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MHC News
Due to continued COVID-19 closures, the June MHC meeting was conducted virtually. A video of the meeting is available via YouTube. The Commission approved five new historical markers: the Berger Building (privately funded), Buena Vista School, Jones School, Emma Clemons School, and Glenn School.
As part of section 106 mitigation for the adjacent new federal courthouse, the General Services Administration funded the Berger Building historical marker, to be placed in front of 164 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard. Just prior to the current building's construction, the former building at this site, Dad's Supply Store, housed WDAD Radio from 1925-1926. WDAD was Nashville's first studio to broadcast country and blues music nationwide and its fiddle contests inspired rival station WSM to create the Grand Ole Opry. The Berger Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Berger Building. Credit: MHC.
The four school markers are being funded by the Marker Project, a 4% allocation received in 2017 that allows the MHC to place 73 new historical markers by the end of 2020, including a new marker in each Council district. The program also enables MHC to place markers from our priority list, which includes missing or damaged markers.
A larger initiative is underway that will place markers at six Nashville schools which functioned as pivotal sites of school desegregation events in September 1957. In addition to these four school markers, new markers have also been approved for Fehr School and Hattie Cotton School. MHC and Metro Nashville Public Schools will dedicate this group of markers in late 2020. All six of these "Nashville Plan" markers will display one side dedicated to an overview of school desegregation in Nashville and one side with site-specific information about each school.
MHZC news
The MHZC’s July public hearing will be on Wednesday, July 15th at 2:00 p.m. and will be a virtual meeting. Guidance regarding meeting access and submitting comments can be found on our Coronavirus Procedures page.
On June 29th, Governor Lee extended Tennessee’s COVID-19 state of emergency (Executive Order No. 50) as well as the allowance for continued electronic public meetings (Executive Order No. 51). These orders are in effect through August 29th.
The MHZC's procedures for virtual public hearings were held up recently as an example of “best practices" in a webinar hosted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions.
View the MHZC meeting schedule and application deadlines here. Access archived videos of the MHZC meetings on the Metro YouTube channel anytime!
MHC Commissioner Michelle Hall has resigned from the commission due to a relocation to Charleston, SC. We want to thank Michelle for her two years of service and wish her well!
MHZC Chair and distinguished architect Brian Tibbs has served on the commission since 2006, the last several years as the Planning Commission representative. As his term ended in May, former Council member Mina Johnson will take his place. We are deeply grateful to Brian for his many years of dedicated service and we extend a warm welcome to Ms. Johnson!
MHZC Commissioner LaDonna Boyd, who has served since 2017 as a DTC representative, recently resigned from the commission due to other commitments. We thank LaDonna for serving on the commission and wish her well in her future endeavors!
We are heartbroken to report that on Sunday, June 28th, our dear friend Commissioner Bob Allen passed away. Known to many as "Bellevue Bob," he had served on the MHC since 2017. Bob was a longtime Bellevue resident and attended Hillsboro High School and Vanderbilt University. During the "space race," he worked for NASA in Huntsville, Alabama. He was involved with numerous community organizations, serving as president of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce and as a 25-year member of the Exchange Club of Bellevue. He was the corporate secretary of BELL Garden from its inception until 2018, responsible for maintaining corporate records, securing 501(c)3 status and numerous grants. Bob and his wife Judy dedicated the BELL Daylily Garden from daylilies that have been split, stored, and propagated by his family since 1895 when the daylilies were given as a wedding gift to his great grandparents. Bob and Judy also dedicated the Victory Garden, modeled after the Victory Garden that his mother and grandmother had in Indianapolis. The couple also organized the Friends of Grassmere Wildlife Park that saved and protected the wildlife park and its animals before the Nashville Zoo took over management in 1997.
Commissioner Allen was deeply involved and knowledgeable in all things historical, especially where Bellevue was concerned. He was an author, editor and book publisher with Author's Corner, which he and Judy founded in 2005. He was also a primary contributor to the fascinating interactive history wall at the Bellevue Library and author for Bellevue's newspapers, The Westview and The Vue. A tireless promoter of Bellevue history, he spearheaded the popular Bellevue History and Genealogy Group that has hosted weekly history-related lectures since 2009. In 2019, Commissioner Allen led the effort for a new Historic Bellevue historical marker, placed near an 1860s masonic lodge on Old Harding Road.
We are incredibly thankful for Bob's service to the Metro Historical Commission and to the larger preservation community and our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.
