Eighth Avenue Reservoir & Fort Casino

Walk and listen to this stop as you walk up Hillside Avenue. This is the power walk portion of the tour, so get your heart rate going! Look across the street and locate the circular stone structure of the Eighth Avenue Reservoir. Depending on the season, you might also catch a glimpse of a grand Victorian building on top of the hill. We’ll tell you more about it in a minute.

Edgehill is a very hilly area, which was strategically important during the Civil War. This hill is called Casino Hill or Kirkpatrick Hill. Construction on Fort Casino began in 1862 and it was part of the Union Army’s effort to prevent the Confederacy from retaking the city of Nashville. Fort Casino was abandoned after 1865 when the Civil War ended.

You’ll hear more about the Civil War forts at our next stop, but for now let’s shift to talk about the water. In the 1880s, Casino Hill was chosen as the site of the city’s water reservoir. Do you know what purpose a reservoir serves? It’s an artificial lake where fresh water is stored. As Nashville grew, it needed much more clean water for its residents to drink and use. The lack of clean water was apparent during several cholera epidemics caused by unsanitary water during the late 1800s.

Construction on the Eighth Street Reservoir began in 1888, and the pumping station was finished in 1889. According to a history of Metro Water Services, the pumping station used steam power to pull water from the Cumberland River and sent it here. Then in 1929, the filtration building was completed—that’s the unique Victorian building at the top of the hill. If you can’t see it above the trees, click on the pictures above. The filtration system greatly improved the city’s quality of water, and this reservoir served as Nashville’s main source of clean water for more than 50 years.

The reservoir is 603 feet across, with walls 22 feet wide at the bottom, and the capacity to hold 51 million gallons of water. On November 5, 1912 a wall of the reservoir cracked, and 25 million gallons of water flooded this area. Luckily, the only fatalities were a few chickens, but as the story goes—it’s said the flood happened so fast some people floated out of their houses still in bed! Incredibly, the reservoir is still in operation, though it operates at 50 percent capacity. The filtration building and the reservoir are both on the National Registry of Historical Places.

Turn LEFT and walk up Hillside Ave. past the reservoir. When you reach Edgehill Avenue, cross the street and turn LEFT. Walk to the historical marker in front of Easley Community Center in Rose Park, your next stop.