Eastin Morris' TENNESSEE GAZETTEER, 1834
Nashville, the metropolis of the State of Tennessee, and the
seat of justice of the county of Davidson, is elegantly situated
on the soutb bank of Cumberland river, in lat. 36' 9' 43" N.,
long . 9' 47' 15" west from Washington City, or 86' 4' 15"
west from London. The site is undulating and rocky, with
unequal elevations from fifty to one hundred and seventy-five
feet above low water mark. The ground plat is interspersed
with beautiful cedar groves, and the environs present the
richest variety of landscape scenery; the river seems to
meander where it should, and the evergreen hills have the
proper elevation and position to give boldness and symmetry
to the picture; in short it is altogether one of the most romantic, healthy and flourishing little cities in the Valley of
the Mississippi.
The first settlement was made in the year 1779 by the late
General James Robertson and company but it had for some
time previous been the occasional rendezvous of the French
traders, and was then called the French Lick. In 1783
the legislature of North Carolina established the county of
Davidson, and the first county court was held here on the
6th day of October, by the commissioned justices of the peace.
They appointed Andrew Ewing clerk, and Daniel Williams sheriff, and made
an order for the erection of a temporary
court house and jail by the first day of January ensuing, at
Nashboro as they then called the seat of justice. In 1784 a
town was established by law, by the name of Nashville, in
honor of the brave and patriotic General Nash, who fell at
the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777. The commissioners,
Thomas Mulloy, Samuel Barton, Daniel Smith, James
Shaw and Isaac Lindsey, were authorized and required to
cause to be laid off two hundred acres of land at the Bluff,
near to, but not so as to include the French Lick, in lots of
one acre each, with convenient streets, lanes and alleys, reserving
four acres for the purpose of erecting public buildings.
And provision was made to allot to citizen subscribers, such
number as they should draw, for which they were to receive
a deed, upon condition that within three years they would
make certain specified improvements thereon. This year there
were two licensed taverns in Nashville, and a few shops. In
1787 there were about a half a dozen frame and log houses
and twenty or thirty cabins. In November 1788, the Hon.
John McNairy held the first superior court of law and equity
for the county of Davidson and Sumner. John Macay was
appointed clerk and Andrew Jackson, state's attorney pro tem.
In 1796 the legislature of Tennessee appointed additional
trustees, and made some slight alterations in the registered
boundaries of the town. In 1801 it was placed under the government
of an Intendent and six commissioners. In 1804 it
had a population of about 400 and in 1806 it was incorporated
with a mayor and six aldermen, and Joseph Coleman was
elected the first mayor. In 1810 the population was about
1100 and in 1812 the legislature sat here for the first time.
In the spring of 1818 the citizens of Nashville hailed the arrival
of the first steam boat, she carried 110 tons: was called
the General Jackson, and built in 1817 at Pittsburg for Governor
Carroll, who sold her to Messrs. Fletcher, Young and
Marr, for $33,000 cash. Freight was then five cents from New
Orleans to this place.
In 1822 a fine bridge was built across the Cumberland opposite
the public square, which cost about $85,000. In 1823
the population was 3,463, and in June 1830 there were 5566
of which 1108 were slaves, and 204 were free persons of color.
At present (1834) the population is about 7000, and there
are about three hundred brick and two hundred frame and
log dwelling houses; eighty brick and fifteen frame stores,
twenty brick warehouses, fifty brick and twenty-five frame
offices, and one hundred work shops. The public buildings
are a court house, jail, penitentiary, lunatic asylum, university,
female academy, theatre, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Cumberland
Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic churches, several
banks a masonic hall, two market houses, water works,
&c. And there are also two steam saw mills, one steam rolling
mill, two brass and iron foundries, three hardware stores,
three iron stores, four auction stores, eighteen wholesale
stores, fifty-five retail stores, four groceries, six taverns, and
a number of refectories, confectioneries, coffee houses, fancy
stores, &c. Here are likewise six merchant tailors, ten saddlers,
twelve shoemakers, four boot and shoemakers, four shoestores,
two tanyards, about a dozen blacksmiths, one gunsmith, six
silversmiths and jewellers, three extensive apothecary and
drug stores, one hatter, three cabinet makers, a number of
carpenters, three carriage makers, three wagon makers, three
tallow chandlers, four tobacconists, two coppersmiths, five
tinners, one engraver, four portrait painters, four house and
sign painters, six bricklayers, four stone cutters, one marble
worker, and several plasterers, glaziers, &c. There are four
extensive printing offices, four large bookstores, three book
binderies, two classical schools, two female academies, ten
common schools, an infant school, and a number of Sunday
schools. There are about a dozen clergymen including the
collegiate and the academical instructors, upwards of forty
practising lawyers, and about twenty-five physicians.
