Brandon716
Senior Member
As many of you know, I'm in love with Toronto and have been for years, but thought I'd let some of you into the world I grew up around. That'd be the greater Nashville region. Stuck halfway between Chicago and the Gulf Coast is the upper south's largest city.
Here's your modern tour courtesy of urban-photo.com.
Downtown Aerials:
Looking back a few blocks, you may not find it easy to notice, but the 15 storey building in the left background actually has a 15 story cross built into it. Nashville is called the "Protestant Vatican" because its the headquarters of the most powerful protestant church in America, the 30 million member Southern Baptist Convention. I consider it a travesty, they consider it a treasure of the city. Make your own mind up...
They have really not-so-attractive figures bounding around with Protestant figures, such as the great Billy Graham:
AH, yes, Jesus is in the air.
If you look close you can see the CMT building for all you country music people... Not my kind of music, but hey its what Nashville is known for.
The BellSouth Tower is now the AT&T tower, but this photo doesn't show the new logo since its from 2006:
The L&C tower (Life & Casualty Insurance) is 30 stories, and was the first 30+ story structure in the southeastern United States outside the northern industrial cities when it was built in 1957.
The other side of downtown, although I really despise the cheap vinyl Titans sign they won't take down. It just flaps pointlessly in the wind...
Nashville's "Midtown" or West End district, depending on who you ask it'll be notated differently:
West End is more upscale and also houses the hospital district as you can see the Baptist hospital signs, but I hear they merged with the Catholic health system so I guess its bi-religious now. LOL
Now for a little history. Nashville is one of the largest southern cities by history, although its not kept up with the growth in centers like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta. New Orleans is the big historic kid being one of the 5 largest cities in America for all of the 1800's basically, but it got blown away. So I guess we only have a few centers of history now.
Since Western Tennessee is proned to earthquakes, Memphis will probably dissolve in the next 50 years thanks to the New Madrid fault. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone
When I lived in Memphis taking some college courses, I survived a 4.2 and a 3.5 earthquake and didn't dare want to experience anymore. So since New Orleans is mostly gone and Memphis eventually will melt away, I guess that leaves Nashville as the last historic southern city? I have no idea.
Here's your chart from the past:
By the 1910's you can see a new dynamic taking shape, 5 cities over 100,000 people in the region, New Orleans clearly king, and cities that didn't even exist before the American Civil War became giants. Birmingham was created soon after the war, and it became one of the industrial cities known for its steel industry. Chattanooga is another industrial city that was built mostly during and after the Civil War.
By the 1950's, Nashville had a respectable downtown just before L&C was erected:
And well before the 1950's when the rail system was ripped apart, Nashville had a decent electric railway system. Here's a map from the 1890's:
The thick black lines indicate, of course, the electric rail lines.
They looked something like this:
Today, West End Avenue looks like this. Rail-free, of course! LOL
Hey, in the late 1800's they knew how to build some cool homes. Too bad Vine Street no longer exists:
Ah. Segregation now, segregation forever. Wait, the rest of the nation decided to whip the south into a form of civilized society. The rest is history.
Amazing to realize its only been since 1964-1968 that we've had integration in such a large part of the United States. 40 years out of 250 years of history is kinda small. Heh. Not my fault....
Onto more history. Some structures are still standing, actually. See Union Station on the right in this photo:
Today:
The Custom House, where immigrants used to be processed back in the days of Euro-immigration.
Today, its used mostly for court procedures and primarily Federal Bankruptcy court for Middle TN.
Built in the 1800's, the Tennessee State Penetentiary was used until 1989.
Read about it if you wish:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_State_Prison
Wikipedia forgets to mention they housed many homosexuals back when "homosexual acts" were deemed illegal and a perversion on society. Ah, yea, the good ole' days. I would have probably shot myself in the head rather than to live through that... But anyway.
Here's what it looks like today:
And its become a magnet for movies. If you watched the Green Mile, it was filmed at the Tennessee State Penetentiary, not in Louisiana where the film is set.
