Watkins isn’t the first college in Nashville whose location became a subject of public debate.
In 1873, Cornelius Vanderbilt pledged $500,000 toward a university that would be built “in or near” Nashville. From that point on, Holland McTyeire, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and one of the university organizers, heard his share of ideas about where the university should go.
Nashvillians proposed many sites, including a 100-acre parcel—believed to have been about where White Bridge Road is today—offered free of charge by two property owners. McTyeire also considered and rejected the idea of “sharing” a campus with the University of Nashville, an institution located in what is now known as Rutledge Hill.
Eventually, McTyeire narrowed the field. One potential site was along the south side of West End Avenue, at that time several blocks from the edge of developed Nashville. The other site was in Edgefield, then a separate city east of Nashville and across the Cumberland River. The Edgefield tract was known as “Confederate Hill,” and is believed to be the approximate location of the present-day James Cayce Homes public housing project.
Nashville’s daily newspapers made no secret about which site they favored. The Union-American—this was long before The Tennessean existed—editorialized that Vanderbilt University should go in Edgefield because the local government there could better devote itself to the university’s needs than the local government of Nashville. “The municipal legislation of Nashville will, of course, be directed mainly to the protection of her rapidly growing manufacturing and mercantile interests, while in Edgefield the proposed university would be the grand feature of the town and would be ever sure of receiving all the aid that local legislation could afford it,” the paper wrote.
The Republican Banner offered even more reasons Edgefield should get the campus. “It [Edgefield] has broader and more evenly graded and better shaded streets; it is quieter; it has more of a greensward and leafy wood and the scenic beauties of nature generally.... It combines the attractions of country with the conveniences of city.”
On May 8, 1873, hundreds of Nashvillians packed the sanctuary of McKendree Methodist Church to hear the final verdict. At that meeting, the university’s board of supervisors announced that it had decided to put the campus on the West End property.
Because McTyeire had veto power over any decision of the board, the decision was clearly his. To this day, no one really knows why McTyeire chose West End. But on May 21, 1873, he wrote this brief explanation to Cornelius Vanderbilt: “Of the many sites offered and which I examined, one was fixed upon as best. It is west of the city, beautiful for situation, easy of approach, and of the same elevation as Capitol Hill, which is in full view.”
Edgefield residents must have felt quite insulted when McTyeire chose West End. But a Banner editorial written a few days after the 1873 decision pointed out that there were still reasons for Nashville residents to cross the Cumberland River into Edgefield. “If Edgefield has lost the location of the Vanderbilt University, there are some things that she cannot lose—her foliage, sweet-scented grasses, her beautiful homes...her genial men, her beautiful women, and last, though not least, her untaxed manufactories.”
