Nashville Female Academy and Downtown YMCA

Occupying five acres on this northwest corner of downtown, the Nashville Female Academy was founded over 200 years ago in 1817. It opened as a private school for the daughters of upper-class Nashvillians, as neither Davidson Academy nor its successor, the University of Nashville, accepted women. The school offered a rigorous curriculum for its day but also prepared young women for society life rather than a paid profession.

Nashville Female Academy was considered the most prestigious school for women in the region. Its first principal was Dr. Daniel Berry of Salem, Massachusetts. During the Civil War, the school’s classes were suspended when federal troops seized campus buildings to use for officer quarters and a hospital. The hospital, located where you are standing now, remained in operation until 1865 and treated Union soldiers. The school continued to hold classes as part of the Lanier Female Academy. After the war, students returned to this campus, but enrollment declined and the school’s last class graduated in 1878. After the academy closed, most of the students, young white women, transferred to Ward Seminary, established in 1865, or enrolled in the Edgefield Female Academy in East Nashville when it opened in 1881. Eliza Ward, co-founder of Ward Seminary, was an 1858 graduate of the Nashville Female Academy. You will see the former location of Ward Seminary later on this tour.

Stay in this same location for the next part of this stop. If you would like, enter the lobby, which is open to the public during normal business hours. There you will find an exhibit of the YMCA’s history in Nashville. 

Everyone knows the 1978 song classic Y-M-C-A by the Village People, but what is the real story behind the “Y” in Nashville? In 1871, a Library Association was formed in Nashville with six leased rooms in the State Bank Building on Union and Cherry Streets. In 1875, the Library Association’s rooms and library were made available to the newly formed YMCA. Then in 1886, the YMCA and Library Association parted ways, and the YMCA board purchased a lot between Third and Fourth Avenues North and built a new building.

That building was later destroyed by fire and the YMCA purchased property at 7th Avenue and Union and completed construction of an 8-story structure in 1912, where the organization remained for over sixty years. In the 1912 building, the YMCA’s educational opportunities greatly expanded with the John Hill Eakin Institute. According to founding documents, the institute was established “for employed boys and young men and constitutes the Educational Departments of the Young Men’s Christian Association.” Departments included the School of Commerce and Finance, Technical School, Night High School, Law School, and Special Vocational Courses. High school diplomas could also be earned through the YMCA’s educational programming. 

In 1973, the current YMCA building was completed and while the John Hill Eakin Institute did not reopen, the YMCA continues to offer many classes focused on health, nutrition, finance, literacy, and fitness. The lobby is open to the public during normal business hours and features an exhibit of the organization’s history in Nashville. 

For the next stop, walk about half a block towards MLK Jr. Boulevard (away from Church Street). Look to your left to see the back of the TSU Avon Williams campus just down the hill. Once the campus is in view, begin the narration for the next stop. Please feel free to walk to the TSU Avon Williams complex for a closer view and to see the Avon Williams Jr. historical marker next to the front entrance.