introduced.
• 1893 - Tennessee Central Railway starts operating.
• 1894 - United Daughters of the Confederacy headquartered in Nashville.
• 1897
  • Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition held.^[3]
  • Parthenon opened, a replica of the original, functions as an art museum.^[3]
• 1898
  • Howard Library established.
  • Tennessee State Penitentiary rebuilt.
• 1900
  • Meharry Medical College active.^[24]
  • Population: 80,865.^[11][3]
  • Polk Place demolished.

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1904 – Carnegie Library opens.^[25]
• 1905 – Centennial Club (women's group) active.^[26][27]
• 1906
  • Tennessee State Fair begins.
  • Nashville Globe newspaper begins publication.^[19]
• 1907 – Nashville Tennessean newspaper in publication.^[19]
• 1909
  • Sparkman Street Bridge
    opens.
  • Cumberland College closes.
• 1910
  • Nashville Art Association chartered^[28]
  • Hermitage Hotel in business
  • Advance Publishing Company incorporated^[29]
  • Population: 110,364^[11][3]
• 1912 -
  Urban League branch established.^[30]
• 1916 – Nashville Housewives League organized.[20]
• 1918
  • July 9: Great Train Wreck of 1918.
  • 1918 influenza epidemic.^[31]
• 1920 –
  Population: 118,342.^[11]
• 1922 - Nashville's first radio station, WDAA, signs on[32]
• 1925
  • War Memorial Auditorium dedicated.^[33]
  • WSM radio and its Grand Ole Opry begin broadcasting.^[34]
  • Belcourt Theatre built.^[23]
• 1926 - WLAC radio begins broadcasting.^[34]
• 1927
  • Warner Parks open.
  • WSIX radio begins broadcasting.^[34]
• 1930
  • First American National Bank formed.
  • Population: 153,866.^[11]
• 1931
  • Nashville Children's Theatre established.
  • Parthenon rebuilt.
• 1936 – Berry Field (airport) dedicated.
• 1937 – Tennessee State Museum established.
• 1940 -
  Population: 167,402.^[11]
• 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.^[35]
  • Population: 174,307.^[11]
• 1951
  • Ben West becomes mayor.
  • The Harpeth Hall School opens.
• 1952 - Tennessee Theatre opens.^[36]
• 1953 – WSIX-TV begins broadcasting.^[35]
• 1954 – WLAC-TV begins broadcasting.^[35]
• 1955 - Brothers Owen and Harold Bradley establish Bradley's Film & Recording Studio, the first studio in what will become Nashville's Music Row neighborhood.
• 1957
  • Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway stops operating.
  • Life & Casualty Tower built.
  • RCA Studios begins operation at the corner of 17th Ave. S. and Hawkins St. It will become known as RCA Studio B.^[37]
• 1960
  • Nashville sit-ins for civil rights occur.^[38]
  • Cheekwood Museum opens.
  • Population: 170,874.^[11]
• 1961 – Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum established.
• 1962
  • WDCN-TV
    begins broadcasting.
  • Nashville Municipal Auditorium opens.^[39]
• 1963
  • City consolidates its government with Davidson County.^[40]
  • Metropolitan Council (Nashville) established.^[41]
  • Beverly Briley becomes mayor.
• 1964 - American Association for State and Local History headquartered in Nashville.
• 1967 – 100 Oaks Mall in business near city.
• 1968 –
  Third National Bank Building
  constructed.
• 1970 -
  Population: 448,003.^[11]
• 1972
  • Fan Fair
    music festival begins.
  • Opryland USA opens.
• 1974
  • Regions Center (Nashville)
    built.
  • Grand Ole Opry House opens.
• 1975 – Richard Fulton becomes mayor.
• 1978 - The Nashville Sounds minor-league baseball team plays its inaugural season.
• 1980
  • Tennessee Performing Arts Center opens.
  • Sri Ganesha Temple established.^[42]
  • Population: 455,651.^[11]
• 1981 – Nashville Opera Guild chartered.
• 1982 -
  Foreign trade zone established.^[43][44]
  • Bluebird Cafe opens ^[45]
• 1983 - Nissan car manufactory begins operating in nearby Smyrna.
• 1985 – Starwood Amphitheatre opens.
• 1986 – Tennessee Players founded.^[29]
• 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).^[46]
• 1990
  • Grassmere Wildlife Park established.^[47]
  • Population: 488,374.^[11]
• 1991 – Phil Bredesen becomes mayor.
• 1994
  • City website online.^[48][49]
  • South Central Bell Building constructed.
  • American Airlines begins nonstop service between London and Nashville.
• 1996
  • Bicentennial Mall State Park
    opens.
  • Magdalene program for women, and Nashville Zoo at Grassmere established.
  • Nashville Arena
    built.
• 1998
  • April 15–16:
    Tornado
    .
  • After playing in Memphis for one season, the
    Vanderbilt Stadium
    .
  • Nashville Predators ice hockey team formed.
• 1999
  • Adelphia Coliseum
    opens.
  • Bill Purcell becomes mayor.^[50]
  • Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000 headquartered in city.^[51]
• 2000 – The City Paper begins publication.

