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Historic Tennessee State Fairgrounds
The property of the State Fairgrounds is a property rich in history, dating back to the time before there even was a state of Tennessee or a city of Nashville. The fairgrounds are the largest andlast portion of a 640 acre tract of land belonging to an early settler, John Rains. Rains was given thatsection of land by the new United States as a reward for service in the Revolutionary War, as was thecustom with soldiers of the Revolution. At that time, there was no state of Tennessee, and the area wasa part of North Carolina, inhabited only by the Native Americans.This practice of rewarding soldiers with land for their military service ensured that the frontiersof the new country were settled by loyal and hardy men.Rains, originally a native of Virginia, set out with his family to claim his land grant along theCumberland River, and along the way met up with a group of other Revolutionary veterans led byJames Robertson. And so on that cold wintry Christmas day of 1779, Rains and his family crossed thefrozen Cumberland River along with 200 other settlers to found what would become the city of Nashville.While Robertson built Fort Nashboro, Rains built another blockhouse fort in the center of his property (approximately where the public television station sits on Rains Road) that served to helpfortify the new city. Water for the Rains family came from a spring close to what is now the Nolensville Road entrance to the State Fairgrounds.The local natives did not take kindly to the usurpation of their land by the new settlers, andrelations were warlike for several of the early years of the community. Rains was one of the leadingdefenders of the area and was often called upon by Robertson to lead raids against the natives.Rains is credited with bringing the first herds of cattle and horses to the region, and his herdsgrazed in what is now the fairgrounds along Brown’s Creek, and his crops grew on the hill overlookingthe area.The area prospered and in 1784, the state of North Carolina incorporated the city of Nashville atwhat was then known as Fort Nashboro. In 1796, after North Carolina had ceded its land to the UnitedStates, the state of Tennessee was admitted to the union.John Rains continued to be an outspoken and prominent citizen of Nashville living to the ripeage of 91, dying in 1824 and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.Rains’ property was divided among his eleven descendants, and on this property grew another piece of Nashville history.Before there was country music, before there was a Ryman, there was horse racing in Nashville,and horse racing is what first put Nashville on the map.
During the mid-to-late 1800’s there were numerous horse racing tracks scattered in and around Nashville—at one time there were at least six in simultaneous operation in the city. But the mostfamous of all was the one known as Cumberland Park, situated on the site of the current racetrack atthe fairgrounds.But Cumberland Park was the most famous of all, at one time hosting the largest purse in theworld for horse racing. Events at Cumberland Park were reported not only nation-wide as regular features in papers such as the New York Times, but all around the world.But in 1904 a new era was ushered in with the advent of automobile racing at Cumberland Park.Drivers came here from the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and held the first automobile event at thetrack. Among the drivers was legendary driver Barney Oldfield, and speeds reached an incredible 60mph during that first race.The automobiles continued to race, and interest in horse racing declined, in part due to theoutlawing of gambling in Tennessee in 1906. Cumberland Park, now know as the State Fairgroundswas acquired by Davidson County in 1909.But the next big event at the fairgrounds was not on the ground, but in the air. In June of 1910,the U.S. Army held maneuvers and an exhibition at Cumberland Park, attended by the Secretary of theArmy.And around 10 p.m. on the night of June 22, noted airman Charles K. Hamilton took off fromthe racetrack making the first night flight in the history of aviation.
Hamiltonwas flying anaircraft designed bythe noted GlenCurtiss and made theflight with asearchlight strappedto the bottom of hisaircraft, aimed forward. The flight lasted about 20 minutes and reached an altitude of about 600 feet before Hamilton brought his aircraft down in the field just past the racetrack.At the end of that week the Nashville Board of Trade presentedHamilton with a gold medal, encrusted withdiamonds to commemorate the event.Another unusual event took place atthe racetrack on December 15, 1929.There was a racehorse named JohnR. Gentry who dominated the horse racingworld during 1890’s, setting a world recordfor trotting horses by approaching the two-minute mile with a time of 2:00.25.At the time of his retirement in 1900 John R. Gentry was owned by E.H. Harriman, father of diplomat Avril Harriman, who sent Gentry to Nashville to enjoy his retirement in a special stall builtfor him at the fairgrounds, along with an adjoining apartment for his long-time trainer, Sam Seay.John R. Gentry died in 1920 at age 32—the oldest noted racehorse in the world at that time— and was buried in the infield of the fairgrounds racetrack. Over 100 people attended the funeral,conducted by the Reverend George Stoves and eulogized by poet laureate John Trotwood Moore.However, automobile racing continued at the fairgrounds and in 1958, dirt track racing endedthere as the track was paved. That same year brought NASCAR sanctioning to the track, and for thenext 50 years, the fairgrounds racetrack was home to everyone who was anyone in the world of NASCAR. Drivers there during this period included the great Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, BobbyAllison, Coo Coo Marlin, Darrell Waltrip, Geoffery Bodine, Bill Elliot, and even country music star Marty Robbins.
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