Nashville History Corner

Victor E. “Manny” Shwab was one of the richest men in Nashville from 1870 through 1901

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

I worked as a volunteer in the United Givers Fund of Nashville. My assignment in the Small Firms Division was to walk up and down Dickerson Pike in the 100, 200 and 300 blocks where I called on fortune tellers, used car dealerships, small loan companies, used tire stores and a Howard Johnson Restaurant. I had no idea that the hill paralleling Dickerson Pike was Bowman Hill and that the richest man in Nashville, Victor Emanual “Manny” Shwab, lived on top of it for 30 years, from 1870 until 1901. Shwab, whose address was 221 Dickerson Pike, had as his next door neighbor George Dickel, who lived there until his death in 1894.

In 1888, Shwab purchased controlling interest in the Cascade Distillery and 100 acres near Tullahoma, Tennessee. This made him so much money that he was able to give, in 1890, 10 acres on Dickerson Pike for a school named for him.

Shwab, an entrepreneur, also invested heavily in Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company, where he was on the board, owned the Climax Saloon on Cherry Street in Nashville, and built the Silver Dollar Saloon on the corner of Market Street and Broadway. Later, he purchased the five-story Castner Knott Department Store, one of the city's best. He was also on the board of Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad.

Although vilified by prohibitionists, Shwab remained a major figure in Nashville charitable, financial and social circles for all his active life, which ended Nov. 2, 1924, two years after he suffered a debilitating stroke.

Because Victor E. Shwab, heralded as a one-man Tammany Hall, is almost unknown today, his great grandson, Clay Shwab, has spent years researching Manny and has written his biography. It tells not only Victor E. Emanuel’s life story, including his fight with the IRS and the confiscation of his distillery but also covers his relationships with such prominent Nashvillians as George Dickel, James E. Caldwell, Frank O. Watts, Edward Ward Carmack and others. Clay’s interesting and accurate book is one any Nashvillian interested in local history should read when it is published in 2023.