ANYWHO, there's a little history and present of a place I grew up in.
Here's your modern tour courtesy of urban-photo.com.
Downtown Aerials:
Looking back a few blocks, you may not find it easy to notice, but the 15 storey building in the left background actually has a 15 story cross built into it. Nashville is called the "Protestant Vatican" because its the headquarters of the most powerful protestant church in America, the 30 million member Southern Baptist Convention. I consider it a travesty, they consider it a treasure of the city. Make your own mind up...
They have really not-so-attractive figures bounding around with Protestant figures, such as the great Billy Graham:
AH, yes, Jesus is in the air.
If you look close you can see the CMT building for all you country music people... Not my kind of music, but hey its what Nashville is known for.
The BellSouth Tower is now the AT&T tower, but this photo doesn't show the new logo since its from 2006:
The L&C tower (Life & Casualty Insurance) is 30 stories, and was the first 30+ story structure in the southeastern United States outside the northern industrial cities when it was built in 1957.
The other side of downtown, although I really despise the cheap vinyl Titans sign they won't take down. It just flaps pointlessly in the wind...
Nashville's "Midtown" or West End district, depending on who you ask it'll be notated differently:
West End is more upscale and also houses the hospital district as you can see the Baptist hospital signs, but I hear they merged with the Catholic health system so I guess its bi-religious now. LOL
Now for a little history. Nashville is one of the largest southern cities by history, although its not kept up with the growth in centers like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta. New Orleans is the big historic kid being one of the 5 largest cities in America for all of the 1800's basically, but it got blown away. So I guess we only have a few centers of history now.
Since Western Tennessee is proned to earthquakes, Memphis will probably dissolve in the next 50 years thanks to the New Madrid fault. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone
When I lived in Memphis taking some college courses, I survived a 4.2 and a 3.5 earthquake and didn't dare want to experience anymore. So since New Orleans is mostly gone and Memphis eventually will melt away, I guess that leaves Nashville as the last historic southern city? I have no idea.
Here's your chart from the past:
By the 1910's you can see a new dynamic taking shape, 5 cities over 100,000 people in the region, New Orleans clearly king, and cities that didn't even exist before the American Civil War became giants. Birmingham was created soon after the war, and it became one of the industrial cities known for its steel industry. Chattanooga is another industrial city that was built mostly during and after the Civil War.
By the 1950's, Nashville had a respectable downtown just before L&C was erected:
And well before the 1950's when the rail system was ripped apart, Nashville had a decent electric railway system. Here's a map from the 1890's:
The thick black lines indicate, of course, the electric rail lines.
They looked something like this:
Today, West End Avenue looks like this. Rail-free, of course! LOL
Hey, in the late 1800's they knew how to build some cool homes. Too bad Vine Street no longer exists:
Ah. Segregation now, segregation forever. Wait, the rest of the nation decided to whip the south into a form of civilized society. The rest is history.
Amazing to realize its only been since 1964-1968 that we've had integration in such a large part of the United States. 40 years out of 250 years of history is kinda small. Heh. Not my fault....
Onto more history. Some structures are still standing, actually. See Union Station on the right in this photo:
Today:
The Custom House, where immigrants used to be processed back in the days of Euro-immigration.
Today, its used mostly for court procedures and primarily Federal Bankruptcy court for Middle TN.
Built in the 1800's, the Tennessee State Penetentiary was used until 1989.
Read about it if you wish:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_State_Prison
Wikipedia forgets to mention they housed many homosexuals back when "homosexual acts" were deemed illegal and a perversion on society. Ah, yea, the good ole' days. I would have probably shot myself in the head rather than to live through that... But anyway.
Here's what it looks like today:
And its become a magnet for movies. If you watched the Green Mile, it was filmed at the Tennessee State Penetentiary, not in Louisiana where the film is set.
ANYWHO, there's a little history and present of a place I grew up in.
