A RESTLESS LANDSCAPE: BUILDING NASHVILLE HISTORY AND SEVENTH AND DREXEL By Steven Hoskins A dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of Middle Tennessee State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy UMI Number: 3361585 Copyright 2009 by Hoskins, Steven INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform 3361585 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 A RESTLESS LANDSCAPE: BUILDING NASHVILLE HISTORY AND SEVENTH AND DREXEL APPROVED: Graduate Committee: Dr. Carroll Van West, Ph.D., Major Professor Dr/tfohn Chilton, Ph.D., Reader Dr. Bren Martin, Ph.D., Reader Dr. Atffy Sayward, Ph<JZ, Chair of the HistorHi y Department Dr. Michael Allen, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Graduate Studies i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As with every dissertation, this one owes much to those who helped and encouraged its author. My dissertation director and committee chair, Dr. Carroll Van West, has proved an academic and personal inspiration in these years that I have been his student. His love of the landscape, considerable skills in the broad field of history which are so evident in his many books and his leadership of the Center For Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University, and his sense of duty to the people whom history serves, especially those citizens of the state of Tennessee, have taught me a great deal about doing history and its importance in this world. His constant encouragement in this dissertation and so many other interesting projects that we have worked on together have made this happy work. The other readers on the committee— Dr. David Rowe, Dr. Bren Martin, and Dr. John Chilton, who was my history advisor years ago in my undergraduate work at Trevecca Nazarene College—have all been able teachers and most helpful to me in seeing this project through. I especially thank John for going the extra mile with editorial help when I needed it. I am also grateful to Middle Tennessee State University who awarded me a University Fellowship and to the Center for Historic Preservation at the university who awarded me the James K. Huhta Fellowship in Historic Preservation, both of which funded and aided in my research of this project. The History Department at Middle Tennessee State University, especially Dr. Susan Myers-Shirk, has provided me funding and friendship in this process and deserves my thanks as well. This dissertation would not have been possible without the aid of able researchers and institutions that provided me guidance, good evidence, and hospitality along the way. 11 Dr. Stephanie Morris, archivist at the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament motherhouse in Bensalem, PA was a fountain of information and patient instructor in my visit there. The sisters' warm reception of a pilgrim seeking understanding made those days fruitful and good. Father Peter Hogan, S.S. J., who founded the archives of the Josephite Fathers in Baltimore at the urging of John Hope Franklin, allowed me privilege of rumbling around in those archives which houses 3,000,000 documents and stretches out in several directions under the streets of Baltimore. Father Hogan passed away in 2004 and is sorely missed. In Nashville, Marilyn and all the ladies of the manuscripts room in the Tennessee State Library and Archives gave generously of their knowledge and patiently pulled map after map, file after file at my request. Their knowledge of the collection led me to the Nell Savage Mahoney papers where most of my research on Mile End came together. J. Mark Hall, one of the best librarians in Nashville, introduced me to the vast holdings of the Tennessee Register Roman Catholic Newspaper in the Aquinas College Library and made me believe this dissertation was a good idea. The staff at the Nashville Room at the Nashville Public Library also proved helpful on many afternoons and pushed me into newspaper research that helped make my knowledge of Nashville events and the history of the Sears store more complete. Metro Nashville archivist Ken Feith and the staff at the city archives also were helpful throughout my research. The stacks of Vanderbilt University provided me with much of the background work on Nashville history as the archives at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville did for Mother Drexel. I am also privileged to be a part of a great group of working historians at the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University who have listened iii to my ideas and helped me further my research throughout this process. Gavin, Brian, Lauren, Sarah, Rachel, Melissa, and Laura deserve my gratitude for pushing me toward good resources and reminding me