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Nashville
I INTRODUCTION
Nashville, city in north central Tennessee and capital of the state. Nashville shares the same boundaries with Davidson County; the two merged in 1963. Nashville is known as “Music City, USA” because it is the home of the recording industry for country-and-western music. Nashville is also the Middle South's center of government, education, banking, insurance, and health services. In the city is the headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant church group, and Nashville has a printing industry specialized in publishing Bibles.
The city lies in the Nashville Basin, a gently rolling and low-lying area surrounded by the western and eastern Highland Rim. The Cumberland Mountains rise to the east. Nashville is located on the Cumberland River, which forms long loops as it flows through the basin. The city's mean elevation is 134 m (440 ft). Nashville's climate is moderate and the city enjoys four distinct seasons. The average high temperature in January is 8C (46F) and the average low is -3C (27F); the average high in July is 32C (90F) and the average low is 21C (69F). The city annually receives 1,201 mm (47.3 in) in precipitation, with more precipitation in early winter and in the spring than in other times of the year.
Nashville was founded in 1779 during the American Revolution (1775-1783) and named in honor of Brigadier General Francis Nash, mortally wounded two years earlier in the Battle of Germantown.
II PEOPLE
Nashville's population has increased from 455,651 in 1980 to 569,891 in 2000. In 2003, it was estimated at 569,842.
According to the 2000 census, whites were 67 percent of the population, blacks 25.9 percent, Asians 2.3 percent, Native Americans 0.3 percent, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.1 percent. People of mixed heritage or not reporting race were 4.4 percent of inhabitants. Hispanics, who may be of any race, made up 4.6 percent of the people.
When Nashville and Davidson County consolidated in the early 1960s, the result was not only a greatly enlarged city but also a significant change in the racial makeup of the population. Black citizens went from more than two-fifths of the population prior to consolidation to about one-fifth after consolidation.
III CITY LANDSCAPE
Nashville and Davidson County consolidated governments in 1963, creating one of the nation's largest cities in territory; its land area is 1,225.6 sq km (473.2 sq mi). Nashville's metropolitan area is much larger, covering, in addition to Davidson, the counties of Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, Wilson, Robertson, Dickson, and Cheatham. The metropolitan area has 10,549.3 sq km (4,073.1 sq mi). The important cities and towns in the metropolitan region include Franklin, site of a major battle of the American Civil War (1861-1865), Murfreesboro, Gallatin, Lebanon, and Springfield. Nashville's suburbs also have spread into adjacent counties in recent years, particularly Williamson County to the south.
Nashville's downtown is located on high, limestone bluffs overlooking the Cumberland River, with four bridges connecting the east and west sides. Along the riverfront, historic Second Avenue is a thriving street of restaurants, dance halls, and nightclubs. The principal shopping district extends along Church Street. Union Station (1900), a former railroad station near downtown, has been restored as a hotel and restaurant. Surrounding the downtown are historic suburban neighborhoods, including Rutledge Hill, Germantown, and Edgefield. Music Row, the center of the recording industry, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum lie 5 km (3 mi) from the city center near the Vanderbilt University campus.
A downtown architectural landmark is the Tennessee State Capitol, a neoclassical building designed by William Strickland and completed in 1855. On the grounds of the capitol is the tomb of James K. Polk, a United States president from Tennessee. Fort Nashborough, a replica of the city's original settlement, stands on the bluffs of the Cumberland River. The Ryman Auditorium, built in the 1880s and named in honor of steamboat captain Tom Ryman, was home to the Grand Ole Opry radio show until 1974. It has since been restored for live entertainment and includes a museum devoted to the building's history.
Several historic sites are away from the downtown along the former turnpikes that radiate from the city center. To the east of the city is the Hermitage, the former home of Andrew Jackson, president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Its features include a museum, Jackson's mansion, and former slave cabins. Nearby is Tulip Grove (1836), the home of Andrew Donelson, Jackson's private secretary. In the south of the city, Travellers Rest (1799), the home of Jackson's law partner John Overton, is another of the many historic homes in Nashville. To the west of downtown stands the Parthenon (1897, rebuilt in the 1920s), a replica of the original in Greece and built for the Tennessee Centennial. Fisk University, founded after the Civil War to educate former slaves, contains Jubilee Hall (1873). Belle Meade (1853), known as the Queen of Tennessee plantations, was a major horse breeding farm, which in the 20th century became one of the South's most luxurious suburbs.
A Education and Culture
Universities and colleges in Nashville include Vanderbilt University (1873), Tennessee State University (1912), Belmont University (1951), David Lipscomb University (1891), Trevecca Nazarene University (1901), Fisk University (1867), Meharry Medical College (1876), Free Will Baptist Bible College (1942), and American Baptist College (1924). Several junior colleges and technical schools are located in Nashville.
Many of Nashville's museums and attractions are related to the country music industry, including several museums devoted exclusively to a single artist. But the city abounds in other cultural sites. Cheekwood, a former private residence, is now the home of the Tennessee Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Art, with an extensive collection of porcelain and American paintings. The Cumberland Science Museum offers daily science programs, and the Tennessee State Museum features exhibits on the state's history. The Parthenon houses an art gallery and a full-scale replica of the statue of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, that once stood in the Athens original. Fisk University features the Carl Van Vechten Gallery, which displays a collection of photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, and the Aaron Douglas Gallery of African American painting. Vanderbilt University includes a Fine Arts Gallery. The Tennessee Performing Arts Center hosts in its three theaters live performances of music and drama by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Tennessee Repertory Theater, Nashville Ballet, Nashville Opera, and many visiting performers.
