Native Americans settled in the area more than 10,000 years ago, and European settlers really began to make it home at the end of the 18th century. At first, newcomers expected Sumner County to be the center of commerce and activity, but by the turn of the 19th century, eyes were definitely fixed on Davidson County and what would become Metro Nashville. Since then, the city has grown, and the day-to-day reality of Nashville and the surrounding area—from the early days of Andrew Jackson to the brutality of the Civil War to Suffrage, Prohibition and the Civil Rights Movement—has been evidence of the waves sweeping the whole country.
Today, we are more than the sum of our parts: The world may know us best for music and healthcare, but as a thriving metropolis, we are also on the edge of so much more—art, cuisine, the automotive industry, technology and so on. Likewise, we’ve dedicated this issue to a few select aspects of the city’s history: We couldn’t ignore the impact of the music industry, and we celebrate it by looking at the history of the Ryman, the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. We also look at Franklin’s historic homes, which we’re lucky to have, given how close each was to being razed a few decades back. Through them, we can reflect on the value of preservation—and the treasures we lost along the way.
We’d like to thank Turner Publishing especially for their help with images, many of which come from their stellar books. You’ll find those books in our gift guide (they make a wonderful present).
—Stephanie Stewart
Taking Care of Business
From the glory days of Marathon Motors, the Goo Goo Cluster and Third National Bank to a new century with a national cast of business players and industry sectors, Music City sings with entrepreneurial energy fueled by a fascinating past that shaped the present. Indeed, Nashville boasts a history of commerce—a growing and thriving Southern metropolis with a diverse economy. That history—and particularly the time span since 1960—has seen significant alterations to Nashville’s business landscape. In the “old days,” almost every business and business sector was highly localized, and regionalized at most. In 2010, the nationalizing and corporatization of the city’s business community is evident.
Banking
When asked how retired (or now deceased) Nashville-based bankers—the elder statesmen of their industry in the 1960s and ‘70s—would react if they could see Music City’s financial services sector circa 2010, veteran banking official Rita Mitchell did not mince words.
“They would probably pass out,” Mitchell, vice president of private client services with First Tennessee Brokerage Inc., says with a laugh. “They would say they need to find something else to do. The business is that different.”
No doubt. Mitchell has been involved in the Nashville banking business since 1979. As such, she has seen more changes than take place behind the scenes of a set for a major Broadway play.
“I remember when we got the first fax machine,” she says. “Now we have mobile banking.
“Another thing is work force diversity,” Mitchell adds. “When I started, you didn’t see many women and minorities in management roles. And 30 years ago, the banks didn’t offer investment advice.”
For perspective, Mitchell uses a time-period comparison. “I do think there has been more change the last 15 years,” she says, “than during the previous 60 years.”
Hospitality
Ray Waters serves as regional director of Turnberry Associates, the entity that masterfully reinvented the former downtown train depot into what we now know as Union Station: A Wyndham Grand Hotel. Waters began working within Nashville’s hospitality industry in 1977, at which point the city offered only two large nationally recognized hotel chains—the Hyatt downtown (now the Sheraton) and the airport Hilton (with its famous Silver Wings Restaurant).
“When Opryland Hotel was built in 1977 as a 600-room convention hotel, it put Nashville on the map for conventions and tourism,” Waters recalls. “I believe building the Opryland Hotel was the most significant event for the industry in Nashville. It helped create the now $4 billion hospitality industry in the city.”
Insurance
Insurance has left a major stamp on our business community, with the 99-year-old Wade & Egbert a venerable player within that sector. Alex (pronounced “Alec”) Wade joined the family company in 1969, as the city was seeing downtown white-collar companies begin to move into the now-bustling West End corridor.
“A lot more was done downtown [back then],” Wade says, adding that bank lobbies within the city central business district hummed with handshake deals and movers and shakers. Then came Midtown/West End, Airport North, MetroCenter, Green Hills and beyond. National entities have swallowed up the little man, and emailing has replaced face-to-face-ing.
“To characterize this era, there are a lot more unknowns,” Wade says.
Law
Unknowns have impacted Nashville’s legal industry too (although many local lawyers still work downtown). Allen Woods, shareholder and managing partner of Woods and Woods, says the Nashville legal market “tracks well” with the national legal market.
He cites the landmark Supreme Court case Baker v. Carr—which began in Memphis, worked its way through Nashville and ended up in Washington, D.C., in 1962—as a defining moment in Music City’s law lexicon. That case involved reapportionment of legislative districts and the concept of “one person, one vote.”
Shortly thereafter, law firms locally and beyond got bigger. “The modern law firm [as we know it today] did not exist until the late 1960s,” says Woods, who has toiled with the city’s legal community since 1971. “As early as just 25 years ago, big firms would have 10 lawyers. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, consolidation began.”
Retail
Nashville’s retail sector has chain explosion more so than consolidation. Still, there’s been a surge the past 10 years of independently owned businesses, harkening to the days of Cain-Sloan and Castner-Knott, with big successes for locally owned boutiques over the past decade. While many of the legendary shops are no more, one business has survived for 155 years: Levy’s Clothier for Men and Women.
“Men used to go to a clothing store and buy a collar (that buttoned on to a shirt) and have a cup of coffee,” says David W. Levy, president of what might be the oldest family-owned retail store in the United States. Those were the old days of 1960s and ’70s. You can only imagine what it was like in the 1860s and ’70s.
Levy, whose store has operated from Green Hills since 1977, says Nashville’s retail landscape has changed, in part, due to demographic shifts. “My grandfather chose to open a store in Madison [instead of Green Hills] in 1956,” Levy says, his voice tinged with nostalgia. “If you think back to that time, Green Hills was ripe.”
The Arts
While Green Hills retail remains ripe, Nashville continues to see an interesting unfolding of its business community. The non-profit sector and “arts businesses” are as strong as ever. TPAC celebrates its 30th birthday this year, while the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Nashville Symphony, Nashville Opera, Nashville Children’s Theatre and Tennessee Repertory Theatre, among many others, are vibrant.
Other Venues
Healthcare business is booming (check the Saint Thomas/Baptist merger and Vanderbilt Medical Center expansion), and the publishing and transportation sectors remain respectable. Nashville has even developed a technology industry the past 20 years. Through it all, veteran leaders continue to guide their younger peers into the next chapter of Music City’s business history. Clearly, more change looms.
“I remember the standard norm for me to be successful [in the 1980s] was that I had to wear a navy blue or black suit every day,” First Tennessee’s Rita Mitchell recalls.
That era—much like the time when most Nashville businesses were small and local—is long gone.
—William Williams