Everything about Nashville Tennessee totally explained
Nashville is the
capital of the
U.S. state of
Tennessee and the
county seat of
Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after
Memphis. It is located on the
Cumberland River in
Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. Nashville is a major hub for the
health care,
music,
publishing,
banking and
transportation industries.
Nashville has a
consolidated city-county government which includes seven smaller municipalities in a two-tier system. The population of
Nashville-Davidson County stood at 613,856 as of 2006,
Geography
Nashville lies on the Cumberland River in the northwestern portion of the
Nashville Basin. Nashville's
topography ranges from 385 ft (117 meters) above sea level at the Cumberland River to 1,160 feet (354 meters) above sea level at its highest point.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 526.1
square miles (1,362.6
km²), of which, 502.3 square miles (1,300.8 km²) of it's land and 23.9 square miles (61.8 km²) of it (4.53%) is water.
Climate
Nashville has a
humid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers and chilly winters. Average annual rainfall is 48.1 inches (1222 mm), typically with winter and spring being the wettest and autumn being the driest. Average annual snowfall is about 9 inches (229 mm), falling mostly in January and February. Spring and fall are generally pleasantly warm but prone to
severe thunderstorms, which occasionally bring
tornadoes—with recent major events on
April 16, 1998 and
April 7, 2006 and the most recent February 5, 2008
Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak which affected the Northeast suburbs of
Castalian Springs in
Sumner and
Lafayette in
Macon County.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Nashville was −17 °F (−27 °C), on
January 21,
1985, and the highest was 107 °F (42 °C), on
July 28,
1952. The largest one-day snow total was 17 inches (432 mm) on
March 17,
1892. The largest and most memorable event in the last few years was the storm on
January 16,
2003, on which date Nashville received 7 inches (178 mm).
Nashville's long springs and autumns combined with a diverse array of trees and grasses can often make it uncomfortable for
allergy sufferers. In 2008, Nashville was ranked as the 18th-worst spring allergy city in the U.S. by the
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
Metropolitan area
metropolitan area in the state of Tennessee, spanning several counties. The Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses the
Middle Tennessee counties of
Cannon,
Cheatham,
Davidson,
Dickson,
Hickman,
Macon,
Maury,
Robertson,
Rutherford,
Smith,
Sumner,
Trousdale,
Williamson, and
Wilson.
Government and politics
The City of Nashville and Davidson County merged in 1963 as a way for Nashville to combat the problems of
urban sprawl. The combined entity is officially known as "the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County," and is popularly known as "Metro Nashville" or simply "Metro". It offers services such as
police,
fire,
electricity, water, and sewage treatment. When the Metro government was formed in 1963, the government was split into two service districts-- the "urban services district" and the "general services district." The urban services district encompasses the 1963 boundaries of the former City of Nashville, and the general services district includes the remainder of Davidson County. There are five small cities within the county that opted to retain some autonomy:
Belle Meade,
Berry Hill,
Forest Hills,
Lakewood, and
Oak Hill. Two other cities (
Goodlettsville and
Ridgetop) cross county lines, and are also not considered part of the consolidated city-county government.
Nashville has a strong-mayor form of government. It is governed by a mayor, vice-mayor and 40-member Metropolitan Council. The current mayor of Nashville is
Karl Dean. The Metropolitan Council is the legislative body of government for Nashville and Davidson County. There are 5 council members who are elected at large and 35 council members that represent individual districts. The Metro Council has regular meetings that are presided over by the vice-mayor, who is currently
Diane Neighbors. The Metro Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m., according to the Metropolitan Charter.
Nashville is one of the few major Southern cities that has remained loyal to the
Democratic Party. Most local elections are officially nonpartisan. However, Democratic dominance is so absolute that most local races take place between the populist (moderate-to-conservative) and "good government" (liberal) wings of the Democratic Party.
(External Link
); the "good government" faction has held the upper hand for some time; Mayor Dean may be said to represent that perspective. Elected
Republicans are few and far between. At the state level, only two Republicans—one in the
State House and one in the
State Senate—represent significant portions of Nashville. Most area residents who prefer conservative politics generally live in the outlying suburban counties (which themselves were represented by conservative Democrats well into the late 1970s). Much of this, of course, is a reaction in many respects, somewhat akin to urban-suburban polarizations elsewhere in America, to the lifestyle-driven liberal orientation of the city's unusually large (for the South) collegiate and white-collar professional population (with the musician community divided between the cultural traditionalists in
country and
gospel music and the progressive, even leftist, slant among
rock musicians and those in similar genres).
