Daily News Journal, Nancy De Gennaro, March 6, 2015
Sarah King, a former president of the National Daughters of the Revolution, helped save Oaklands from destruction. (Photo: GNS file)
Many of the historical sites traditionally associated with men have strong ties to women, too, van Zelm said.
Three key areas are typically associated with women in Rutherford County: education, preservation and community service, she said.
Preservation
“The Rutherford County Courthouse (Murfreesboro Public Square), if you look at the surface, traditionally it’s been a male environment where men were public officials and lawyers. But if you look at the preservation of the courthouse, you discover how important women were to preserving it. Today, it is one of only a few Antebellum courthouses left in Tennessee,” van Zelm said.
Sarah King was one of the women at the helm of preserving that historic site. She was also one of 25 women who were instrumental in stopping the demolition of what is now Oaklands Historic House Museum (900 N. Maney Ave.), home to one of Murfreesboro’s first families, Dr. James and Sarah Murfree Maney.
Community service
Red Cross nurse Maud Ferguson forged a partnership with the Commonwealth Fund of New York that helped make the Rutherford County Health Department (historic site at 303 N. Church St.) the first of its kind in any rural section of the United States, van Zelm noted in the brochure.
“It was a very influential health department throughout the state and throughout the South,” van Zelm said. From all over the United States, student nursing programs, predominantly made up of women, came to the Murfreesboro-based health department to train, she said.
The Albert Gore Research Center at MTSU, located in Todd Hall on campus, spotlights many of the women-centered service groups, she said.
“They have records of some important women’s organizations, both business and professional, the Woman’s Club, Charity Circle and League of Women Voters,” van Zelm said.
Other items include works of Civil War diarist Emma Lane, equine journalist Margaret Lindsley Warden, and Smyrna writer-editor Adeline King, van Zelm noted.
Education
“Women have played an important role in education in Rutherford County,” van Zelm said.
Although Homer Pittard Campus School (923 E. Lytle St.) is a co-educational K-5, many MTSU education majors — traditionally women — have trained there for years, van Zelm said.
Originally a school for white males, Bradley Academy (415 S. Academy St.) became a co-ed school for African-American students. And one of the best-known graduates was Myrtle Glanton Lord, who taught there. Later, Lord became a board member when a group formed to turn the structure into a historic museum, now known as Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center. The museum’s Heritage Classroom is named for her and features other exhibits spotlighting women like Nannie G. Rucker, who was the first black woman elected as a Tennessee delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and Emma G. Roberts, a principal at Bradley and the first African-American educator from the county inducted into the Tennessee Teachers Hall of Fame (1995).
One of van Zelm’s favorite education-centered stories revolves around Mary Ella Hall, who was known statewide for her contributions to elementary education. Hall grew up at Piedmont, a historic site and private home located at 9725 John Bragg Highway. Hall’s father was a doctor and she, too, wanted to go into medicine. But back then, women weren’t afforded the opportunities in that field, so instead, she threw her energies into education.
Van Zelm wrote: “Miss Mary,” as she was affectionately known, developed the compassion and independence that characterized her career as an inspirational teacher, pioneering regional supervisor of elementary education, civic leader, and founding member of the Tennessee chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an honorary society for women in education. Miss Mary Hall dormitory at MTSU is named for her. Described by First Lady Rosalynn Carter as “a perfect role model for generations of young women,” Hall is buried in the family cemetery.
The Clardy House, 435 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, is the location where Hattie Moore opened a guest house (a bed and breakfast), which was later purchased by Betsy and Frank Clardy.
Among the other sites on the self-guided tour:
•Clardy House, 435 E. Main St., Murfreesboro — Hattie Moore opened a guest house (a bed and breakfast), which was later purchased by Betsy and Frank Clardy
•Childress House, 225 N. Academy St., Murfreesboro — home of Sarah Childress Polk, wife of President James K. Polk
•Mary Kate Patterson House, 158 Ferguson Drive, La Vergne — she was a Confederate Spy who provided information to Coleman’s Scouts and was first woman to be buried in Confederate Circle in Nashville’s Mount Olivet Cemetery
•Hilltop-Rosenwald Park, 565 Mason Tucker Drive, Smyrna — Built in 2003, the park honors several outstanding female leaders from the Hilltop Community
Contact Nancy De Gennaro at 615-278-5148 or [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @DNJMama
If you go
Pick up a copy of “In the Footsteps of Notable Women: A Self-guided Tour of Rutherford County” brochure at The Heritage Center, 225 W. College St. in Murfreesboro. Call 615-217-8013 for details.