Nashville is renowned for its vibrant music scene, warm southern hospitality, and delicious cuisine. We put together a list of 11 intriguing facts about Nashville because we are so enthusiastic about our Nashville Heritage Festival this spring. The topics range from pop culture to Nashville’s history.
The only exact reproduction of the Greek Parthenon can be found in Centennial Park in Nashville. The tallest interior sculpture in the western hemisphere is a 42-foot-tall sculpture of Athena Parthenos that is located inside the Parthenon.
Nashville’s WSM radio station received the first FM broadcasting license in 1941. Nashville’s designation as “Music City” is given to David Cobb, a WSM announcer in the 1950s.
More than 200 songs were recorded by Elvis Presley at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio B. When Elvis couldn’t get into the holiday mood while making a Christmas album, a string of lights was still up and visible.
In 1856, William Walker, a native of Nashville, was elected president of Nicaragua. Since then, no other American has been elected president of another nation.
The American Revolutionary War hero Francis Nash inspired the naming of Nashville. On Christmas Eve 1779, James Robertson, John Donelson, and a group of Overmountain Men founded it.
In 1974, the Grand Ole Opry had its inaugural performance at the new Opry House, with President Richard Nixon as a performer. On the piano, he performed “God Bless America.”
Nashville was the location of the recordings for “Jingle Bell Rock,” “The Bunny Hop,” and “Hokey Pokey.”
Morris Frank, a blind student at Vanderbilt University, went abroad to research the usage of seeing-eye dogs. In 1928, he established The Seeing Eye, Inc. in Nashville and brought the first service dog back to the country.
The design of the Country Music Hall of Fame is a reflection of its musical content. The tall, thin windows are shaped like a piano keyboard, and one end of the structure has a radio antenna in the RKO fashion. The structure appears to be a bass clef from above.
On December 10, 1927, George Hay changed the name of Nashville’s renowned weekly country music broadcast, which had previously been known as WSM Barn Dance in homage to a similar radio program in Chicago. It is the longest-running live music radio program in history.
The biggest songwriter’s festival in the world is held in Nashville. Each spring, more than 350 songwriters participate in the Tin Pan South festival, which fills venues all throughout the city with their unique compositions.