Democrats are no less dominant at the federal level. Since the end of
Reconstruction, the Democratic presidential candidate has carried Nashville and Davidson County in every election with the exception of two. In the
1968 U.S. presidential election,
George Wallace of the
American Independent Party (and governor of nearby
Alabama) carried the city by a large margin, although he didn't win the state (
Richard Nixon did). In the
1972 presidential election, Nixon became the only Republican to carry Nashville since Reconstruction, gaining support from the then-dominant conservative Democrats in the area. However, since then, Democrats have usually won Nashville by some of the largest, if not the largest, margins in Tennessee, even when the rest of the state strongly favors the Republican. In the
2000 presidential election,
Al Gore carried Nashville with over 59% of the vote even as he narrowly lost his home state. In the
2004 election,
John Kerry carried Nashville with 55% of the vote even as
George W. Bush won the state by 14 points. The only part of Tennessee more heavily Democratic than Nashville is the major portion of the city of
Memphis, which has a far larger population of
African-Americans (some 60 percent as compared to Nashville's 25 or so), making Nashville's continued loyalty to the Democratic Party all the more remarkable--and increasingly unique--for a city so far south in the U.S.
Despite its size, all of Nashville has been in one
congressional district for most of the time since Reconstruction. For most of the time, it has been numbered as the
5th District, currently represented by Democrat
Jim Cooper. A Republican hasn't represented a significant portion of Nashville since
1875. While Republicans made a few spirited challenges in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, they've not made a serious bid for the district since 1972, when the Republican candidate gained only 38% of the vote even as Nixon carried the district by a large margin. The district's best-known congressman was probably
Jo Byrns, who represented the district from
1909 to
1936 and was
Speaker of the House for much of
Franklin Roosevelt's first term. Another nationally prominent congressman from Nashville was
Percy Priest, who represented the district from
1941 to
1956 and was
House Majority Whip from
1949 to
1953. Former mayors
Richard Fulton and
Bill Boner also sat in the U.S. House before assuming the Metro mayoral office.
A tiny portion of southern Davidson County (between Hillsboro and Nolensville Roads, split by Interstate 65) was drawn into the heavily Republican 7th District after the 2000 Census. That district is currently represented by
Marsha Blackburn of neighboring Williamson County. Despite this, many living Nashvillians have never been represented by a Republican on the state or federal levels.
Demographics
The data below is for all of Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, including other incorporated cities within the
consolidated city-county (such as
Belle Meade and
Berry Hill). See
Nashville-Davidson (balance) for demographic data on Nashville-Davidson County excluding separately incorporated cities.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 569,891 people, 237,405 households, and 138,169 families residing in the city. The
population density was 1,134.6 people per square mile (438.1/km²). There were 252,977 housing units at an average density of 503.7/sq mi (194.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 66.99%
White, 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.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 4.58% of the population. Nashville's estimated population for 2006 is 613,856 people. Nashville’s foreign-born population more than tripled in size between 1990 and 2000, increasing from 12,662 to 39,596. Large groups of
Mexicans,
Kurds,
Vietnamese,
Laotians,
Arabs, and
Somalis call Nashville home, among other groups. Nashville has the largest
Kurdish community in the United States, numbering approximately 11,000. During the
Iraqi election of 2005, Nashville was one of the few international locations where Iraqi expatriates could vote. The
American Jewish community in Nashville dates back over 150 years ago, and numbers about 6,500 (2001).
Economy
As the "home of country music", Nashville has become a major music recording and production center. All of the
Big Four record labels, as well as numerous independent labels, have offices in Nashville, mostly in the
Music Row area. Since the 1960s, Nashville has been the second biggest music production center (after
New York) in the U.S. As of 2006, Nashville's music industry is estimated to have a total economic impact of $6.4 billion per year and to contribute 19,000 jobs to the Nashville area.
In 2009, the
Signature Tower will begin construction in Downtown Nashville. Standing at more than 1,000 feet above the ground, it'll be the largest skyscraper outside of either
Chicago or
New York City and will be the
seventh tallest building in the United States.
Although Nashville is renowned as a music recording center and tourist destination, its largest
industry is actually health care. Nashville is home to more than 250 health care companies, including
Hospital Corporation of America, the largest private operator of hospitals in the world. As of 2006, it's estimated that the health care industry contributes $18.3 billion per year and 94,000 jobs to the Nashville-area economy. The automotive industry is also becoming increasingly important for the entire Middle Tennessee region.
Nissan North America moved its corporate headquarters in 2006 from
Gardena, California (
Los Angeles County) to Nashville, with corporate headquarters temporarily located in the
AT&T Building until 2008, when the
Japanese auto maker will establish permanent headquarters in
Franklin, Tennessee. Nissan also has its largest North American manufacturing plant in
Smyrna, Tennessee.
