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MHC News
Preservation Awards: Thank you to all judges, participants and attendees of the 44th Annual Preservation Awards! The program was a wonderful success. In case you missed the event, you can now view the full program online.
Marker Project: May was a very busy month for historical marker dedications!
On May 8th, a new historical marker honoring Elizabeth Atchison Eakin (1858-1936) was dedicated at Eakin Elementary School. Ms. Eakin was the first woman to join the Nashville City School Board. After her death in 1936, Eakin School was built using Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds. Thank you to District 18 Council member Burkley Allen for spearheading this project!
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Just outside the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center along Jefferson Street, a new historical marker honoring the legacy of Dr. Matthew Walker, Sr. was dedicated on May 10th. Dr. Walker had an enormous impact on the community and was instrumental in starting the Meharry Neighborhood Health Center that would later carry his name. Thank you to District 19 Council member Freddie O'Connell and Dr. Walker's family and friends who supported this new marker!
(L to R) District 19 Councilman Freddie O'Connell, MHC Commissioners Menie Bell and Linda Wynn, Jessica Reeves (MHC), Monica Walker, Candace Koney, M.D., and Anna Walker.
A new historical marker for Marathon Motor Works was also dedicated on May 10th. This marker replaces the first (erected in 1970) and has expanded information on William Collier, the engineer credited with Marathon's success. Thank you to District 19 Council member Freddie O'Connell and Marathon Village owner Barry Walker for their support and guidance with this marker!
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May Hosiery Mills has a new historical marker, dedicated on May 22nd. Opened in 1908 by Jacob May and family, May Hosiery Mills was one of the largest employers in Nashville in the early 20th century. It employed many Jewish refugees that the May family helped flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Thank you to District 17 Council member Colby Sledge and members of the May family for helping us recognize this important piece of Nashville history!
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Kenner Manor Historic District was recognized with a new historical marker on May 23rd. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016, the neighborhood includes many houses built in the 1920s. The Kenner Manor Neighborhood Association sponsored this marker. Thank you to preservationist Phil Thomason for his work on this project and District 24 Council member Kathleen Murphy for supporting this marker!
Members of the Kenner Manor Neighborhood Association and CM Murphy dedicate the new marker. Credit: MHC.
On May 28th, a new historical marker for Hillwood Estates was unveiled. Members of the Hill and Caldwell families gathered to celebrate this piece of West Nashville history. The Hill family, including Horace Greeley Hill, Sr., his wife Mamie and their son H.G. Hill, Jr. bought land around their home (Cliff Lawn) that was developed into the Hillwood Estate subdivision. The neighborhood includes an elementary and high school, Hillwood Country Club and Hillwood Presbyterian Church that are all named for Hill. Thank you to District 23 Council member Mina Johnson and the Hill and Caldwell families for supporting this new marker!
Members of the Hill and Caldwell families dedicate the new marker. Credit: MHC.
A new historical marker was recently placed for the Freedman's Bank/Duncan Hotel. The marker is located at the southeast corner of 4th Ave. N and Dr. M.L.K., Jr. Blvd. The Nashville branch of the national Freedman's Savings and Trust Company Bank was chartered in Dec. 1865. Federal mismanagement and corruption led tot he closure of all branches in 1874. The Duncan Hotel opened on this site in 1889 but closed in 1916. The building later housed the first Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) for Black men and was located in the heart of the African-American business district.
At the May MHC meeting, the Commission approved a new marker for Crieve Hall (District 26). The Crieve Hall neighborhood was part of the 2000-acre estate owned by John Overton, who built Travellers Rest in 1799. An English Tudor house, built in 1900 by Jesse Overton, was purchased and expanded by Herbert Farrell in the 1920s. Farrell renamed the estate "Crieve Hall" after his family's ancestral home in Northern Ireland. The home was razed in the 1950s.
Overton Hall, later known as the Crieve Hall estate. Credit: Nashville Public Library.
MHZC news
The MHZC’s June public hearing will be on Wednesday, June 19th at 2:00 p.m. at the Sonny West Conference Center. The application deadline is June 3rd at noon.
View the MHZC meeting schedule and application deadlines here.
In May 2019, an Economic Impact Study of historic preservation activities was completed, the first of its kind for Nashville. This two-phase study includes a data-driven analysis and an accompanying incentives report which will incorporate local case studies, interviews and statistics. The analysis uses the goals and principals from the NashvilleNext plan as a framework in order to connect to other Metro and community efforts and identify how historic preservation achieves those goals. This study evaluates social impacts, demographics, property values, economic prosperity, tourism and cultural heritage, accessibility, education advancement and sustainability in Nashville’s historic areas.These reports are intended to demonstrate the importance and impacts of historic preservation to a wide range of stakeholders, and offer recommendations for how preservation-based incentives and strategies are a vehicle for sustainable growth, equitable development and increased quality of life. Read the full analysis report online.
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Tuesday, May 21st was an incredibly important day for Fort Negley and all those who have fought tirelessly for its preservation. Designated as 1 of only 4 U.S. "Sites of Memory" on the UNESCO Slave Route Project, Fort Negley stands as one of our nation's treasures and perhaps the site most closely connected to the full history of African Americans in Middle Tennessee.
Dr. Angela Sutton, a post-doctoral fellow in Vanderbilt University’s College of Arts and Sciences and the co-director of the Fort Negley Descendants Project, has spent her career studying the history of slavery and the resistance to it within the Atlantic world of Europe, Africa and the Americas. Sutton prepared the nomination, working with the Friends of Fort Negley Park and NAACP Nashville while leaning on research conducted by generations of African-American thinkers and scholars.
Commissioner Chris Cotton, Dr. Angela Sutton and Dr. Lea Williams were among the wonderful speakers at the formal announcement. Meanwhile, demolition on Greer Stadium is nearly complete, which will allow for the development of a public space that will honor the memory of those who built the fort and in turn some of Nashville's historically African American neighborhoods.
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