# Timeline of Nashville, Tennessee

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

## Prior to 19th century

* 1780
** Fort Nashborough established.
** Cumberland Compact signed; Cumberland Association formed.
* 1784 – Nashville established.
* 1785 – Davidson Academy incorporated.
* 1789 – Methodist church built.
* 1796 – Settlement becomes part of the state of Tennessee.
* 1797 – Tennessee Gazette and Mero District Advertiser newspaper begins publication.

## 19th century

* 1806
** Town incorporated.
** Joseph Coleman becomes mayor.
* 1812 – Tennessee General Assembly relocates to Nashville from Knoxville.
* 1813 – Nashville Library Co., Inc. established.
* 1817 – Tennessee General Assembly relocates from Nashville to Knoxville.
* 1818
** Earl's Nashville Museum opens.
** Population: 3,000 (approximate).
* 1820 – Christian Church built.
* 1822 – Nashville City Cemetery established.
* 1823 – Presbyterian church built.
* 1825 – Decker & Dyer Reading Room established.
* 1826
** Tennessee General Assembly relocates to Nashville from Murfreesboro.
** Cumberland College opened.
* 1829 – Christ Church built.
* 1830 – Population: 5,566.
* 1831 – Tennessee State Penitentiary built.
* 1833 – Waterworks established.
* 1835 – Tennessee Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge organized.
* 1837 – House of Industry for Females established.
* 1838 – First Baptist Church built.
* 1840 – Population: 6,929.
* 1841 – Mechanics' Library Association formed.
* 1842 – Burns & Co. in business.
* 1843 – Nashville becomes capital of Tennessee.
* 1844 – Tennessee School for the Blind and Mechanics Institute and Library Association established.
* 1845 – Protestant Orphan Asylum established.
* 1847 – St. Mary's Cathedral built.
* 1849 – Merchants' Library and Reading Room and Tennessee Historical Society founded.
* 1850
** June: Nashville Convention held.
** Suspension bridge built over the Cumberland River.
** Population: 10,165.
* 1851
** Nashville Gas Light Company in operation.
** Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway starts operating.
* 1852
** Public school system inaugurated.
** Davidson County Jail built.
* 1854
** Southern Methodist Publishing House headquartered in Nashville.
** Tennessee State Library established.
* 1855 – Giers photo studio in business.
* 1856 – Church of the Assumption built.
* 1857 – Davidson County Court House rebuilt.
* 1858 – City Workhouse and Church of St. Ann's built.
* 1859
** Tennessee State Capitol, draw-bridge, and Central Baptist Church built.
** Louisville and Nashville Railroad begins operating.
* 1860 - Population: 16,988.
* 1862
** City under Union control.
** Fort Negley built.
* 1863 – St. Mary's Catholic Orphan Asylum founded.
* 1864 – December 15–16: Battle of Nashville.
* 1865 – Fisk Free Colored School, Ward Seminary for Young Ladies, and Earhart's Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College established.
* 1866 – Central Tennessee College founded.
* 1867
** Montgomery Bell Academy opens.
** Nashville Lyceum Association incorporated.
* 1869 – Howard Chapel built.
* 1870
** Sulphur Dell ballpark opens.
** Population: 25,865.
* 1871
** Tennessee and Pacific Railroad (Lebanon-Nashville) begins operating.
** Fisk University Jubilee Singers, Library Association, and Nashville Saddlery Company established.
* 1873 – Vanderbilt University established.
* 1874 – Hebrew temple and First Cumberland Presbyterian Church built.
* 1876 – Nashville Banner newspaper begins publication.
* 1880 – Population: 43,350.
* 1884 – Nashville Athletic Club formed.
* 1885 – Industrial School and Query Club (women's group) established.
* 1889
** The Hermitage museum opens.
** Boscobel College for Young Ladies established.
** Peabody Normal College active.
* 1890 – Population: 76,168.
* 1891
** Nashville Bible School founded.
** Cumberland Park opened as a horse racing track.
* 1892
** March 17: St. Patrick's Day Snowstorm dumps 17 inches of snow on the city.
** Union Gospel Tabernacle built.
** Maxwell House coffee introduced.
* 1893 - Tennessee Central Railway starts operating.
* 1894 - United Daughters of the Confederacy headquartered in Nashville.
* 1897
** Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition held.
** Parthenon opened, a replica of the original, functions as an art museum.
* 1898
** Howard Library established.
** Tennessee State Penitentiary rebuilt.
* 1900
** Meharry Medical College active.
** Population: 80,865.
** Polk Place demolished.

## 20th century
### 1900s-1940s

* 1904 – Carnegie Library opens.
* 1905 – Centennial Club (women's group) active.
* 1906
** Tennessee State Fair begins.
** Nashville Globe newspaper begins publication.
* 1907 – Nashville Tennessean newspaper in publication.
* 1909
** Sparkman Street Bridge opens.
** Cumberland College closes.
* 1910
** Nashville Art Association chartered
** Hermitage Hotel in business
** Advance Publishing Company incorporated
** Population: 110,364
* 1912 - Urban League branch established.
* 1916 – Nashville Housewives League organized.
* 1918
** July 9: Great Train Wreck of 1918.
** 1918 influenza epidemic.
* 1920 – Population: 118,342.
* 1922 - Nashville's first radio station, WDAA, signs on
* 1925
** War Memorial Auditorium dedicated.
** WSM radio and its Grand Ole Opry begin broadcasting.
** Belcourt Theatre built.
* 1926 - WLAC radio begins broadcasting.
* 1927
** Warner Parks open.
** WSIX radio begins broadcasting.
* 1930
** First American National Bank formed.
** Population: 153,866.
* 1931
** Nashville Children's Theatre established.
** Parthenon rebuilt.
* 1936 – Berry Field (airport) dedicated.
* 1937 – Tennessee State Museum established.
* 1940 - Population: 167,402.
* 1941
** W47NV radio licensed.
** Iroquois Steeplechase begins.
* 1942 – Acuff-Rose Music and Harveys (department store) in business.
* 1946 – Nashville Symphony founded.