that history is fun work when done with other good historians. I am also indebted to my friends who adorn my life with laughter and good adventure and who have graciously stood by me to the end of this project. Thanks to Darryl, Carson, Scott, Bob, George, McPeak, Peter, Jeff, and Schuy who did some editing for me. I am grateful to my employer, Trevecca Nazarene University, and Provost Stephen Pusey for encouraging me through this process and allowing me time away when needed. My colleagues in the School of Religion at Trevecca Nazarene University over the years have been most helpful and encouraging as well. Thanks to Henry, Dan, Tim, Sherry, Gail, Wilbur, Nate, Brent, Kathy, and Brent. Most of all, I want to thank my family whose patience, fortitude, and love for me has sustained me throughout this process. Thanks to my beloved daughter Allison Renea Hoskins, a budding historian in her own right, whose happy smile and constant love have reminded me what history is for. The promise of history I see in her has kept me working away many days. Especially and most of all, I want to thank my devoted and loving wife, Stephanie Renea Hoskins, to whom this dissertation is dedicated. It is because of her faithfulness, steadfastness, and love for me and my wild and high ideals that this work is finally done. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION: SEVENTH AND DREXEL, THE RESTLESS LANDSCAPE OF NASHVILLE'S HISTORY 1 2. THE MILE END ESTATE, 1813-1905 43 3. A MEDIEVAL ACADEMIC VILLAGE IN COMMERCIAL NASHVILLE 75 4. THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF CAPITALISM: A "NEW" SEARS STORE IN NASHVILLE 111 5. FROM RETAIL TO RESCUE: A HOME FOR THE HOMELESS IN NASHVILLE 138 6. THE RESTLESS LANDSCAPE OF SEVENTH AND DREXEL: WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM BUILDINGS AND HISTORY 164 BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 APPENDIX A. "A RESTLESS LANDSCAPE: BUILDING HISTORY AT SEVENTH AND DREXEL." MUSEUM EXHIBIT DESIGN FOOTPRINT 205 V LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure • Page 1. "Mile End." 44 2. Map of Seventh and Drexel property showing Stevenson-Ewing plan. 50 3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Nashville, 1897. 71 4. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Nashville, 1914. 90 5. Immaculate Mother School with Mile End in the background, ca. 1907. 92 6. Immaculate Mother Convent built on spot of Mile End, ca. 1910. 92 7. Mile End as Convent of the Blessed Sacrament showing adaptive reuse 97 of the home. 8. Female students of the Immaculate Mother Academy, ca. 1907. 104 9. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Nashville, 1941. 108 10. Artist's rendering of Nashville Sears Store, 1955. Tennessean, 18 February, 1955. 113 11. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Nashville, 1957. 135 12. Nashville Rescue Mission, East Elevation with bay windows. 153 13. Nashville Rescue Mission Second Floor Design with chapel and dining room. 155 14. "You shall not give false testimony." 157 15. Nashville Rescue Mission Landscape Redesign. 161 16. "A Restless Landscape" Exhibit Floorplan. 228 17. Mile End/Immaculate Mother Exhibit Front. 230 18. Immaculate Mother Auditorium/Theater. 232 19. Nashville Rescue Mission Exhibit Section. 235 20. Sears Store Front exhibit section with exhibit cases. 238 vi ABSTRACT A RESTLESS LANDSCAPE: BUILDING NASHVILLE HISTORY AND SEVENTH AND DREXEL By Steven Hoskins Drawing upon manuscript sources, historic photographs, census data, building plans, historic maps, and other evidence, this study examines the histories of the four inhabitants of the address at Seventh and Drexel Avenues as a case study of the changing social history of the downtown Nashville area during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It explores how the histories of the inhabitants—an estate owned by several of the city's white booster elites, an African American Roman Catholic parochial school, the southeastern flagship store of Sears, Roebuck, and Co., and the Nashville Rescue Mission—shaped and were shaped by the different built environments on the property and how those inhabitants used the property as a powerful tool to promote the traditioned social identities they represented. As a case study, the dissertation shows how the changes in ownership reflected the cultural and social changes that occurred in downtown Nashville during the period. vii 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: SEVENTH AND DREXEL, THE RESTLESS LANDSCAPE OF NASHVILLE'S HISTORY A. Interpreting a Restless Landscape On a warm Sunday afternoon, 12 August 1990, two centuries of Nashville history gathered to see the unveiling of a new Tennessee Historical Marker.