Nashville History Corner

Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

The Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision was begun in 1915 and formally opened in 1916 by prominent Nashville real estate developer Johnson Bransford. It is located on approximately 43 acres within the limits of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. The district is bounded on the north by Windsor Drive, on the south and west by Harding Place, and on the east by Westover Drive and it is adjacent to the Belle Meade Country Club in the satellite city of Belle Meade. There are only five streets in the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision-Windsor Drive, Blackburn Avenue, Pembroke Avenue, Westover Drive and Harding Place.

Before the construction of roads in the district, the land was occupied by horse barns, old farm roads, bluegrass and very few trees. The Belle Meade Plantation foaling stable was located near today’s intersection of Windsor Drive and Harding Place. A mule barn was located slightly north of the foaling station. The training stable, which sheltered the Belle Meade weanlings, was located just north of Windsor Drive. The sale stable, where Belle Meade’s annual yearling sales were held, was located between Richland Creek and Harding Pike. There were also two or three farm houses on the property.

Despite the opening of the nearby Nashville Golf and Country Club in May, 1916, sales of homes in the district began slowly, delayed by World War I and by a scarcity of water. Shortly before the first World War, Bransford installed a six-inch water main that tapped Nashville City water. It was very expensive and property owners had to pay as much as $1,000 to tap into this line.

Early in the 1920s, H. B. Alexander built a house on lot #160 near the north end of the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision close to Richland Creek. He and his wife, Kathryn, used it as a summer cottage. It later evolved into a two-story, white clapboard house with a columned porch. By damming Richland Creek, Alexander and his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Lee, created Belle Meade Park’s first swimming pool. During the 1940s the house became dilapidated and was razed. The Belle Meade Terrace Apartments were built on the site.

Between 1916 and 1925, only about a dozen houses were built. They were largely Craftsman style cottages and bungalows. The bungalows had battered piers and columns of wood or stone supporting three quarter and full front porches. An example is the house at 114 Pembroke Avenue. Although automobiles were still a novelty when the district was established, most houses had a one-car garage in the backyard. Some of these garages feature a small room that could be used for storage or to accommodate a household employee. The driveways were parallel tracts of concrete with grass planted between.

Bransford or his developer planted a great number of trees: Ash, Elm, Hackberry and Maple, with two trees on most lots. The original subdivision’s most unique features were three small parks, planned by Bransford’s gardener, Darius Hungerford. Triangular Park A had a gazebo and a lily pond. As there was no trash collection service until after World War II, residents threw tree limbs, dead shrubbery, leaves, and other debris on the parks, eventually decimating them.

Growth of the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision got a boost in 1926 when the Davidson County Board of Education decided to build a grammar school in the area. The board approached Walter Parmer, who had purchased the Belle Meade mansion in 1916. He gave the Board of Education a parcel of land at the intersection of Leake Avenue and Westover Drive, where Parmer School was completed in 1928. It remained there, as one of the best grammar schools in the county until the mid-1970s. Parmer Park is there today.

For young families, Belle Meade Golf LInks Subdivision became very attractive with its smaller houses financially within reach and Parmer School within walking distance. Between 1926 and 1938, 80 houses were built in the subdivision. The vast majority of these homes were Tudor Revival cottages, but a few bungalows were also built.

In 1938, Mr. Cornette, who had a Pan Am service station on Harding Road was considering moving his station to a lot on Belle Meade Boulevard near Bonaventure, the home of Charlie C. Trabue. About the same time, Henry C. Beck, an Atlanta developer, who later moved his company to Dallas, planned to construct 11 two-story garden-style apartments on the north side of Harding place and in the triangle between Jackson Boulevard and Belle Meade Boulevard directly across from the Belle Meade Country Club. Belle Meade Park residents were furious about the possibility of either being built and met to figure out how to stop the developments. Henry Beck, realizing how upset the residents were, backed off and built Nashville’s first garden-style apartments on a larger piece of land on Woodmont Boulevard. Named Woodmont Terrace, the apartments are still there today.

Nevertheless, the residents of Belle Meade Park approved, by a vote of 270 to 170, to incorporate Belle Meade Park into a city. Not everyone agreed. Residents of Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision were uniformly against incorporation and asked to not be included in the new city. They felt they were sufficiently protected by having the Belle

Meade Country Club golf course on two sides of their subdivision. When the City of Belle Meade was incorporated Oct. 25, 1938, it did not include Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision.

Between 1938 and 1946, when the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision was substantially completed, most of the houses built were of Colonial Revival, Cape Cod and minimal traditional design.

The Belle Meade Links Triangle Neighborhood Association was organized in 1992 to facilitate efforts by homeowners to maintain the quality and character of their neighborhood. Because of the diligence of the neighborhood association, the historic integrity of the neighborhood has survived. In 2004, Emily Evans, Christopher Ozburn and Sarah H.K. Brown were instrumental in the Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision Historic District Registration Form being submitted to the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service for inclusion.

Ridley Wills II Publishes Book Cataloging History Corner Articles

Proceeds for the book will benefit ‘The Contributor’

BY AMANDA HAGGARD

Longtime writer for The Contributor Ridley Wills II has published a book cataloging all of his work writing History Corner articles for the paper from over the past decade.

Wills got the idea to put all his History Corner articles in a book when his son, Tom Wills, The Contributor’s director of vending, told him former Mayor Bill Purcell had mentioned he bought the The Contributor to read the History Corner articles. Wills has been a supporter of the paper since its inception. He’s watched Nashville grow over the years, and knows that it has gotten tougher for people in poverty.

“Housing for people is Nashville's biggest problem as all the inner city neighborhoods are being gentrified with five-story condos,” Wills says.

All proceeds from the book will be donated to The Contributor to continue its mission of providing low-barrier income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness so that they can find sustainable housing.

“Poor people have very few places to go,” Ridley says. “That’s what makes what The Contributor is doing so important, and why I wanted to give these funds to them.”

The following local bookstores carry the book:

NASHVILLE

• Belle Meade Mansion Gift Shop: 5025 Harding Pike

• Elder's Bookstore: 101 White Bridge Road

• Fort Negley Visitors Center: 1100 Fort Negley Boulevard

• Historic Belmont: 1800 Belmont Blvd.

• Logos Book Store: 2136 Bandywood Drive

• Parnassus Books: 3900 Hillsboro Pike, Suite 14

FRANKLIN

• Landmark Booksellers: 114 East Main Street

BRENTWOOD

• Hot Pink: 831 Franklin Pike

COLUMBIA

• Duck River Books: 124 Public Square