About Nashville
Dateline of Significant Historical Events
1779-1780: Fort Nashborough founded at the Great French Lick on
the Cumberland River in the winter of 1779-1780 by James Roberson and John
Donelson. Named in honor of the Revolutionary War general Francis Nash.
1784: Name changes to Nashville.
1796: Tennessee becomes the 16th state of the Union. The name
Tennessee is derived from a Cherokee variant of a Creek word, the
precise meaning of which remains uncertain, although there is evidence it
meant "bend in the river" or "meeting place."
Bill Baker
has an excellent essay on the word's origins.
1806: Nashville incorporates.
NHN
Web Site offers essays on early Nashville.
1843: Nashville becomes permanent state capital of Tennessee.
1861: June 8 Tennessee secedes from the Union.
1862: Feb. 16 fall of Fort Donelson leads to the capture and
occupation of Nashville by Union forces.
Battle of Nashville Preservation Society presents Civil War
information on the Occupation.
1864: Dec. 15-16 Battle of
Nashville in which Confederate General John Bell Hood fails to retake the
city.
1866: July 24 Tennessee re-admitted to Union.
Population Information
The
U.S. Census 2000 provides these vital statistics on
Nashville:
Area of land: 502 square miles
Persons per square mile:
1,134.6 (TN total): 138.0 per sq. mile
Population: 565,352
White persons by percentage: 67.0%
Black or African American
persons by percentage: 25.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native
persons by percentage: 0.3%
Asian persons by percentage:
2.3%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander by
percentage: 0.1%
Persons reporting some other race by
percentage: 2.4%
Persons reporting two or more races by
percentage: 2.0%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin by
percentage: 4.6%
White persons, not of Hispanic/Latino origin
by percentage: 65.1%
Geographic Information
Area of land: 502 square miles
Coordinates:
Latitude north of the equator: 36° 9' 57"
Longitude west of the prime
meridian: 86° 47" 4"
(Source: World Almanac)
Elevation:
highest point is 1,100 ft.
lowest point is 400 ft.
(Source:
Nashville Chamber of Commerce)
Time Zone:
GMT-5
Central
Time Zone
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