Other major industries in Nashville include
insurance,
finance, and
publishing (especially
religious publishing). The city hosts headquarters operations for several
Protestant denominations, including the
United Methodist Church,
Southern Baptist Convention, and
National Baptist Convention, USA., and the National Association of Free Will Baptists.
Nashville has a small but growing film industry. Several major motion pictures have been filmed in Nashville, including
The Green Mile,
The Last Castle,
Gummo,
The Thing Called Love,
Coal Miner's Daughter, and
Robert Altman's
Nashville.
Fortune 500 companies within Nashville include
HCA Inc. (formerly Hospital Corporation of America) and
Dollar General Corporation (in
Goodlettsville).
Education
Nashville is often labeled the "Athens of the South" due to the many colleges and universities in the city and metropolitan area. These colleges and universities in Nashville include
American Baptist College,
Aquinas College,
The Art Institute of Tennessee- Nashville,
Belmont University,
Draughons Junior College,
Fisk University,
Free Will Baptist Bible College,
Gupton College,
Lipscomb University,
Meharry Medical College,
Nashville School of Law,
Nashville Auto Diesel College,
Nashville State Community College,
Strayer University,
Tennessee State University,
Trevecca Nazarene University,
University of Phoenix,
Vanderbilt University, and
Watkins College of Art and Design.
Within 30 miles (50 km) of Nashville in
Murfreesboro is
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), a full-sized public university with Tennessee's largest undergraduate population. Enrollment in post-secondary education in the city is around 43,000. Within the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area which includes MTSU,
Cumberland University (
Lebanon),
Volunteer State Community College (
Gallatin), and
O'More College of Design (Franklin) total enrollment exceeds 74,000. Within a 40 mile (65 km) radius are
Austin Peay State University (
Clarksville) and
Columbia State Community College (
Columbia), enrolling an additional 13,600.
The city is served by the
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and numerous private schools, such as
Harpeth Hall School,
Montgomery Bell Academy,
Father Ryan and Saint Cecilia Academy, the latter of which was named as one of the Top 50 Catholic High Schools in America (2004, 2006 and 2007).
Culture
Much of the city's cultural life has revolved around its large university community. Particularly significant in this respect were two groups of critics and writers who were associated with Vanderbilt University in the early twentieth century, the
Fugitives and the
Agrarians.
Popular destinations include Fort Nashborough, a reconstruction of the original settlement; the
Tennessee State Museum; and
The Parthenon, a full-scale replica of the original
Parthenon in
Athens, Greece. The State Capitol 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 is one of the city's newer attractions.
Country music
Many popular tourist sites involve country music, including the
Country Music Hall of Fame,
Ryman Auditorium, which was for many years the site of the
Grand Ole Opry, and
Belcourt Theater. Each year, the
CMA Music Festival (formerly known as Fan Fair) brings thousands of country fans to the city. Nashville was once home of television shows like
Hee Haw, and
Pop! Goes the Country.
Nashville was once home to the
Opryland USA theme park, which operated from 1972 to 1997 before being closed by its owners
Gaylord Entertainment, and soon after demolished to make room for the
Opry Mills mega-
shopping mall.
Lower Broadway is home to many
honky tonk bars and clubs.
Christian pop music
The
Christian pop and rock music industry is based along Nashville's
Music Row, with a great influence in neighboring
Williamson County. The Christian record companies include
EMI (formally
Sparrow Records),
Rocketown Records,
Beach Street and
Reunion Records with many of the genre's most popular acts such as
Rebecca St. James,
tobyMac,
Michael W. Smith,
Amy Grant,
Steven Curtis Chapman,
Avalon and
Newsboys based there.
Jazz
Although Nashville was never known as a jazz town, it did have many great jazz bands including The Nashville Jazz Machine led by Dave Converse and its current version, the Nashville Jazz Orchestra led by Jim Williamson as well as The Establishment led by Billy Adair. The Francis Craig Orchestra entertained Nashvillians from 1929 to 1945 from the Oak Bar and Grille Room in the Hermitage Hotel. Craig's orchestra was also the first to broadcast over local radio station WSM and enjoyed phenomenal success with a 12-year show that was aired over the entire NBC network. In the late 1930s, he introduced a newcomer,
Dinah Shore, a former cheerleader and local graduate of Hume Fogg High School and Vanderbilt University.
Radio station
WMOT in nearby
Murfreesboro has aided significantly in the recent revival of the city's jazz scene, as has the non-profit
Nashville Jazz Workshop, which holds concerts in a renovated building in the north Nashville neighborhood of Germantown.
