Nashville has a rivalry of sorts with the town of Branson, Missouri, the
reason being Branson's status as a competing country-music themed tourist
destination; it is also a friendly rival of Tennessee's second city, Memphis.
Transportation
Nashville is centrally located at the crossroads of three interstates—40,
24, and 65. (Nashville and Indianapolis, Indiana are the only two cities in
the country where three interstates cross.) The Metropolitan Transit
Authority (http://www.nashvillemta.org/) provides bus transit within the
city.
The city is served by Nashville International Airport, which was a hub for
American Airlines between 1986 and 1995 and is now a hub of sorts for
Southwest Airlines.
Nashville has not had passenger rail service since the 1970s, but CSX
Transportation has a large freight rail yard in the southern part of the
city.
Economy
Although Nashville is renowned for being a major recording centre, its
largest industries are actually insurance and finance, followed by
publishing. Religious publishing is a significant part of this, and the city
also hosts headquarters operations for several Protestant denominations, the
largest of which is the Southern Baptist Convention. Nashville is also a
major center for healthcare enterprise, and home to Hospital Corporation of
America, the largest private operator of hospitals in the world, as well as
the headquarters of Shoney's (http://www.shoneys.com/).
Other headquarters:
Bridgestone Americas Holding (Bridgestone-Firestone)
Caremark
Dollar General (in Goodlettsville, Tennessee)
Louisiana Pacific
Higher education
Nashville is home to a variety of colleges and universities, as follows:
Belmont University
Fisk University
Lipscomb University
Meharry Medical College
Tennessee State University
Trevecca Nazarene University
Vanderbilt University
History
Nashville was founded as Fort Nashborough on Christmas Day, 1779 by James
Robertson, and was named in honour of Francis Nash, a Revolutionary War
soldier. It was renamed Nashville in 1784 when it also became established as
a town, and became the capital of Tennessee in 1843. It became the trailhead
of the Natchez Trace, an important trade feature of the 1800s.
In 1856, William Walker, filibuster and mercenary, briefly managed to make
himself president of Nicaragua. He is still the only native Nashvillian ever
to become a head of state.
In the early-to-mid-19th century, three U.S. presidents came from Tennessee
and all were closely associated with Nashville—James Knox Polk, Andrew
Jackson, and Andrew Johnson. Jackson's home, The Hermitage, remains on the
east side of Nashville.
In 1897 an exact replica of the Parthenon was built for the Tennessee
Centennial Exposition.
In the 20th century, several politicans from the Middle Tennessee area
influenced the national scene, including Cordell Hull, Albert Gore, Sr., and
Albert Gore, Jr..
The Great Train Wreck of 1918 occurred on July 9, 1918 in Nashville when an
inbound local train collided with an outbound express, killing 101 people.
Tennessee was the state that put the 19th Amendment, allowing women to vote,
over the top, and the ratification struggle (http://www.blueshoenashville.com/suffragehistory.html)
convulsed the city in August, 1920.
On March 1, 1941 W47NV (now known as WSM-FM) began operations in Nashville
becoming the first FM radio station.
The city played a prominent part in the U.S. civil rights movement;
particularly important were the Nashville sit-ins of 1960 (http://www.library.nashville.org/Newsevents/Civil%20Rights%20Room/sit-in%201.htm).
Nashville has had a metropolitan government of a consolidated city-county
since 1963, and was one of the first large U.S. cities to adopt this
structure.
The 1998 tornado struck the downtown area on April 16 at around 3:30pm,
causing serious damage and blowing out hundreds of windows from skyscrapers,
raining shattered glass on the streets and closing the business district for
nearly four days. Over 300 homes were damaged, and three cranes at the then-incomplete
Tennessee Titans stadium were toppled. It was one of the most serious urban
tornados (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ohx/surveys/nash_tor.htm) on record in the
U.S.
As the 21st century opened, a Nashville native rose to national political
prominence when Dr. Bill Frist, formerly a transplant surgeon at the
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, became majority leader of the U.S.
Senate.
Culture
Many popular tourist sites involve country music, including the Country
Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Auditorium (http://www.ryman.com/), which
was for many years the site of the Grand Ole Opry. Each year, the Country
Music Association's Fan Fair (http://www.blueshoenashville.com/fanform.html)
(renamed "CMA Music Festival" in 2003) brings many thousands of country fans
to the city.
Other popular destinations include Fort Nashborough, a reconstruction of the
original settlement; the Tennessee State Museum (http://www.tnmuseum.org/);
and the Parthenon (http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/index.htm), a full-scale
replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The graceful state
capitol (http://www.bonps.org/tour/capitol.htm) is one of the oldest working
state capitol buildings in the nation, while The Hermitage is one of the
older presidential homes open to the public. The Nashville Zoo (http://www.nashvillezoo.org/)
is one of the city's newer attractions.
Civil War history is also important to the city's tourism industry. Sites
pertaining to the Battle of Nashville and the nearby Battle of Franklin can
be seen, along with several well-preserved antebellum plantation houses such
as Belle Meade Plantation (http://www.bellemeadeplantation.com/) and Belmont
Mansion (http://www.belmontmansion.com/).
Museums
Nashville has several arts centers and museums, including the Frist Center
for the Visual Arts (http://www.fristcenter.com/visitor.cfm?section=visitor),
located in what was formerly the main post office; Cheekwood Botanical
Garden and Museum of Art (http://www.cheekwood.org/); Fisk University's Van
Vechten and Aaron Douglas Galleries; and the Parthenon itself. Nashville is
also the home of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (http://www.tpac.org/),
where the Tennessee Repertory Theatre makes its home.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
1,362.6 km² (526.1 mi²). 1,300.8 km² (502.3 mi²) of it is land and 61.8 km²
(23.9 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 4.53% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 569,891 people, 237,405 households, and
138,169 families residing in the city. The population density is 438.1/km²
(1,134.6/mi²). There are 252,977 housing units at an average density of
194.5/km² (503.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 66.99% European
American, 25.92% African American, 0.29% Native American, 2.33% Asian, 0.07%
Pacific Islander, 2.42% from other races, and 1.97% from two or more races.
4.58% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 237,405 households out of which 26.7% have children under the age
of 18 living with them, 39.9% are married couples living together, 14.3%
have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.8% are non-families.
33.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.2% have someone
living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is
2.30 and the average family size is 2.96.
In the city the population is spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18,
11.6% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who
are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100
females there are 93.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 90.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $39,797, and the median
income for a family is $49,317. Males have a median income of $33,844 versus
$27,770 for females. The per capita income for the city is $23,069. 13.0% of
the population and 10.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the
total people living in poverty, 19.1% are under the age of 18 and 10.5% are
65 or older.
Sports
Nashville has several professional sports teams, including the Nashville
Predators (National Hockey League), the Nashville Sounds (minor league
baseball), and the Tennessee Titans (National Football League). The Titans
franchise was formerly the Houston Oilers of Houston, Texas, until moving in
after the new stadium in Nashville (hit by a tornado during construction)
was completed.
Sister Cities
Nashville is an active participant in the Sister Cities program and has
relationships with the following towns:
Canada: Edmonton, Alberta
France: Caen, Lower Normany
Germany: Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt
UK: Belfast, Northern Ireland
US: Manchester, New Hampshire