21st century

• 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.
  • Car manufacturer Nissan's North American headquarters in business in nearby Franklin.^[52]
• 2007 – Karl Dean becomes mayor.^[53]
• 2008 – Nashville for All of Us (group) organized.
• 2009
  • Third Man Records in business.
  • The Pinnacle at Symphony Place built.
  • Live on the Green
    begins.
  • Voters reject
    Nashville English Only Amendment.^[54]
• 2010
  • April–May: Flood.
  • Population: 601,222.
• 2011
  • October: Occupy Nashville begins.
  • Parnassus Books in business.^[55]
• 2012
  • March: Occupy Vanderbilt begins.
  • MyCity Academy (government program) established.
  • Fictional Nashville TV series makes national premiere on ABC, transfers to CMT in 2016 after being canceled by the former and due to fan efforts
• 2013 – Music City Center opens.
• 2015
  • Construction begins on 505 skyscraper.
  • Megan Barry becomes mayor.
• 2020
  • Tornado outbreak of March 2-3, 2020
    : 22 people killed in tornadoes in Tennessee and Kentucky; the Nashville EF-3 tornado, which kills 4, north of downtown, somewhat mirrors the 1998 tornado's path
  • The Nashville bombing occurs, injuring eight people and causing major damage
• 2023 – The
  Covenant School shooting
  occurs, killing six people and the perpetrator.
• Freddie O'Connell becomes mayor.

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
• Nashville sister city timelines: Caen, Magdeburg
• Timelines of other cities in Tennessee: Chattanooga, Clarksville, Knoxville, Memphis, Murfreesboro
• Nashville Market House

References

Bibliography

See also: History of Nashville, Tennessee § Further reading

Published in 19th century

• John P. Campbell (1855). Nashville Business Directory. Nashville.
  hdl:2027/hvd.hn4gzg.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
  )
• "Cumberland River: Nashville". James' River Guide ... Mississippi Valley. Cincinnati: U.P. James. 1860.
  hdl:2027/nyp.33433081817672
  .
• "History of the Nashville Press". Nashville City and Business Directory, For 1860–61. Vol. 5. Nashville, Tennessee: L.P. Williams & Co. 1860. p. 90.
  hdl:2027/hvd.hn4gyr
  .
• 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,
  OL 23367287M
• Charles E. Robert (1870). Nashville and Her Trade for 1870.
• "Nashville". Tennessee State Gazetteer and Business Directory. Nashville: R.L. Polk & Company. 1876 – via Google Books.
• Charles Edwin Robert, ed. (1880). Nashville City Guide Book. Nashville TN: Wheeler Brothers.
• Nashville Directory. Nashville: Marshall & Bruce. 1880 – via Internet Archive.
• Nashville Directory. Nashville, Tennessee: Marshall & Bruce. 1881 – via Internet Archive.
• "Nashville" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (9th ed.). 1884.
• A.S. Colyar (October 1889). "Nashville". New England Magazine.
• John Wooldridge, ed. (1890). History of Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee: Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
  LCCN 76027605
  .
• The Wayne Hand-book of Nashville, and the Tennessee Centennial + Exposition, Ft. Wayne, Ind: Wayne Publishing Company, 1897,
  OL 271295M
• Jane Henry Thomas (1897), Old days in Nashville, Tenn., Nashville, Tenn: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
  OL 23322941M

