Ten Important Dates in Nashville History

by Mike Slate

A short list of important dates in Nashville history must necessarily exclude many defining events. Nevertheless, we believe the effort to narrow our history into an easily memorized list is worthwhile. The listed items provide an overview of the whole and serve as guideposts between which additional events can be viewed with some perspective. Perhaps it is also motivating to realize that memorizing a list of ten important Nashville dates will result suddenly in knowing more Nashville history than probably eighty or ninety percent of all Nashvillians!

Regrettably, in addition to Native American Indian history, our list of dates leaves out Nashville’s heroic presettlement period, including Timothy Demonbreun's exploits and James Robertson's and John Donelson's founding journeys to the Cumberland region. Also omitted is the date of the formation of Davidson County (1783) as well as the dates on which Nashville was officially named (1784) and incorporated (1806). The Union occupation of Nashville (beginning February, 1862) is another major event not specified here. In the twentieth century, the rise of the huge Dupont Powder Plant complex during World War I is not included. Finally, the modern development of Nashville, with its high-rise buildings and sports and entertainment venues, is left for some future list.

No entry on the list should necessarily be construed as carrying the same historical weight as any other item on the list. For example, the 1925 beginning of the Grand Ole Opry should not necessarily be weighted the same as, say, the 1864 Battle of Nashville.

Expansive timelines of Nashville history can be found elsewhere on the Civic Scope site (see History Timeline) and in books such as Henry McRaven’s Nashville: “Athens of the South.”

1 1780 The signing of the Cumberland Compact.

2 1824 The arrival of Philip Lindsley and the rise of the University of Nashville.

3 1828 The election of Andrew Jackson as President of the United States.

4 1843 The designation of Nashville as the capital of Tennessee.

5 1864 The Battle of Nashville.

6 1873 The founding of Vanderbilt University.

7 1880 The Nashville Centennial Celebration.

8 1897 The Tennessee Centennial Exposition.

9 1925 The beginning of the Grand Ole Opry.

10 1963 The formation of Metropolitan Nashville Government.

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