Nashville Sports and Concert Events

Nashville

Nashville is the capital city of Tennessee, a state of the United States of America. Nashville is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County. Nicknamed "Music City, U.S.A.," it is the home of the Grand Ole Opry and a major recording center. It has also been called the Athens of the South, for its educational institutions and classical architecture. The mayor is Bill Purcell. Nashville was founded as Fort Nashborough on Christmas Day, 1779 by James Robertson, and was named in honour of Francis Nash, a Revolutionary War soldier. It was renamed Nashville in 1784 when it also became established as a town, and became the capital of Tennessee in 1843. It became the trailhead of the Natchez Trace, an important trade feature of the 1800s. In the early-to-mid-19th century, three U.S. presidents came from Tennessee and all were closely associated with Nashville - James Knox Polk, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Johnson. Jackson's home, The Hermitage, remains on the east side of Nashville. The primary news source in Nashville is the Tennessean, a daily newspaper. Although Nashville is renowned for being a major recording centre, its largest industries are actually insurance and finance, followed by publishing. Religious publishing is a significant part of this, and the city also hosts headquarters operations for several Protestant denominations, the largest of which is the Southern Baptist Convention. Nashville is also a major center for healthcare enterprise, and home to Hospital Corporation of America, the largest private operator of hospitals in the world, as well as the headquarters of Shoney's. Other headquarters: Bridgestone Americas Holding (Bridgestone-Firestone), Caremark Dollar General (in Goodlettsville, Tennessee), Louisiana Pacific. Nashville is home to a variety of colleges and universities, as follows: Belmont University, Fisk University, Lipscomb University, Meharry Medical College, Tennessee State University, Trevecca Nazarene University, Vanderbilt University, Watkins College of Art and Design. On March 1, 1941 W47NV (now known as WSM-FM) began operations in Nashville becoming the first FM radio station. Nashville has several professional sports teams, including the Nashville Predators (National Hockey League), the Nashville Sounds (minor league baseball), and the Tennessee Titans (National Football League). The Titans franchise was formerly the Houston Oilers of Houston, Texas, until moving in after the new stadium in Nashville (hit by a tornado during construction) was completed.