Published in 20th century

1900s-1940s

• Centennial Album of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville: J. Prousnitzer & Company, 1906,
  OL 23375657M
• Dau's blue book of selected names of Nashville and suburbs. Dau's Nashville blue book. Dau Publishing Company. 1907.
  hdl:2027/uva.x004274254
  .
• The charter of the city of Nashville, Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Co., 1909,
  OL 13999509M
• "Nashville" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 246–247.
• Social Directory, Nashville, Tennessee. Cumberland Press. 1911.
• All about Nashville, Nashville, Tenn: Marshall & Bruce Co., 1912,
  OL 24157761M
• "Nashville". Automobile Blue Book. USA. 1919.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Map
• The charter of the city of Nashville, Nashville, Tenn: Ambrose, 1921,
  OL 13999515M
• F. Garvin Davenport (1937). "Cultural Life in Nashville on the Eve of the Civil War". Journal of Southern History. 3.
• hdl:2027/mdp.39015066068928{{citation}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link
  )
• Tennessee Historical Records Survey (1940), "Davidson County (Nashville)", Directory of Churches, Missions, and Religious Institutions of Tennessee, no. 19, Nashville
• William Henry McRaven (1949), Nashville, Athens of the South, Chapel Hill: Scheer & Jervis,
  OCLC 1397316

1950s-1990s

• Daniel R. Grant (1955). "Urban and Suburban Nashville: A Case Study in Metropolitanism". Journal of Politics. 17.
• 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
• Frank Burns (1989). Robert B. Jones (ed.). Davidson County. Tennessee County History Series. Memphis State University Press.
  OCLC 6820526.
  (Includes information about Nashville)
• Anita Shafer Goodstein (1989), Nashville, 1780-1860: from frontier to city, Gainesville: University of Florida Press,
  ISBN 0813009405
• Don Harrison Doyle (1990), New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
  ISBN 0807818836
• 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.
  ISBN 1-55728-555-1
  .
• Carey, Bill (2000). Fortunes, Fiddles, & Fried Chicken: A Nashville Business History. Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press.
  ISBN 1-57736-178-4
  .

Published in 21st century

• Egerton, John; Wood, E. Thomas, 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
  .
• Richard Pillsbury, ed. (2006). "Nashville". Geography. New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Vol. 2. University of North Carolina Press. p. 180.
  OCLC 910189354
  .
• Southern Foodways Alliance, University of Mississippi (2006), Camp Nashville: A Bibliography of Music City and Meat-N-Threes
• Padgett, David A. (2007). "Nashville". In
  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
  .
• Anthony J. Nownes, David J. Houston, and Marc Schwerdt (2010). "An assessment of the city-county consolidation of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee". In Suzanne M. Leland; Kurt Thurmaier (eds.). City-County Consolidation: Promises Made, Promises Kept?. Georgetown University Press.
  ISBN 978-1-58901-622-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
  )
• Houston, Benjamin (2012). The Nashville Way: Racial Etiquette and the Struggle for Social Justice in a Southern City. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
  ISBN 978-0-8203-4327-3
  .
• Lloyd, Richard; Christens, Brian D. (2012). "Reaching for Dubai: Nashville Dreams of a Twenty-First-Century Skyline". In Peterson, Marina; McDonogh, Gary (eds.). Global Downtowns. City in the Twenty-First Century. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  ISBN 978-0-8122-0805-4
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nashville, Tennessee.

• "Nashville/Davidson County Timeline". Nashville Public Library. Archived from the original on 2015-06-15.
• "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.
• "Bibliography of Tennessee Bibliographies". Tennessee Secretary of State. Local History

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