Historic Nashville, Inc. Second Avenue interviews, 1977-1979.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Digital files and CDs are identified by the project abbreviation: "HNIOHP" which serves as a prefix. Arranged thereunder alphabetically by the last name of the interviewee. *Note that this same prefix identifier is also used in several other distinct projects created by Historic Nashville, Inc.

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Conversion of analog interviews with Lipscomb, Merritt, Pilcher, Reeves, Tyner, Watson, and Youngblood to digital format made possible by funding from the Nashville Public Library Foundation in 2006.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Interviews in various formats conducted mostly in 1977 with individuals associated with buildings and businesses located on Nashville's Second Avenue North, known in the nineteenth century as Market Street.

Mrs. Frances Eakes - One page of notes, only; no audio. Lived in the Silver Dollar Saloon in 1925-1926 when her father, Willis W. Agee ran a drugstore on the premises. Eakes recalls the flood of 1926-1927 and "shanties" where African-American families lived along First Avenue, as well as black church baptisms in the Cumberland River.

Carol Finney - Completed form containing very brief notes; no audio. Secretary at corporate headquarters of Washington Industries circa 1977. Brief notes on architecture of building.

Fred Greth - Audio monologue, with index. Topics: Silver Dollar Saloon and Fred Eagan; Cordell Hull's father; visit of President William McKinley to Nashville for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897; evangelist Billy Sunday's revival in the 1920s, event held at Haymarket because Ryman Auditorium too small for crowd; further description of the Haymarket; bootleggers and Saul Cohen.

Henry Z. Lipscomb, Jr. - Audio, with index. Topics: history of H.G. Lipscomb & Co., which at the time of the interview, had the longest history of any still-existing business on Second Ave.; flood of 1930s; changes in the building and street; Lipscomb family history; former Second Ave. businesses. Publication of interview contents restricted.

Hooper W. Matthews - Audio, with index. Topics: A. A. Matthews and wholesale grocery; Cummins Station; 1st Avenue; move from Market Street (2nd Avenue North) to Cummins Station.

Mrs. S.D. Merritt - Audio, index. Although the recording is introduced as being part of the 2nd Avenue project, there is almost no content about that subject. Instead, Mrs. Merritt recalls stories about visiting the Hermitage and its history, including stories about "Uncle Alfred," a former slave of Andrew Jackson. She shares other stories about various homes she has lived in or families in the area; and memories about her education at Collins School and at Ward Seminary, where she studied music.

Matt Pilcher - Audio, with index. Very brief interview of less than five minutes; Pilcher knows little information about the Pilcher building.

Joe S. Reeves - Audio, with index. Topics: Reeves-Morgan building on Public Square; J.S. Reeves & Co. in 1870s; description of buildings and Public Square; brief biographical information on Samuel D. Morgan.

J.D. Tyner - Audio, with index. Topics: Riverfront, wharves, boats, and freight; Estill Springs; father was rommate with Robert Cheek; Nashville River Terminal Exposition in 1920; "Brawl on the Buttorff"; Silver Dollar Saloon; Southern Turf building, and numerous other notable downtown buildings, not just on Second Ave.; job as a "soda jerk"; Tyner line of boats (lists names of boats); steamboats; Tom Ryman; Nashville Bridge Company; Phillips & Buttorff; ice in the river; wreck of the Buttorff (a boat); Gracie Childers (a boat).

Robert Howard Watson - Audio, with index and notes. Topics: His father, Robert Alexander Watson's tin shop at 111 Market Street; description of shop and products, including making liquor stills; nature of work performed and materials used; the "Pest House"; family information; street cleaners; Cumberland River and black church baptisms; cave under Fort Nashborough and underground route to prison; Jewish merchants.

William "Bill" C. Weaver, Jr. - Notes only; no audio. McWhorter-Weaver and Company; building description and history including architectural and ownership history; contemporary issues with the building and neighborhood; other people who might have more information.

D.C. Youngblood - Audio, with index; accompanied by written recollection. Interivew topics in audio recording: Silver Dollar Saloon and other bars and bartenders in the area; river trade; description of interior of Silver Dollar Saloon; Prohibition era. Written memoir of 12 pages: Youngblood born in 1892; recalls a man named "Peg Leg"; state penitentiary at 14th and Church; streetcars; baseball and Sulphur Dell; shooting of John Yeaman over politics in 1921; East Nashville fire of 1916; steamboats; Silver Dollar Saloon; whisky barrells in street; wharves; Hippodrome, Coliseum, circus shows and parades; apprenticed to be sheet metal worker and pipefitter with the railroad; narrates his own stories about the founding and history of Nashville. Contents of written memoir and audio appear to be different.

Cite as: [individual interview], Historic Nashville, Inc. Second Avenue Interviews; Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

System requirements for sound discs: computer with CD drive and MP3 capable software.

Copyright status is undetermined.

Restriction on Henry Z. Lipscomb, Sr. interview: "Mr. Lipscomb requests that no part of this tape be used in a publication without his verbal permission."

Interviewees with signed release forms: Matt Pilcher, Joe S. Reeves, and Robert H. Watson, donated to HNI "for such scholarly and educatiional purposes as Historic Nashville Inc. shall determine, the use of my taped interview," and consented that "portions of the taped interview may be used in publication."

Source of acquisition unknown;,Acc. RT-100.

Hooper W. Matthews interview,Ophelia Paine;,Gift;,2009,Acc. 2009.017.

Other materials created by Historic Nashville, Inc. are also in the holdings of the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library.

In 1968 the Historic Sites Federation of Tennessee was formed. The name was changed to Historic Nashville, Inc. in 1974. Historic Nashville, Inc. (HNI) was organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a stated purpose to document and preserve the cultural, historical, and architectural heritage of Nashville. This group was instrumental in saving Union Station, the Ryman Auditorium, and many other historic buildings. In 1970s and 1980s, they undertook a number of oral history projects, many of which were donated to the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library.

The Second Avenue Interviews were apparently initiated in 1977 by Lee Ann Thornton as part of her final coursework as an art history major at Vanderbilt University, while taking an architecture class with Prof. Jim Ramsey. Thornton launched an effort to document the history of buildings and businesses along Nashville's historic Second Avenue North, known in the late nineteenth century as Market Street. The end result of Thornton's research was the publication of "Victorian Memories: A Study of Second Avenue North." Although Thornton oversaw the interviews, she apparently did not conduct any interviews herself, relying instead on volunteers from Historic Nashville, Inc., particularly Ophelia Paine. It is unclear if Thornton's work had any direct connection to HNI's annual "Market Street Festival." Thornton's project was undertaken just a few years after the Second Avenue Commercial District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, when it was recognized for being "one of the most remarkable groupings of Victorian commercial structures outside of the East Coast."

In English

Unknown provenance as of 2017. It is believed that the recordings were donated to the Nashville Public Library by Historic Nashville, Inc. shortly after they were created in 1977 and 1978. The Hooper W. Matthews interview was donated by Ophelia Paine in 2009 and was identified by Paine as an interview created for HNI as part of the Second Avenue project.

Release forms created and used by Historic Nashville, Inc. for this oral history project indicate their intent to donate the recordings to the Nashville Public Library; it is assumed that they did so around 1977 or 1978, shortly after the recordings were made.

catalog;,2017;,Linda Barnickel.

inventory;,2017;,Kathy Bennett, volunteer.

original analog audiocassette recordings of Greth, Lipscomb, Merritt, Pilcher, Reeves, Tyner, Watson, and Youngblood interviews,reformat,2006;,Safe Sound Archive;,Jim Havron via outside vendor;,converted to .mp3 digital files.

No further accruals are expected.