### 1950s-1990s

* 1950
** WSM-TV begins broadcasting.
** Population: 174,307.
* 1951
** Ben West becomes mayor.
** The Harpeth Hall School opens.
* 1952 - Tennessee Theatre opens.
* 1953 – WSIX-TV begins broadcasting.
* 1954 – WLAC-TV begins broadcasting.
* 1955 - Brothers Owen and Harold Bradley establish Bradley Film and Recording Studio, the first studio in what will become Nashville's Music Row neighborhood.
* 1957
** Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway stops operating.
** Life & Casualty Tower built.
** RCA Studios begins operation at the corner of 17th Ave. S. and Hawkins St. It will become known as RCA Studio B.
* 1960
** Nashville sit-ins for civil rights occur.
** Cheekwood Museum opens.
** Population: 170,874.
* 1961 – Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum established.
* 1962
** WDCN-TV begins broadcasting.
** Nashville Municipal Auditorium opens.
* 1963
** City consolidates its government with Davidson County.
** Metropolitan Council (Nashville) established.
** Beverly Briley becomes mayor.
* 1964 - American Association for State and Local History headquartered in Nashville.
* 1967 – 100 Oaks Mall in business near city.
* 1968 – Third National Bank Building constructed.
* 1970 - Population: 448,003.
* 1972
** Fan Fair music festival begins.
** Opryland USA opens.
* 1974
** Regions Center (Nashville) built.
** Grand Ole Opry House opens.
* 1975 – Richard Fulton becomes mayor.
* 1978 - The Nashville Sounds minor-league baseball team plays its inaugural season.
* 1980
** Tennessee Performing Arts Center opens.
** Sri Ganesha Temple established.
** Population: 455,651.
* 1981 – Nashville Opera Guild chartered.
* 1982 - Foreign trade zone established.
** Bluebird Cafe opens
* 1983 - Nissan car manufactory begins operating in nearby Smyrna.
* 1985 – Starwood Amphitheatre opens.
* 1986 – Tennessee Players founded.
* 1987
** Nashville Airport terminal built.
** Bill Boner becomes mayor.
* 1988 – Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Nashville Pride begin.
* 1989
** Nashville Scene begins publication.
** Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in business (approximate date).
* 1990
** Grassmere Wildlife Park established.
** Population: 488,374.
* 1991 – Phil Bredesen becomes mayor.
* 1994
** City website online.
** South Central Bell Building constructed.
** American Airlines begins nonstop service between London and Nashville.
* 1996
** Bicentennial Mall State Park opens.
** Magdalene program for women, and Nashville Zoo at Grassmere established.
** Nashville Arena built.
* 1998
** April 15–16: Tornado.
** After playing in Memphis for one season, the Tennessee OIlers football team plays its first Nashville games at Vanderbilt Stadium.
** Nashville Predators ice hockey team formed.
* 1999
** Adelphia Coliseum opens.
** Bill Purcell becomes mayor.
** Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000 headquartered in city.
* 2000 – The City Paper begins publication.

## 21st century

* 2001
** Tennessee Immigrant Rights Coalition headquartered in city.
** Frist Center for the Visual Arts established.
* 2002 Nashville Public Education Foundation established by Nelson C. Andrews and Thomas J. Sherrard
* 2003 – Shelby Street pedestrian bridge opens.
* 2006
** Schermerhorn Symphony Center opens.
** Viridian Tower built.
** Car manufacturer Nissan's North American headquarters in business in nearby Franklin.
* 2007 – Karl Dean becomes mayor.
* 2008 – Nashville for All of Us (group) organized.
* 2009
** Third Man Records in business.
** The Pinnacle at Symphony Place built.
** Live on the Green begins.
** Voters reject Nashville English Only Amendment.
* 2010
** April–May: Flood.
** Population: 601,222.
* 2011
** October: Occupy Nashville begins.
** Parnassus Books in business.
* 2012
** March: Occupy Vanderbilt begins.
** MyCity Academy (government program) established.
** Fictional Nashville TV series makes national premiere on ABC, transfers to CMT in 2016 after being canceled by the former and due to fan efforts
* 2013 – Music City Center opens.
* 2015
** Construction begins on 505 skyscraper.
** Megan Barry becomes mayor.
* 2020
** Tornado outbreak of March 2-3, 2020: 22 people killed in tornadoes in Tennessee and Kentucky; the Nashville EF-3 tornado, which kills 4, north of downtown, somewhat mirrors the 1998 tornado's path
** The Nashville bombing occurs, injuring eight people and causing major damage
* 2023 – The Covenant School shooting occurs, killing six people and the perpetrator.
* Freddie O'Connell becomes mayor.