CANE RIDGE SCHOOL 1826-1893? was located on Old Hickory Boulevard about one and one-half miles south of the present I-24/Old Hickory Boulevard intersection. The school was at one time on the same side of the road as the graveyard and the red brick church. Because of a change in the curve of the road, the road now comes between the graveyard and the site of the school.
3.75 acres of land on the headwaters of Hurricane Creek were deeded July 19, 1826 for “a church, a burying ground, and subscription school.” CANE RIDGE SCHOOL was across the Rutherford County line in Davidson County but students from both counties attended the school.
The school suffered from fire in 1858. On March 20, 1893, heavy snow caused the roof to cave in. Among the last teachers before the school was abandoned were Mrs. Elnora Baker Battle and Dan Robinson.
The new CANE RIDGE SCHOOL 1908-1956 was in a two story building formerly used by Gilroy Church of Christ around the turn of the century. It was on Cane Ridge Road which turns west off Old Hickory a few hundred yards south of the brick church. The school was on the south side of the road. School classes 1-12 were held on the first floor and elections were held on the second.
In 1912-1913, Alfred Douglas Ferrell was principal.
Among the students from Rutherford County were: “Nat ” A. B. Mitchell, who would have been 108 in 1986; and the Mullins family including the mother of Fannie Bell Paul Taylor. Fannie Bell Taylor was also a student at CANE RIDGE and at the age of eighteen taught at TIPPERARY.
When the TIPPERARY SCHOOL was built in 1925, the Rutherford County students of CANE RIDGE transferred to the new school.
CANE RIDGE was used for Davidson County students until 1956. The first school was destroyed but the second is still standing in 1986 and is used as a community center.
The Cane Ridge Community Center was nominated in 1983 for recognition in the Nashville Metropolitan Historical Commission’s Architectural Award’s program in the institutional/educational category.
SOURCES: Lillian Brown Johnson, Historical Cane Ridge and Its Families Nashville: Blue and Gray Press, 1973, pp. 326-333. Interview, May 9, 1983, with Lillian Brown Johnson.
