The land on which much of Inglewood is located was a 640 acre tract granted by the State of North Carolina to John Evans in the 1780's. William Williams purchased the land from Evans about 1810 and Williams family members lived on the land for the next 100 years. Other 18th century land owners in our neighborhood were Daniel Dunham, Ephraim McLean and Ned Carvin who was killed in an Indian raid while working in his fields. The maps shows the location of original land grants in Inglewood. The "big spring" on the Buchanan tract is located where Home Depot meets Briley Parkway, today. A few modern streets are noted on the map, to help you get your bearings.
The first preacher to settle permanently in Davidson Co., was Thomas B. Craighead. He first lived, about 1785, in a log structure which was the beginnings of Evergreen. The Home Depot Store which opened in 2008 is located on the Evergreen property. By 1795 Craighead had built a brick home just to the north of his log house. This two story brick house was sold after Craighead’s death to the Walton family. Emily Donelson Walton, who lived there for many years, named the home Glen Echo. A diagram of the Glen Echo property shows a large Indian Mound on the front lawn of the house. These mounds were built by Native Americans during the Mississippian Period, A.D. 900 -1550 and were used as a base, or substructure, for temples and houses for the elite members of the community.
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| Glen Echo, the second home of Rev. Craighead, built about 1795. Image courtesy of Betty Hadley |
Spring Hill Cemetery was established about 1785 on land adjacent to the Spring Hill Presbyterian Meeting House. The meeting house was used by students of Davidson Academy. Craighead was the schoolmaster.
The Nashville National Cemetery on Gallatin Road was established in 1866 for re-interment of Civil War battle dead and soldiers who died while held prisoner or who died in hospitals.
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| Nashville National Cemetery, established in 1866 |
A Masonic Orphan's and Widow's Home was located on the present Hart Lane on land donated by Jere Baxter. Later the property was site of a tuberculosis hospital. Today the property is home to several state agencies. Jere Baxter, owner of the Tennessee Central Railway, owned a large farm in Inglewood. His home, Maplewood, was at the end of Curdwood about two locks west of Gallatin Road.
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| Masonic Orphan's and Widow's Home |
In the late 19th century the Davidson County Asylum for the Poor was near the location of the Inglewood Kroger store.
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| Dr. Shackletts house, Davidson County Asylum, Inglewood. - photo from George Zepp |
The original Inglewood subdivision was on the East side of Gallatin Rd. and included Kirkland, Shelton, Greenfield, Howard, McChesney, Stratford and Marion Avenues. Most of the streets were about 3 blocks long running back to Oxford Ave. Maplewood Land Company subdivided and developed land for residential use on the west side of Gallatin Road.
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| Inglewood Place subdivision |
Inglewood had a thriving business community in the 1950's and 1960's. There were several grocery stores, including two H. G. Hill stores, one near Trinity Lane and another near Howard Ave. There were nearly a dozen restaurants from Trinity Lane to the present Briley Pkwy. Lots of gasoline stations, auto repair shops and new and used car dealers. There were radio repair shops, jewelers, druggists, clothing stores, photographers, dry cleaners, a florist, a piano store, a gift shop, a tailor, a nursery and a hobby shop. And there was a newspaper office which published the Independent News magazine.
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| Malone's Market - image from Ralph Mitchell |
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| Robert Hall, Inglewood - image from Ralph Mitchell |
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| Phillip and Robinson, Inglewood - image from Ralph Mitchell |
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| Southern T.V. & Appliance, Gallatin at Trinity Ln. - photo from Terry Crunk |
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| Gallatin near Trinity Ln. - Jimmy Ellis The Tennessean |
There is a church on almost every corner in the Inglewood community. Some of the buildings have undergone changes over the years, but most have active congregations. The Inglewood Methodist Church had to redo the front of the building when Gallatin Road was widened. It looks quiet different today. Eastminster Presbyterian, moved from East Nashville to Inglewood in 1945. A few years ago the steeple was removed from the building and is now located in the church yard. (A reader informed me that the steeple was never placed on the church.)
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| Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Jackson Park Church of Christ, Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Inglewood Methodist Church, showing original facade - Ridley Wills Colletion, MNA |
Inglewood once had a movie theater. The 1000 seat theater was built in 1950 by Crescent Amusement Co. The last movie was shown in 1975. The building was used for many years after the theater closed by Joywood Salvage Co. The theater building was demolished a few years ago for the construction of Eckerd.
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| Inglewood Theater, Metro Nashville Archives |
Before consolidation of the Davidson County and Nashville City governments in 1963, Inglewood was serviced by a privately owned police and fire department. The Inglewood-Madison Police & Fire Dept was at 4014 Gallatin Road near McAlpine Ave.
