Nashville, Then and Now

I found myself strolling through Barnes & Noble last weekend while the kids were playing at the train table and came across a very interesting book called Nashville Then and Now. I’m always curious about the history of downtown and so I picked it up. It was full of pictures comparing scenes from a hundred years ago to the same location today.

For example, did you know that where Riverfront Park currently is, there used to be a busy wharf where boats would load and unload their goods? Here’s a neat picture along 1st avenue from shortly after the Civil War.

It was also interesting to learn that the North side of the capital used to filled with slums and crime until Nashville, the nation’s first urban renewal city, cleared the area in 1949 and built James Robertson Parkway. Before it was redeveloped it was often reffered to as "Hell's Half Acre".

In addition to seeing some of the changes that have taken place in Nashville over the last century, it’s also fascinating to see what still remains. Some of the pictures of Historic Edgefield looked remarkably similar to current ones. Also, many of the downtown buildings look just the same such as the Customs House, and the Hume Fogg Magnet school with it’s origins as the first public high school in Nashville.

I love exploring the history of Nashville, especially as it relates to real estate and the buildings that we still have today. It would be interesting to see how Nashville continues to grow and change over the next 100 years. I wonder if Barnes and Noble will still be around...

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com
REALTOR. City Home Specialist.