The
Court House which stands on the public square, is a
spacious and commodious edifice. It presents a handsome
front of 105 feet and is sixty-three feet deep. The basement
story contains a number of rooms, designed for public offices,
and on the second and third floors there are two rooms forty
by sixty feet each, two others thirty-six by forty, and two
others twenty-three by forty. The basement story is eleven
feet high, and the two principal ones are eighteen feet each,
and the height of the whole building to the top of the dome
is ninety feet. The foundation and part of the lower story
is of fine hewn stone, and the remainder of brick, and the
two fronts are ornamented with four white pilasters each,
The dome contains a good town clock, and is supported by
eight columns of Ionic order.
The Sheriff's office is on the first floor, the marshal's on the
second, and the Secretary of State's on the third. All the
state courts are held in the north room of the second story,
and the Federal court occupies the south room in the same.
The two large rooms in the third story are handsomely fitted
up for the use of the legislature until a state house shall be built.
The
Market House on the square, is one of the finest buildings
of the kind, to be found in the west. At each end there
are spacious rooms, one of which is occupied as a City Hall
and recorder's office.
The
Nashville University. This institution is located on a
handsome elevation, at the upper end of College street. Its
buildings are brick, and consist of a college edifice, three
stories high, 200 feet long and 50 broad, containing a chapel,
recitation rooms, and forty four rooms for students; a building
of one story 100 feet by 40, containing a laboratory, apparatus,
&c.; a house for the steward, refectory, &c., and a house for
the President, which is in a beautiful grove east of Market
street, a short distance from the college. The mineralogical
cabinet contains upward of 10,000 specimens; the philosophical
apparatus cost $6000; there is a good chemical apparatus,
and also a museum of natural history. The library contains
2000 volumes, and there are libraries belonging to the students
containing 1200 volumes.
The institution originated in the Davidson county academy,
established by the state of North Carolina, Dec. 29, 1785.
The academy was converted into Cumberland College by the
legislature of Tennessee, Sept. 11th 1806. In 1826, the name
was changed to the Nashville University. The value of its
property in and near Nashville, exclusive of the college buildings,
&c., is estimated at about $50,000; and it owns 25,000
acres of land in the Western District.
FACULTY IN 1834.
REV. PHILIP LINDSLEY, D. D., President and Professor, Mor.
Phil., Pol. Econ., &c.
Gerard Troost, M. D., Prof. of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology.
James Hamilton, A. M., Prof. Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
N. S. Parmantier, Prof. French Language and Literature.
George Ely and Abednego Stephens, Tutors in the Greek and Latin.
Number of students in the four classes, from 70 to 100;
whole number of alumni, 118, in 1833. Commencement is on
the first Wednesday in October.-Vacations, 1st from commencement,
five and a half weeks; second, from 1st Wednesday
in April, five and a half weeks.
Annual Expenses:-Tuition, room rent, servants hire, &c.,
$50; for board, $1.75 per week; for the year $70.00-total $120.
Candidates for the ministry of all denominations are admitted
at half price.
The
Episcopal Church is a fine stone building handsomely
stuccoed, and in the Gothic style of architecture. It is fifty
three feet deep in front, on Spring street, from the extremities
of the buttresses, and extends back along high street nearly,
eighty feet. It contains a basement story nine feet high,
embracing a room forty by forty five feet, for lectures and
Sunday schools, together with rooms for the vestry and clergy
men, communicating with the body of the church by private
stairs behind the pulpit. The body of the church is forty five
feet wide, sixty nine long and twenty four high; containing
sixty two spacious pews, with extensive galleries on three
sides. The pulpit and desk are in good taste, and the front
gallery is ornamented with a fine toned organ. The windows
are five feet wide and twenty one high, having buttresses or
projections of two feet square between them, terminating
in points.. The whole is surmounted with a Gothic cupola, in
which is a bell, weighing 544 lbs. The corner stone was laid
with appropriate ceremonies on the 5th of July 1830, and
it was consecrated by the name of Christ Church, in July,
1831. The whole cost was about $16,000. Rev. George Weller,
Rector, and the number of communicants, thirty four.
The
Baptist Church, also on Spring street is a neat brick
building two stories high, forty five by sixty feet, with a tall
steeple, and an excellent bell. The whole cost about $6000.
