East Nashville is an area east of downtown Nashville in Tennessee across the Cumberland River. The area is mostly residential and mixed-use, with businesses lining the main boulevards. The main thoroughfares are Gallatin Ave (also known as Gallatin Pike or Gallatin Road along its course) and Ellington Parkway, with smaller arteries interconnecting the neighborhoods. Some of these smaller arteries include Main Street, Shelby Avenue, Porter Road, Riverside Drive, Eastland Avenue, McFerrrin Avenue, and Woodland Street in no significant order. Ellington Parkway, which parallels Gallatin Ave and Main Street, bypasses I-24 and I-65 and connects Briley Parkway and downtown Nashville and many other secondary streets along the way. The Cumberland River confines most of the area with a semicircle design on the south, southwest, and east. Since East Nashville has no defined boundaries on the west and north, the exact perimeter is the cause of some debate. Some would say that Ellington Parkway creates a boundary on the west and northwest, while Cahal Avenue and Porter Road create the northern boundary, within the confines of ZIP code 37206. Many would also state that with I-65 and I-24 as the western border and Briley Parkway as the northern boundary, this defines an area that constitutes Greater East Nashville.NashvilleBrian, "East Nashville Neighborhood Borders" 7 August 2009, "", 4 January 2011 East Nashville is one of about 26 suburban neighborhoods in Nashville.AgentSteph77, "Nashville Suburbs" "",7 October 2021

Neighborhoods

The area of Smaller East Nashville in U.S. ZIP Code 37206 has many smaller neighborhoods, each with its own character and housing styles. Rediscover East is contained in area and includes the historic neighborhoods in which the Great Fire of 1916 and the tornado of 1933 devastated. It is a larger community that contains Historic Edgefield, East End, Lockeland Springs, Shelby Hills, Boscobel Hills, Rolling Acres, Eastwood, Maxwell, and Greenwood. Further east of Rediscover East lie the neighborhoods of Rosebank, Porter Heights, and Barclay Drive. These three neighborhoods are of the newest residential areas as they contain homes primarily built in the mid-century 1950s and 1960s.Anita McCaig, "Neighborhoods Map" April 2010, " ", 20 June 2010

Greater East Nashville not only falls within 37206, but also extends further west and north to include ZIP codes 37216 and 37207. This area includes Highland Heights, Cleveland Park, McFerrin Park and Inglewood. Inglewood comprises Inglewood, South Inglewood, Dalewood and Riverwood. It includes the area of Smaller East Nashville and extends west to reach I-65 and moves as far north as Briley Parkway.

East End

The area consisted of farms and trading posts early in Nashville's history. East End began in 1876 as an addition or outgrowth of the fashionable Edgefield community. It was called the East Edgefield addition at the time, but became known as East End because it was situated on the eastern city limits. By the turn of the century, East End’s population was in the hundreds. Families bought or built homes on the once farmland. Each home showcased the Victorian love of craftsmanship, intricate design, and numerous decorative elements. The area was attractive because of the lack of pollution and quiet atmosphere. During the early 20th century, the East End neighborhood evolved into a stable, picturesque, and conveniently located inner-city neighborhood. East End is typical of inner city neighborhoods, a well-preserved neighborhood with a high degree of visual integrity.

Historic Edgefield

The Edgefield village became Nashville's most exclusive suburb, with streets lined with commanding Italianate, Renaissance Revival, and Queen Anne homes. Some of these homes can still be found on Russell, Fatherland and Woodland streets, but most of these homes burned in the Great Fire of 1916. Streetcar suburbs formed in the Lockeland and East End areas as farmland and country estates were sold off and subdivided. A tornado also ravaged parts of East Nashville in 1933. In the 1950s and 1960s, more neighborhoods were created, and in the 1970s, when "urban pioneers" moved into the area and rehabilitated neighborhoods, also called gentrification.Ernie Gray, "The Cable Streetcars Of Early East Nashville" 4 April 2006, "" 2 July 2010

Lockeland Springs

Lockeland was named in 1880 when the subdivision was first being developed. The name comes from the Weakley family, who originally built their homestead northeast of the original Fort Nashborough, and the tract of land passed through various family descendants over the years. Jane Locke was the wife of Col. Robert Weakley. His homestead, called Lockeland, was built in 1790, which was 10 years after Ft. Nashborough was founded. Weakley may have constructed the brick structure with an old log house as part of the project. The more recent portion with an entrance to the north and the tower, facing west toward Woodland Street, was added long after the property had passed out of the ownership of the Weakley family.