B Recreation
Stock-car racing at the Nashville Speedway draws thousands of spectators, and college-level sports have many fans. The Tennessee Titans professional football team plays at The Coliseum in Nashville. The Nashville Predators, which joined the National Hockey League in 1998, play at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
A tradition in Nashville is the Iroquois Steeplechase, horse racing over a prescribed course that involves jumping over obstacles such as hedges, ditches, and walls. The May event has grown into a major festival. In September the city hosts the Tennessee State Fair.
One of Nashville's principle attractions is Opryland, a complex of entertainment and broadcasting facilities that offers live music shows, a resort and convention center, and shopping outlets. Since 1974 it has been the home to the Grand Ole Opry radio show, a country-music production that has not missed a broadcast since 1925.
Percy Park and Edwin Warner Park provide open space, trails, playing fields, and a golf course. Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake offer fishing, boating, picnicking, and camping.
IV ECONOMY
Besides being the seat of state government, Nashville is a commercial, manufacturing, education, and tourist hub and a noted center for performing and recording music, particularly country, gospel, and pop. Financial, insurance, health, and transportation services are also important. Manufactured products include automobile glass, printed materials, processed food, clothing, and footwear. In recent years the Nashville area has become home to major automobile manufacturing plants, including the Nissan Motor Company plant in Smyrna and the General Motors Saturn plant in Spring Hill.
Nashville is an important transportation crossroads for the state of Tennessee, and three interstate highways converge in the city. Interstate 40 crosses the state and links Nashville with Knoxville in the east and Memphis in the west. Interstate 24 connects the city to Chattanooga in the south. Interstate 65 links Tennessee with Kentucky to the north. Nashville International Airport serves the city.
V GOVERNMENT
In 1963 Nashville and Davidson County were consolidated to form a single government, one of the first of several such experiments in metropolitan government in the nation. Nashville is governed by an elected mayor and a 40-member city council. Voters elect 35 council members from districts and 5 from the city at large. All elected officials serve four-year terms.
VI HISTORY
The Nashville area was used as a hunting ground by Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Shawnee peoples prior to the arrival of Europeans. In about 1710 French fur traders founded a trading post that became known as French Lick. In 1779 settlers from North Carolina arrived at the site and established Fort Nashborough, named for Francis Nash, a brigadier general in the American Revolution. They drew up the Cumberland Compact, which outlined self-government for the area and established the first civilian rule in the region. In 1784 the community was renamed Nashville, which was regarded as sounding less British than Nashborough.
Situated at the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace, a military and commercial road that penetrated the interior of the Old Southwest, Nashville served as an important outpost for the expansion of American settlement through the region. The city became a bustling river port following the initiation of steamboat travel on the Cumberland River. In 1843 the city became the permanent state capital. Railroads entered Nashville in the 1850s and it soon became center of southern rail transportation.
Though sentiment over secession divided residents of Middle Tennessee, Nashville became an important Confederate stronghold at the outset of the American Civil War. However, in February 1862, the city became the first major Confederate city to fall to Union troops. Thereafter, Nashville supported the Union Army with supplies, weapons, ammunition, and medical care. The population of the city bulged with soldiers, runaway slaves, and wartime entrepreneurs. The Confederate Army unsuccessfully attempted to take the city from the Union Army in the Battle of Nashville in December 1864, the last significant offensive action taken by the South.
After the Civil War, Nashville grew rapidly, due to the connection the Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad provided with other states and regions. In 1897 Nashville and the L & N sponsored the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, one of the grandest of several such exhibitions that displayed the New South's spirit of enterprise and progress. In the early 20th century Nashville expanded its role as a financial and insurance center, and during World War I (1914-1918) the Old Hickory Powder Plant gave new strength to the city's industrial base. Beginning in the 1930s the city's economic development was spurred by the availability of cheap electric power produced by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
In the 1920s Nashville's insurance companies began using radio to reach new markets. An outgrowth was the Grand Ole Opry, sponsored by WSM Radio, which began in 1925 and became the fount of Nashville's country-music industry. During World War II (1939-1945) southern country music became popular in the United States, introduced to the rest of the nation by southern soldiers. After the war, Nashville's Music Row became the home of many recording studios, and musicians found Nashville a convenient place to record. Songwriters and music publishers relocated to Nashville from New York and other cities. By the 1960s Music Row had become a center for country, gospel, pop, and rock music.
During the 1960s Nashville was also an important center for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, especially among students in local universities who led in the organization of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Grand Ole Opry, TennesseeThe Grand Ole Opry, a popular performance hall, is located in Opryland USA, an entertainment complex and theme park outside Nashville. Credited with popularizing country music, the Opry began broadcasting in 1925 and won a national radio network spot in 1939. It is the oldest continuous radio show in the United States, broadcasting live every week.
Photo Researchers, Inc./Jeff Greenberg