Civil War
Civil War history is important to the city's tourism industry. Sites pertaining to the
Battle of Nashville and the nearby
Battle of Franklin and
Battle of Stones River can be seen, along with several well-preserved antebellum plantation houses such as Belle Meade Plantation and Belmont Mansion.
Performing arts
The
Tennessee Performing Arts Center is the major performing arts center of the city. It is the home of the
Tennessee Repertory Theatre,
Nashville Children's Theatre, the
Nashville Opera, and
Nashville Ballet.
In September 2006, the
Schermerhorn Symphony Center opened as the home of the
Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
Art museums
Nashville has several arts centers and museums, including the
Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located in the former
post office building;
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art; the
Tennessee State Museum; Fisk University's Van Vechten and Aaron Douglas Galleries; Vanderbilt University's Fine Art Gallery and Sarratt Gallery; and the Parthenon.
Major annual events
- The GMA Music Awards Christian and Gospel music awards is held each April at various locations including the Grand Ole Opry or the Ryman Auditorium. Leading up to the awards is GMA week where radio stations interview and fans get autographs.
- The CMA Music Festival is a four day event in June featuring performances by country music stars, autograph signings, artist/fan interaction, and other activities for country music fans.
- In September, Nashville hosts the Tennessee State Fair at the State Fairgrounds. The State Fair lasts nine days and includes rides, exhibits, rodeos, tractor pulls, and numerous other shows and attractions.
- The Nashville Film Festival takes place each year for a week in April. It features hundreds of independent films and is one of the biggest film festivals in the Southern United States.
- In September, the African Street Festival takes place on the campus of Tennessee State University.
- Other big events in Nashville include the Fourth of July celebration which takes place each year at Riverfront Park, the Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon which normally includes over 25,000 runners from around the world, the Tomato Art Festival which takes place in East Nashville every August, and the Australian Festival which celebrates the cultural and business links between the U.S. and Australia.
Media
The primary daily newspaper in Nashville is
The Tennessean, which, until
1998, competed fiercely with another daily, the
Nashville Banner (although the two were housed in the same building under a joint-operating agreement). Although
The Tennessean now enjoys a relative monopoly on the local newspaper market, a smaller free daily called
The City Paper has cut into
The Tennessean's market share somewhat. Online news service
NashvillePost.com competes with the printed dailies to break news of business and local/state politics. Several weekly papers are also published in Nashville, including the
Nashville Scene,
Nashville Business Journal, and
The Tennessee Tribune. Historically,
The Tennessean was associated with a broadly liberal editorial policy, while
The Banner carried staunchly conservative views in its editorial pages;
The Banner's heritage is carried on these days by
The City Paper. The Scene is the area's
alternative weekly broadsheet, while
The Tribune serves Nashville's African-American population.
Nashville is home to nearly a dozen broadcast television stations, although most households are served by direct
cable network connections.
Comcast Cable has a monopoly on terrestrial cable service in Davidson County (but not throughout the entire
DMA). Nashville is ranked as the 30th largest television market in the United States.
Nashville is also home to cable networks
Country Music Television (CMT),
Great American Country (GAC), and
RFD-TV, among others. CMT's
Master Control facilities are located in
New York City with the other
Viacom properties. The Top 20 Countdown and CMT Insider are taped in their Nashville studios. Nashville is also the home and namesake of the
NBC country music singing competition
Nashville Star, which broadcasts from the
Opryland complex.
Shop at Home Network was once based in Nashville, but the channel signed off in 2006.
Several dozen
FM and
AM radio stations broadcast in the Nashville area, including five
college stations and one
LPFM community station. Nashville is ranked as the 44th largest radio market in the United States. Nashville is home to
WSM which originally stood for "We Shield Millions".
WSM-FM is owned by Cumulus Media and is 95.5 FM the Wolf.
WSM-AM, owned by Gaylord Entertainment Company, can be heard nationally on 650 AM or online at
WSM Online from its studios located inside the
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
WLAC is a
Clear Channel-owned talk station which was originally sponsored by the
Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee, and its competitor
WWTN is owned by
Cumulus.
Sports
Nashville has several professional
sports teams, most notably the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League and the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League. Several other pro sports teams also call Nashville home, as does the
NCAA college football Music City Bowl. The Vanderbilt Commodores are members of the
Southeastern Conference. The football team of
Tennessee State University plays its home games at LP Field.