Parks

Shelby Park

In the 1890s, the Nashville Railway built a casino in Shelby Park that included an amusement park. This park went bankrupt by 1903. In 1909, the city of Nashville purchased property on which the amusement park had been located. A basin was dug for a lake. The dirt was used in building roads through the park. There were plays performed here, as well as paddleboats for rent, a large Dutch windmill, and a picnic lodge called Sycamore Lodge. Today, Shelby Park remains, and Shelby Bottoms is the largest green preserve in the Nashville metro area.

Shelby Bottoms

Shelby Bottoms Greenway is an 810-acre linear park approximately three miles long and one-half mile wide. Shelby Park marks the southern boundary, a residential area the western edge, the Cumberland River the east side, and Cooper Creek and another residential area define the northern boundary. The landscape is mostly a flat alluvial floodplain with small upland areas and is drained by several deep ravines. Approximately 75% of the area is mowed or irregularly mowed fields that had been in agricultural use before the area became a park in 1994. The wooded area includes some upland forest with native trees. Shelby Bottoms, which has a north and south entrance with parking areas and orientation signage, includes approximately eight miles of paved multiuse greenway trails and five miles of mulched trails, an observation platform, and river overlooks.Sandy Bivens, "Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Nature Park and Shelby Park" 19 February 2006, " ", 21 January 2011

Cornelia Fort Airpark

Cornelia Fort Airpark was a privately owned, public-use airport located five nautical miles (9 km) northeast of the central business district of Nashville, in Davidson County, Tennessee, United States. The 141-acre airport was located on a bend of the Cumberland River in East Nashville from 1944 until 2011.

In 2011, Nashville bought the private Cornelia Fort Airpark, which was the destination of singer Patsy Cline in her 1963 fatal plane crash. The combination of Shelby Park/Shelby Bottoms/Cornelia Fort makes up more than and is the fourth-largest park complex in Nashville.(trailing Beaman, Bells Bend and Warner).

East Park East Park, formed after the Great Fire of 1916, once had homes built in the late 1800s of Victorian and Italianate character. After the fire consumed these homes, the city demolished what was left and created East Park. It runs from 6th Street to 8th Street and borders Woodland Street and Russell Street. It provides a green space for East End, Edgefield, and McFerrin Park neighborhoods.

Architect Donald W. Southgate was hired to design the bandstand in the park, but it was removed in 1956.

Cumberland Park

Cumberland Park is East Nashville's newest park. It took shape along the east bank of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. The park sits just south of Nissan Stadium, between the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge and the Gateway Bridge. The area was once a highly industrial and factory-based riverbank that was easily accessible to ships. It also includes the former Nashville Bridge Co. building immediately adjacent to the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge. Nashville's new riverfront development is 10 times the size of the existing Riverfront Park on the west side of the river. The park is just one stage of developing the riverfront, and it cost around $17 million to create.

Other parks in East Nashville include: Kirkpatrick Park, Cleveland Park, Douglas Park, South Inglewood Park, Tom Joy Park, McFerrin Park, Oakwood Park and Eastland Park.

History

Great Fire of 1916 On the morning of Wednesday, March 22, 1916, a fire erupted in East Nashville, destroying over 500 houses and leaving over 2,500 people homeless. The fire originated at the home of Joe Jennings, who lived next to the Seagraves Planing Mill located on North First Street. Sparks from Jennings’ home set the mill ablaze and from there the fire swept from 1st Street to Dew Street, consuming any homes and businesses in its path. Fortunately, there were few injuries and only one fatality, Johnson H. Woods, who was electrocuted by a live power line.

Unusually high winds gusting from 44–51 miles per hour across wooden-shingled roofs caused the fire to spread at a rapid pace, severely impeding the Nashville fire department’s effort to control the blaze. Desperate to contain the fire, residents formed "bucket brigades" to help fight the flames, and many hastily removed furniture from their homes in an effort to save their belongings. Nashville Fire Chief Rozetta sent telegrams appealing to every city within several hundred miles, asking for engines and men to help combat the flames, and Governor Tom C. Rye mobilized the companies of the Tennessee National Guard in Nashville for guard duty and assistance with the rescue work.

Buildings belonging to the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, Woodland Street Presbyterian Church, Warner Public School, and Engine Company No. 5 were burned to the ground. Tulip Street Methodist Church and St. Ann's Episcopal Church survived, thanks to church members who left their burning homes to form bucket brigades to save them. Much of East Nashville southeast of Fifth and Woodland Streets was destroyed. Total property loss was estimated at more than 1.5 million dollars.Kimberly Mills, "Disasters in Tennessee" June 2000, "", 18 January 2011

Tornado of 1933