Commissioner Bob Allen at the dedication for the Historic Bellevue marker. Credit: MHC.
Additionally, the MHC is deeply saddened by the recent loss of historian and former commissioner Dr. Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr. who passed away on June 16th. Dr. Mitchell was appointed to the Metropolitan Historical Commission in November 1999 and reappointed in October 2003. He served as MHC Chair in 2007, his final year on the commission, and in 2008 he received the MHC Achievement Award. He also served on the MHC Foundation board from 2014 to 2020. As one of the founding historians of the Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture, Dr. Mitchell wrote and published a number of profiles in the conference proceedings. He had been a member of the Planning Committee since 1984, the conference's third year.
Dr. Mitchell was a member of the faculty at Fisk University from 1980 until his death and served as Chairman of the Department of History. During his tenure at Fisk, he held numerous administrative positions, including Director of Institutional Advancement, Executive Assistant to the President, Director of the Division of Social Sciences and Dean of Academic Affairs. He also held adjunct professorships with the College of St. Francis and Vanderbilt University.
Dr.. Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr. (center) with two of his sons. Credit: The Mitchell Family.
Dr. Mitchell authored Thy Loyal Children Make Their Way: A History of Fisk University Since 1866 and contributed several entries to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. He wrote hundreds of historical monographs in journals, magazines, and newspapers, including the illustrated chapter, “Alexandria, Tennessee: Slumbering in the Shadows of Progress,” for the anthology Critical Essays on W.E.B. DuBois’ SOULS OF BLACK FOLK. As a frequent consultant on African American heritage and architecture, his comments have been published in TIME, Ebony, Black Enterprise, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education and The Journal of Ethnic Studies. He also served as an historical consultant for the PBS The American Experience documentaries “Jubilee Singers: Sacrifice and Glory” and “Partners of the Heart.” Dr. Mitchell also contributed an essay for the liner notes in the CD “Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970.” He was a member of the Task Force for the development of the Museum of African American Music, Art and Culture. In addition to his appointment to the Tennessee Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, Dr. Mitchell was appointed to the Tennessee National Register State Review Board in 1993 and the Tennessee Historical Commission in 1999 (chairman since 2015).
Dr. Reavis Mitchell was a highly respected preservation ally and historian who will be deeply missed. We are incredibly grateful to have learned from and partnered with him over the last few decades. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family and friends as we celebrate his wonderful life and myriad contributions.
MHC Executive Director Tim Walker, THC staff/MHC Commissioner Linda Wynn and Dr. Reavis Mitchell accepting an award for the Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture in 2018. Credit: TN Historical Commission.
MHC Commissioner Jim Hoobler is retiring at the end of June, having served as the Tennessee State Museum's Senior Curator of Art and Architecture since 1991. He has previously held positions as the Executive Director of the Tennessee Historical Society, advisor to the State Capitol Restoration Commission, and board member of the Nashville City Cemetery. Commissioner Hoobler has also authored several books and has a new book contract. He has been involved in the preservation of some of Nashville's most important landmarks, including the State Capitol, Downtown Presbyterian Church (where he is an active member), the Nashville City Cemetery, the Executive Mansion, and Carnton in nearby Franklin.
As a frequent contributor to Nashville Sites, a web-based walking tours initiative, Commissioner Hoobler narrated the New South Nashville and Old Time Religion tours; he also narrated and co-wrote the Downtown Civil War tour. A recent Q&A with Jim explores his thoughts on a range of topics about the state collections as well as his retirement plans.
The Tennessee State Museum recently featured Jim in these two videos, enjoy!
In Conversation: Jim Hoobler, a Life in Art and History
Lunch with a Curator: The Tennessee State Capitol
Jim Hoobler. Credit: Nashville Arts Magazine.
In early June, Tennessee lost one of college football's greatest coaches, Johnny Majors. Majors' coaching career began in 1957 as a student-assistant at the University of Tennessee. He went on to coach at Iowa State University and the University of Pittsburgh through 1996. In 1987, he was inducted into the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame. After his nearly 40-year coaching career, Majors became Director of Athletics and Special Assistant to the Chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. He continued to stay active in college football as a speaker, team evaluator, and recruiter.
Several years ago, Coach Majors donated his personal papers to the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Some of those papers are features in the TSLA exhibit "It's Football Time in Tennessee!" Watch Coach Majors talk about his collection and his love for history in this video.
You Can Go Home, by Johnny Majors with Ben Byrd, 1986. Source: TSLA Johnny Majors Collection.
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