Sports venues in Nashville are:
LP Field
Sommet Center
Nashville Municipal Auditorium
Herschel Greer Stadium
Ezell Park
Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field at Vanderbilt University
Memorial Gymnasium at Vanderbilt University
Curb Event Center at Belmont University
Gentry Center at Tennessee State University
Allen Arena at Lipscomb University
Music City Motorplex at state fairgrounds
Parks
Metro Board of Parks and Recreation owns and manages 10,200 acres (4,120 ha) of land and 99 parks and greenways (comprising more than 3% of the total area of the county). 2,684 acres (1,086 ha) of land is home to Warner Parks, which houses a 5,000 square-foot (460 m²) learning center, 20 miles (30 km) of scenic roads, 12 miles (19 km) of hiking trails, and 10 miles (16 km) of horse trails. In late 2005, Centennial Park began offering free wireless broadband internet service.
Warner Parks, the largest municipal parks in the state, are home to the annual Iroquois Steeplechase.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains parks on Old Hickory Lake and Percy Priest Lake. These parks are used for multiple activities including fishing, water-skiing, sailing and boating. Percy Priest Lake is also home to the Vanderbilt Sailing Club.
Transportation
Nashville is centrally located at the crossroads of three Interstate Highways: I-40, I-24, and I-65. Interstate 440 is a bypass route connecting I-40, I-65, and I-24 south of downtown Nashville. The Metropolitan Transit Authority (External Link) 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 mini-hub for Southwest Airlines.
Although it's a major rail hub, with a large CSX Transportation freight rail yard, Nashville is one of the largest cities in the U.S. not served by Amtrak.
Nashville launched a passenger rail system called the Music City Star on September 18, 2006. The first and only currently operational leg of the system connects the city of Lebanon to downtown Nashville at Nashville Riverfront. Legs to Murfreesboro and Gallatin are currently in the feasibility study stage. The system plan includes seven legs connecting Nashville to surrounding suburbs.
Notable bridges in the city are:
| Official Name |
Other Names |
Length |
Date Opened |
| Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge |
Gateway Bridge |
506 m (1,660 ft) |
May 19, 2004 |
| Kelly Miller Smith Bridge |
Jefferson Street Bridge |
|
March 2, 1994 |
| Old Hickory Bridge |
|
|
1929 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge |
Bordeaux Bridge |
|
September 18, 1980 |
| Shelby Street Bridge |
Shelby Avenue Bridge |
960 m (3,150 ft) |
July 5, 1909 |
| Silliman Evans Bridge |
|
720 m (2,362 ft) |
1963 |
| Victory Memorial Bridge |
|
|
July 2, 1956 |
| William Goodwin Bridge |
Hobson Pike Bridge |
675 m (2,215 ft) |
|
| Woodland Street Bridge |
|
195 m (639 ft) |
|
Nicknames
Nashville is a colorful, well-known city in several different arenas. As such, it has earned various sobriquets, including:
Music City, USA: WSM-AM announcer David Cobb first used this name during a 1950 broadcast and it stuck. It is now the official nickname used by the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Nashville is the home of the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and many major record labels. This name also dates back to 1874, where after receiving and hearing a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Queen Victoria of England is reported as saying that "These young people must surely come from a musical city."
Athens of the South: Home to twenty-four post-secondary educational institutions, Nashville has long been compared to the ancient city of learning, site of Plato's Academy. Since 1897, a full-scale replica of the Athenian Parthenon has stood in Nashville, and many examples of classical and neoclassical architecture can be found in the city.
The Protestant Vatican or The Buckle of the Bible Belt: Nashville has over 700 churches (more than any other American city per capita), several seminaries, a number of Christian music companies, and is the headquarters for the publishing arms of both the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church. It is also the seat of the National Association of Free Will Baptists, the Gideons International, the Gospel Music Association and Thomas Nelson, the world's largest producer of Bibles.
Cashville: Nashville native Young Buck, a rapper in the G-Unit clique, released a very successful album called Straight Outta Ca$hville that has popularized the nickname among a new generation.
Nashvegas: The rhinestones and neon of Nashville have given rise to a glitzy image that local residents have embraced. Playing off the image of Las Vegas, this nickname reflects the city's colorful nightlife and affluence. Americana music artist George Hamilton V has popularized the nickname in song.
Little Kurdistan: Nashville has the United States' largest population of Kurdish people, estimated to be around 11,000.
Belfast, Northern Ireland (1995)
Edmonton, Canada (1990)
Caen, France (1991)
Magdeburg, Germany (2003)
Taiyuan, China
The city is also exploring forming a sister city relationship with:
Diyarbakır, Turkey
Mendoza, Argentina
Owerri, NigeriaFurther Information
Get more info on 'Nashville Tennessee'.
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