Ardee Avenue was originally named Mildred Avenue and McGavock Pike was Maxey Lane at Gallatin Road and then changed to Williams Ferry Road as it got closer to the river. Maxey Lane was named for the Maxey family who owned a large farm on Gallatin Road in the area of McGavock Pike. Williams Ferry Road was named for the Williams family who owned much of the land in what is now Inglewood throughout the 19th century. A Mr. Williamson, who lived across the river in Pennington Bend, actually ran the ferry for awhile. A few times I have seen the road on our side as Williamson Ferry Road on a old map.
One of the things that continues to make Inglewood a special place are the homes along Gallatin Road. At one time, every major highway leading into Nashville was lined with homes. In most areas of Davidson County they have all been demolished.
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| Gallatin Rd., Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Gallatin Rd., Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Gallatin Rd., Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Gallatin Rd., Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Gallatin Rd., Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
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| Gallatin Rd., Inglewood - Metro Nashville Assessor |
Click here to see a list of Businesses and Residents along
Gallatin Pike from 1950 to 1980.
Click here to read another story about
Inglewood
Feel free to add your own memories in the comment box. I grew up in East Nashville and moved to Inglewood in the late 1970's so there is much that I don't know.
Inglewood Area Trivia by
Debie Oeser Cox is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Thanks so much for sharing the history of my home for 46 years!
ReplyDeleteI think there is a mistake about Eastminister Presbyterian Church. I don't think it ever had a steeple on the roof of the church when they built the new sanctuary and Sunday school building in the late 50's, due to the cost. The chimney that sits in the yard of the church was never on the roof of the church.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct about the steeple never being on top of the church. Unfortunately, the
Deletechurch burned a few years ago. My sister and I had just donated a lot of religious books that belonged to our parents to the church. I attended there for several years in the 50's and 60's and was confirmed there.
How interesting about the Eastminister Presbyterian Church. Do you know the history behind the steeple sitting in the church yard?
ReplyDeleteA tornado blew it off and the cost was too much to put it back.
DeleteI grew up on Maplewood Lane. We had the first house on the south side of the street. It is interesting to read the origin of the name of the street. I remember my father talking about an ancestor having a potato farm on the north side of Maplewood Lane extending to the property where Isaac Litton High School stood. Unfortunately I do not know the name of the ancestor. Susan Smith Daniels
ReplyDeleteMap shows William Cooke 640 Acres
DeleteMy Dad, John B. Beckett, published the Inglewood Independent newspaper described here, from 1946 -1971.
ReplyDeleteI saw many movies at the Inglewood Theater. The area was quite nice & filled with businesses of every type. I graduated from Litton in '55 & left the area. Check out the old Riverwood Riding Academy for interesting pix. Likely no open land left anymore.
ReplyDeleteFYI a few of the houses pictured on Gallatin Rd were built in late 40 or 50. Prior to building, it was farm land, city type & scattered homes.we lived on Brush Hill Rd at corner of Log Cabin.thanks for your blog work.
Saturdays were special maybe 10 cents open at 10am over at 3pm, Moms day off to go shop. Safe back then for kids.
DeleteI grew up in Inglewood live there from 65 till 2014 it was a great Community to grow up in when I left the land that the Riverwood Riding Academy was still there vacant someone on Brush Hill Road bought the land the theater in the bowling alley was great places to hang out when you were kids
ReplyDeleteWe've lived on Maplewood Lane (now Maplewood Place) at Porsha, since 1998. Our home was built in 1930 and some of those closer to Gallatin Pike were built in the 1920's. Here in 2021 there is still an old fence post in our backyard from the original farm before development. Some of the homes in the neighborhood are currently being demolished to split the large 1 acre lots in two and building two homes ("tall and skinny").
ReplyDeleteThe colonial structure built around 1915 and still in existence next to Hart Lane is also sometimes called the "Masonic Orphan's and Widow's Home", but sometimes the "Home for Aged Masons". What's the relationship between the structures? When did the 1892 building come down? It's surprisingly hard to disentangle the two online.
ReplyDeleteTwo different buildings. The 1915 building is still there the 1982 building was demolished as you have discovered. The 1915 building was the Home for Aged Masons. The 192 building was the Masonic Orphan's and Widow's Home. I guess I need to do a post about them.
DeleteOne had large screened in porch, old TB Hospital, the seat patients out for fresh air treatment I guess, I was told
DeleteI came to Inglewood in 1963, in third grade. I attended Jere Baxter and Litton Jr. High. At that point they closed Litton Sr. and everyone was bused to either East, Maplewood or Stratford according to where they lived. I left most of my friends behind to go to East. Some of them I lost all contact with, since the telephone was the major form of communication. If you didn't have their phone number they were gone. This was long before the internet and connecting on Facebook. I made some new friends at East over the years. But being uprooted to go to a new school and leaving my friends behind was almost like moving.
ReplyDeleteWe would walk to the bowling alley and to the theater. In the summertime you could get in to a Saturday matinee for 6 RC Cola bottle caps. We walked around all week with our heads down looking for RC caps
Where is the history of riverwood writing academy
ReplyDeleteI could write about sometime. I have researched it. Maybe I will get to itb soon.
ReplyDelete