Captain Thomas Green Ryman, owner of the Ryman steamboat line and builder of the Union Gospel Tabernacle, lived at this location. Ryman made his early fortune by selling alcohol but was so moved by a sermon about the evils of drink that he built the Union Gospel Tabernacle, which was renamed Ryman Auditorium in honor of Captain Ryman after he died in 1904. The Queen Anne frame house featured a slate roof, seven gables and two turrets, and served as the home of Captain and Mrs. Ryman and their seven children from 1885-1926. The house was razed in 1940. One of those seven children wrote a short history about her father's first boat, which she claims ran aground or sank 13 times. The daughter also claims that each of these accidents occurred on the 13th day of the month.
The red-orange brick building at President Ronald Reagan Way (Second Ave. S.) opposite the intersection with Middleton St. is the James Geddes Engine Company No. 6, a former fire station. The 2.5-story building with terra cotta and limestone trim was built in 1884 - 1885 and was named for a Nashville railroad company officer. The James Geddes building is the only survivor of Victorian-era Nashville fire stations and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Geddes building was adapted into office space and may be preserved as part of a boutique hotel that may be built to its north. In 2022, new plans were in the works for an Ohio firm to open a brewery and cafe in the Geddes building. The historic building to the left of the Geddes building, the former Litterer Laboratory, also is a Clio entry.
Named today for Nashville Mayor William Litterer who purchased and donated the building to Vanderbilt, this structure has two dates inscribed near a corner in Roman numerals: 1850 and 1895. The first date is for the founding of the city's first medical school by the University of Nashville while the second is when this building for the University of Nashville Medical Department was finished. The building was shared with and later owned by, the medical department of Vanderbilt University. Litterer Laboratories now contains office space and Templeman Academy, a private prep school. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 for its significance in architecture and education. It is one of only two surviving buildings from the former campus.
The grey-colored limestone building at 724 Second Ave. S. began in the mid-1850s as Lindsley Hall, housing the University of Nashville's Literary Department. During the Civil War, the fortress-like building was used as a hospital. The University of Nashville essentially went out of existence in the 1870s and was absorbed by other schools. A series of educational institutions occupied Lindsley Hall into the 1910s; it later served as an armory and a health center. The Nashville Children's Museum moved into Lindsley Hall in 1945 and stayed for over sixty years. The Museum relocated in the mid-1970s, and the building was repurposed as government offices for the City of Nashville. Lindsley Hall became a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1971.
The red brick house at 1109 First Ave. S. was constructed for the retiring president of Meharry Medical College, Dr. George W. Hubbard, in 1921. The home was on the college's campus, a medical school for African Americans, in the 1920s. No other school buildings from the campus have survived urban renewal. When the medical school was established in 1876, it was the first school in the South founded to prepare African-American physicians. The house was designed by prominent African-American architect Moses McKissack. The house became a parsonage for a local church in 1970 but is currently vacant. In 1973, the Hubbard House became a listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Efforts are underway to renovate the building.
Dedicated in 1891, St. Patrick's Church is on the National Register of Historic Places as an important example of Second Empire style architecture. The Nashville church is also significant for its role in the history of the nomadic ethnic group, the Irish Travelers, who have gathered at St. Patrick's since 1892 for funerals, weddings, and baptisms.
The Nashville City Cemetery, located at 1001 Fourth Avenue South at Oak Street, was established in 1820 and opened in 1822. It is the oldest continuously operating public cemetery in Nashville. Many distinguished pioneers and citizens of the city found their final resting place here, including James Robertson, the founder of Nashville. Civil War soldiers were also buried here, though many of these -- including some who fought for the Union -- were later disinterred and re-interred elsewhere after the war. This is also the burial place of the Unionist sea captain William Driver, who coined the term "Old Glory," which was to become the enduring nickname for the US flag. Nashville Mayor Ben West, beginning in 1958, led restoration and preservation efforts at the cemetery (and was eventually buried there himself), and a second restoration effort, begun in 2006, was recently completed. In 1972, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places due to its architectural and historic significance. The Nashville City Cemetery Association (NCCA) manages the location and has carefully maintained records of its tombstones and inscriptions, and the NCCA has made these available not only to visitors to the site but online.
The largest and oldest vinyl pressing plant in North America, United Record Pressing was founded under the name "Bullet Plastics" as an offshoot of Bullet Records in 1947. It was the first vinyl pressing plant in the South. In 1949, Bullet Plastics separated from its less-successful parent company and began securing contracts with major labels, including Motown in the 1960's. Due to its work with Motown, in 1962 the company had an apartment created above the factory floor in their new facilities to accommodate Motown's largely Black artists who were often discriminated against at hotels in the area. The "Motown Suite" is said to have hosted musicians such as The Supremes and Smokey Robinson. In 1971, the company was renamed United Record Pressing. In recent years, it has pressed records for Michael Jackson, Adele, Dolly Parton, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Radiohead, and others.
Fort Negley was built by Union troops during the Civil War following their occupation of Nashville. The fort was designed to garrison the city and defend against any Confederate attempts to regain control of the city. Fort Negley was the biggest inland stone fort of the entire Civil War period, making Nashville the most fortified Union-held city except for Washington, DC. The structure was built in the fall of 1862 entirely by African-American labor. The fort played a role in the Battle of Nashville in December 1864, one of the most decisive battles of the war. The fort was preserved as an historical site during the Great Depression of the 1930s under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a project which was completed in 1938. However, it was neglected and remained closed for many years. Between 2002 and 2007, however, the site was restored and a Visitors Center was added. Fort Negley is most significant for its role in the American Civil War, but it also shares lessons about the history of the WPA, historic preservation, and the role of African Americans in shaping American history.
The organization was opened in 1945 as the Children’s Museum of Nashville, under the vision of naturalist John Ripley Forbes, and was located in Lindsley Hall in downtown Nashville. The first planetarium opened in 1952. In 1974 the museum moved to its current location in Old Saint Cloud Hill, the site of Fort Negley during the American Civil War. The organization’s name changed over the years, most recently from Cumberland Science Museum to Adventure Science Center in 2002.
Fall School, on the northeast corner of Eighth Ave. S. (US Hwy. 31) and Chestnut St., is the oldest public school building still standing in Nashville. It was built in 1896, served as an elementary school until 1970, and was renovated into offices in the 1980s. The Fall School was built with a square classroom in each corner and an octagonal, three-story light well in the center. A smaller wing for classroom space was added to the rear in 1926. The building has housed the Nashville Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre since 2009, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The massive oval structure on Kirkpatrick Hill, high above Nashville, is the Eighth Avenue Reservoir, built as a city reservoir in the late 1880s. The spot once held Fort Casino, a Civil War fort built in 1863 and occupied by Union forces during the Battle of Nashville in 1864. The reservoir sprang a major leak when a wall collapsed in 1912, causing major damage but no fatalities; since the reservoir held two basins, only half of the water escaped. The Eighth Avenue Reservoir was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978; it is a contributing part of the National Register-listed Omohundro Waterworks Complex thematic resource, too. The reservoir was undergoing further renovation in early 2022 that was projected to take years to complete.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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Start at the historical marker for Captain Tom Ryman and drive to historical buildings, cemeteries, factories, and fort sites. Along the way, visit the Adventure Science Center (formerly Children's Museum of Nashville), and end at the 8th Avenue Reservoir and Park.
