The Lockeland Springs historic neighborhood is a turn-of-the-20th-century
streetcar suburb
A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...
two miles northeast of downtown
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
, in
East Nashville
East Nashville is an area east of downtown Nashville in Tennessee across the Cumberland River. The area is mostly residential and mixed-use areas with businesses lining the main boulevards. The main thoroughfares are Gallatin Ave (also known as Ga ...
. In 1786, this land was granted by the State of North Carolina to Daniel Williams, in payment for service in the Revolutionary War. The first house in the area was the log cabin Williams built on the site of the present Lockeland School.
The first mansion built in this area was named by Col.
Robert Weakley
Robert Weakley (July 20, 1764February 4, 1845) was an American politician who represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives from 1809 to 1811.
Early life
Weakley was born in Halifax County in the Colony of Virginia on Jul ...
after his wife Jane Locke Weakleys family in the early 19th century thus naming Lockeland Springs.
Later, country estates dotted the landscape: Lockeland, Lynnlawn, Edgewood, and Springside, to name a few. Subdivision of these estates began in the 1870s, and the building of the Woodland Street Bridge in 1886 and the introduction of electric streetcars spurred suburban development. By 1890, electric streetcar lines linked east Nashville with downtown. Prior to this, only the wealthy could afford to commute from their estates to the other side of the Cumberland River. Access was further facilitated by the construction of the
Shelby Street Bridge
The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge (previously called the Shelby Street Bridge or Shelby Avenue Bridge) is a truss bridge that spans the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The bridge spans and is one of the longest pe ...
in 1909. Lockeland Springs was annexed to the City of Nashville in 1905.
During the
Nashville Tornado Outbreak of 1998, many of the area's homes were damaged or destroyed.
The neighborhood was subsequently hit by the
Nashville 2020 Tornado around 12:45 AM on March 3, 2020. The tornado, which passed through much of Nashville, was categorized as an
EF3 when it passed through Lockeland Springs. The tornado travelled east to west, destroying several commercial buildings in Five Points, then damaging and destroying numerous homes along Woodland, Holly, Russell and Fatherland Streets. The historic
Holly Street Fire Hall sustained extensive damage. The tornado then exited Lockeland Springs as it passed through the Shelby Golf Course and crossed Riverside Drive.
Former Nashville Mayor
Bill Purcell resides in Lockeland Springs.
There are over 1500 households in the neighborhood. The neighborhood association was formed in 1978.
External links
Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association website
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Neighborhoods in Nashville, Tennessee