The Baptist association was formed in 1820, and in 1825,
there was a division, and the Reformers as they are denominated,
seceded from the regular Baptists, retained the church,
and declined any further connexion with the Association,
deeming it unwarranted by word of God. They reject all
confessions of faith, and profess to be guided by the scriptures
alone. They receive all persons professing faith in
Jesus Christ by Immersion, for the remission of sins, and
they meet every Lord's day, in order to engage in worship,
by reading the scriptures, exhortation, prayer, praise, breaking
of bread and contribution for the poor. The number of
members in April, 1834, was 456, of which 280 were colored.
The regular Baptists have about 100 members, and hold their
meetings in the Masonic Hall.
The
New Methodist Church, is situated on Spring between
High and Summer streets, nearly opposite to Christ church;
is a spacious and elegant building. Its form is that of a parallelogram,
being sixty feet in front and extending ninety feet
back. It has a basement story containing two rooms, thirty
by sixty feet each, intended for Sunday schools and class
meetings. The front approached by stone steps, is composed
of three parts-an inverted portico, supported by two massive
stone columns of the Doric order, and enclosed between rusticated
stone piers flanked by antis, containing each a flight of
stairs to the galleries, and lighted by well proportioned windows.
The extent of the first story is marked by a handsome
stone cornice extending the whole length of the front, and
surmounted by a blocking course on which rest four pilasters
that embellish the second story, the most striking feature of
which is a large Grecian window in the centre, surmounted by
a noble arch, and two others with square heads, immediately
above and corresponding with those in the lower story. The
second story is surmounted by a well proportioned ballustrade,
that conceals the roof, and lends to the whole composition a
light and pleasing effect. The main body of the building is
lighted by two ranges of windows in good proportion. The
interior of the building is finished in corresponding style. The
pulpit is richly draperied, and fronted by a spacious altar.
The pews are free, and well arranged, and will accommodate
about 1500 persons.
It is contemplated during the present season, to surmount
the whole structure with a turret, in uniformity of proportion
with the other parts of the building, in which will be placed
a bell weighing 1100 lbs., which has been presented to the
church by a gentleman of New Orleans. The cost of the
building when completed will be upwards of $12,000. It was
solemnly dedicated to the worship of God on the last Sunday
in October, 1833, by the venerable Bishop McKendree, assisted
by the Rev. Messrs Douglass, McMahon and Maddin.
The Methodists have three other places of preaching the
old church on Spring street, Gwinn's Chapel, on College side,
and the African church. As early as 1796, they had a small
society here, and had erected a meeting house on the public
square. About the year 1809, they held their meetings in
the jail, and in 1815, a small brick church was erected in
South Field, and they had 20 or 30 members. In 1822, the
society contained 90 members, and there has been a gradual
increase ever since. The number in April 1834, was 780
whites, and 819 blacks in the city and vicinity.
The
Presbyterian Church, also on Spring street, between
the new Methodist church and the river. It is built on the site of the old church, which was burnt in 1832, and is ninety
one feet long and sixty-nine wide, and when completed will
be one of the handsomest buildings in the city. It has a basement
story eleven feet high and sixty four feet square in the
clear, which is comfortably fitted up for a lecture room and
Sunday school. The main room is sixty-five feet square, contains
124 pews, and will accommodate eight hundred persons,
The gallery is very spacious and will hold about 500. The
vestibule is approached by a flight of stone steps, extending
the whole width of the building and is supported by six
massive brick columns cased and fluted. The whole building
when completed will have cost about $16,000.
The Presbyterian church here had no regular pastor until
the installation of the Rev. Aaron Campbell, in 1821; previous
to that time it was occasionally supplied, and doctors Craig
head and Blackburn, may be considered the fathers of this
branch of the church. Dr. Blackburne organized a church in
1813, and when Dr. Campbell was called to the charge, there
were about one hundred members. Dr. Campbell resigned in
1826, and there was a vacancy for about a year, when the
Rev. Dr. Obadiah Jennings took charge; he died in January
1831, and there was a vacancy again until the call of the
Rev. John T. Edgar, the present pastor. He was installed on
the 25th December, 1833. Number of members in May 1834,
two hundred.
The
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, is situated on
Summer street. It is a plain but neat brick building fifty
seven by seventy feet. It is two stories high exclusive of the
basement story which is partly below the surface.. The front
presents a parapet wall variegated with recessed arches, resting
on pillars which forms an open vestibule; from whence
on either side winding flights of stairs ascend to the galleries.
Three doors open to the main room, which is a spacious sanctuary
sixty by fifty-five feet. The pews below will accommodate
about 600, and the galleries about 400 persons. The
whole interior is light and comfortable, and fitted up in good
taste. The cost, exclusive of the steeple which has not yet
been erected, is seven thousand dollars. It was dedicated to
the worship of God in May 1832. The clergymen of this
denomination began to labor statedly in Nashville, in 1829,
and the succeeding year a society was organized with about a
dozen members. This year the Rev. A. M. Dowell, had the
pastoral charge, and they held their meetings in the city hall
and catholic church. In May 1831, the Rev. Messrs. Donnell,
Smith and others, held a five day's meeting in the new market
house; the novelty drew thousands to the scene, and about
thirty were added to the church. Arrangements were soon
made for the erection of a church, which was ready for the
reception of the General Assembly in May 1832, shortly after
wards Messrs. Lowry and Smith, editors of the Revivalist,
located in the place and jointly exercised the pastoral charge
for one year.-At present there is no regular pastor, but the
church have the alternate labors of several gentlemen. Num
ber of members, seventy-two.
The
Catholic Church,stands upon the northern declivity
of Campbell's hill, which gives it a handsome appearance.
It is, however, in a state of dilapidation, and there is no
organized body of members, or officiating priest.
The
Nashville Female Academy, a flourishing institution,
is situated in the western suburbs of the city, near Spring
street, in a handsome bowling-green. It was instituted in
1816, and incorporated in 1817. Dr. Berry was the principal
for a time, but he resigned and was succeeded by the Rev.
Mr. Hume, who presided 'till his death in 1833, when the
present incumbent, the Rev. Robt. A. Lapsley was appointed.
The school rooms will accommodate upwards of 200 pupils,
and 70 or 80 may obtain boarding at the public boarding
house. The greatest number of scholars at any one time
was 239, but the number at present does not exceed 130.
The
Bank of the State, is situated upon College street, immediately
opposite Yeatman and Woods.-It was chartered
in 1820 for twenty-three years, with a branch at Knoxville and
agencies in every county in the state. The whole capital,
which belonged to the state, has been appropriated for the
promotion of internal improvement and common schools; and
William M. Berryhill, Esq. has been appointed agent to close
the concerns of the mother bank.
The bank of
Yeatman Woods' & Co., a private institution,
presents a stucco front, with arches, a recess and iron doors
and windows. It is on the west side of College street, be
tween the square and Union street. It is a very solvent institution. John P. Erwin, Esq. Cashier.
The
Branch Bank of the United States, is a handsome brick
building with plain columns, and is situated on the north
corner of the public square. This branch which was established
in 1827, has done an extensive business. The amount
of specie reported in Jan. 1832, was $167,866.36. Thos. H.
Fletcher, Esq. is president and John Sommerville, Esq. cashier.
The
Union Bank of Tennessee, was chartered in 1832, with a
capital not to exceed $3,000,000. It went into operation in
183,3 under very favourable auspices. The state owns half a
million of stock, and individuals two millions. It is a bank
of public deposite, both for the state and the United States,
and the president is a pension agent. It has branches at
Knoxville, Columbia and Jackson, and agencies at Baltimore,
Philadelphia and New Orleans. The present banking house, is
at the comer of College and Union streets, but a splendid
house on the style of the United States Bank at Philadelphia,
has been commenced at the corner of Union and Cherry
streets, and will be finished by January 1835. George W.
Gibbs, Esq., president, A. Vanwyck, Esq., Cashier.
The
Planters Bank of Tennessee was chartered in 1833, and
organized in 1834. Capital $2,000,000.-The temporary bank
ing house, is on the north side of the public square, one door
west of the Nashville Inn. Edward B. Littlefield, Esq., Presi
dent, and Nicholas Hobson, Esq., Cashier.
The
Penitentiary, is a beautiful and substantial Prison,
located in the western suburbs of the city, on the right of the
road leading from spring or church street, about one mile from
the court house. The building was commenced in 1830, and
finished so far as to receive convicts by the first of January
1831. It presents a front of three hundred and ten feet, and
is three hundred and fifty in depth. The two wings of the
front building contain two hundred cells, and half of the
center building is occupied by the Keeper, and the other half
is used for a hospital, guard rooms, &c. The yard walls are
four and a half feet thick at the bottom, and three at the top,
and have an average height of twenty feet. The whole cost of
the edifice up to the reception by the State was less than
$50,000. It was built by David Morrison, an experienced
architect under the direction of the Governor and Commissioners.
By the report made to the legislature in September
1833, the income for the preceding year was $23,223, and after
deducting $16,771 for expenses &c., left a balance in favor of
the institution of $6,552. Inspectors, William Carroll, Samuel
G. Smith, Robert C. Foster, Moses Ridley and Eastin Morris.
Keeper, John McIntosh. In April 1834, there were eighty
convicts engaged in shoemaking, hatting, tailoring, coopering,
blacksmithing, wagonmaking, carding, &c.
The
Lunatic Hospital, is pleasantly situated on an elevated
spot south of Vauxhall Garden. The act for its establishment
was passed October 19th, 1832, and ten thousand dollars
appropriated to purchase the site and commence the building.
In 1833 one half of the State tax of the years 1834 and 1835
for the county of Davidson, was appropriated in addition.
With the exception of the penitentiary, it is the largest building
in the State, and when completed will be an ornament to
the city, as well as a monument of the humanity and charity
of the State. It is three stories high including the basement
story, with an additional tier of rooms in the centre building.
The base and front walls are of stone, and the remainder of
brick. When the whole is finished, upwards of one hundred
unfortunate persons may be comfortably provided for, and
secured in separate rooms.
Commissioners, Joseph Woods, H. R. W. Hill, Felix Robert
son, John Shelby and Boyd McNairy.
The
Water Works, for supplying the city with water, are
located on the bank of the river above the city.
They were constructed by Albert Stein, an experienced
engineer, at the expense of the corporation, and completed in
November, 1833. The water is raised from the river by a
high pressure steam engine. The engine house is built of
stone and brick, thirty six by thirty feet, and fifty feet above
low water mark. The reservoir stands on an elevation of one
hundred and sixty-six feet above low water mark, and 45 above
the level of the public square, near a fine cedar grove, which
partially obstructs the view of the city, but it adds much to
the comfort and beauty of the spot as a summer evening's
retreat. It is distant from the public square, by the line of
the main pipe, 5879 feet, and from the lower pump, by
the ascending main, 472 feet, seventy feet six inches long, eighty
feet six inches wide, and ten feet six inches deep. Both of
them when filled to the depth of ten feet, will contain 695,520
gallons. The quantity of water which may be raised in twenty
four hours, at twenty strokes per minute, is 950,000 gallons,
and at sixteen strokes per minute, 750,000. The main pipe leading
from the reservoir, is of six inch bore, and extends as
follows: 1838 feet to the circular pipe in Market street, with
a fall of fifty and a half feet, from thence to the branch
pipe with stop cock on Market street, 1628 feet, with a
descent of sixty one and a half feet, making a fall of 112 feet
from the top of the reservoir; from thence to the square,
2413 feet with an ascent of sixty-seven feet. The whole cost
of the works up to Nov. 1833, was $49,264.56, including
$8,727.77, paid for the ground and for superintendency. Since
which time, the city authorities have been actively engaged
in extending the pipes, and will, in a short time, have an
ample supply of good water in every part of the city.
Strangers in the city during the summer months, will find it an
agreeable excursion to visit the Water Works, Vauxhall Garden
and the Sulphur spring.
Vauxhall Garden, is a place of fashionable resort, and is
situated in the southern border of the city, near the Franklin
turnpike. Here is an ingenious circular rail-way, two hundred
and sixty two yards in circumference. The cars are so constructed
that persons are enabled to propel themselves at a
most rapid rate, simply by turning of a crank with the hands.
There is also a large assembly room, handsomely decorated;
and the promenade, walks and other places of amusement and
recreation, are laid off and arranged in good taste. It is
owned and kept by Mr. John Decker, a gentleman who spares
no pains to render his parterre acceptable to visitors.
The
Sulphur Spring, is situated in the lower suburbs, on
French Lick creek, between Cherry and Summer streets. The
water is a strong salt sulphur, but clear, cold and palatable,
and is said to contain about the same properties of the celebrated
Harrowgate waters.-Here are also cold and warm
baths; and the curious observer can spend a leisure hour
very satisfactorily, in examining the fragments of Indian pottery ware,
ancient furnaces for making salt, and various aboriginal remains which exist
here in great abundance.
The
Post Office is situated on Cherry and Deaderick streets. It is a distributing office,
and receives about fifty mails per week. The net revenue for the first quarter of 1834
was $1,431.50.
Originally published by Debie Oeser Cox at
Nashville History on rootsweb.
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