Mattie Sperry Price 1869 -1972

George H. Price 1897

Interview with Mrs. Price

Ms. Weaver interviewed Mrs. Mattie Sperry Price in 1951 at her home at 924 Third Ave. South when Ms. Price was age 82.  Ms. Price was the daughter of John. H. Sperry of Nashville and was married to George H. Price of Nashville. Her husband, Dr. Price, was a prominent  physician and professor at the Vanderbilt medical school who worked with Dr. Giles C. Savage at their office at number 164 8th Ave. North. Dr. George H. Price was the son of  Dr. George W. Price who was the founder of  Price's School for Young Ladies at Vauxhall and Broad Streets where Ms. Sperry attended school. Ms. Price's comments show many of the aspects of life during this period in the area of South Nashville.

Many of the streets named by Ms. Price were the older names and have been changed. Second Avenue was called Market, Third Avenue was College, Fourth Avenue was Cherry, and Fifth Avenue was Summer.

(Excepts from William Waller's  Nashville in the 1890s)

The Interview:

"  ...  ..I suppose that I am one of the few people in Nashville who still lives in the same house in which they were born  that is, people of my age group. Mattie Sperry was my maiden name, and my father bought this house soon after he was married. So it is one of the few places in Nashville which still houses the family of the original owners. It is an old fashioned place with its large rooms and high ceilings, but I have always loved it. We have added some modern conveniences, but the parlor we have always tried to keep it as originally. You might feel you are stepping back into old Nashville when you enter this room; for it is really as it was in the days when I first remember it. You can imagine how  many memories it does hold for me. I think we have welcomed the changes that have been made in the house. I remember when gas lights were put in; that was considered quite an innovation. There was a bathroom in the house when my father bought it; in fact, I suppose that we had the first copper bathtub in Nashville. It was really a curiosity.

I have very happy memories of the days when I was growing up here. My father was a very indulgent parent, and I expect he was much less strait laced than was my mother. I remember his saying quite early that he wanted me to take dancing lessons for he did not want me to be as "awkward as a cow." That amused me very much. He often took me to the theater and sometimes to the races. I am not sure that many fathers of that day took their daughters to such places. On the other hand my mother was an ardent member of the Elm Street Methodist Church, and for  many years she taught the largest Sunday school class in Nashville. As I look back, it seems to me that my girlhood followed more the pattern set by my father than by my mother. I never felt at home at old Elm Street. I think that the services were too emotional and there was too much shouting.  For some reason I began to

attend at the First Presbyterian Church . I greatly admired Dr. (Jere) Witherspoon, the minister, and found the entire worship much more satisfying. There was no shouting, no revival techniques, no condemning as a sinner those few who danced. I suppose it was a sermon that Dr. Witherspoon preached which led me to decide to join. Some of my friends accused me of trying to lift myself out of my neighborhood and go to an uptown church that caused me to make the change, but I do not think that was it at all.

When I did join the church, I took it very seriously. I gave up dancing, card-playing, the theater, and all the things which some people felt that church members should not do. I was really quite earnest about the whole thing.  No, my mother seemed to be completely willing for me to join the Presbyterian Church. I did not think at the time about its being a particularly liberal thing for her to do, but I suppose that it was. Later my father joined the Presbyterian Church with me. I had not anticipated that at first.

I started school at the old Howard School where all the children of the community went. Professor (Samuel S.] Woolwine was the head principal, and Mrs. Baldwin was the lady Principal. I left Howard at the end of the fourth grade. At that time, Price's School was opened, and I went there with Mary Belle Keith and Lillie and Emma Morrow. The decision to go to Price's was probably due to the fact that he was a Methodist. A bit later I transferred to Ward?s because my father had a friend who came there to teach. When I went as far away as Price's and Ward's, I was sent in a barouche, and sometimes we would pick up the other girls in this neighborhood who were going. The first year I was at Ward's, Mary Lou Harris and I tied for valedictory honors. Miss Nixon, my father's friend at Ward's, helped us out of this difficulty by writing a dialogue which we could say at commencement. And how well I do remember the dresses which the two of us wore. We had them made at Thompson's. One had a beautiful red sash, and the other had a beautiful blue one.

I suppose the things which we enjoyed doing together in the neighborhood were the things which children have been enjoying for years. There were marbles and rope-jumping and "I Spy." One of the fine homes on Rutledge Hill had a gymnasium and all of the children of the neighborhood went to classes there. One of the most exciting occasions of each year was the annual Sunday School picnic which we looked forward to with so much longing and anticipation....

....I graduated from Ward's in 1887 and was married in 1897. My husband was Dr. George Price, son of the founder of Price's College. My husband was associated with Dr. [Giles ] Savage. Dr. Savage's specialty was the eye while Dr. Price concentrated on the ear, nose, and throat. At the same time he taught physiology at the Vanderbilt Medical School. When Dr. Savage's health failed, my husband took over the eye specialty. Eventually Dr. Price developed almost crippling arthritis and became an emeritus professor at the University. We always lived in my parent's home. My mother died soon after we were married; my father died in 1917; Dr. Price passed away in 1927; and my only brother has also passed away. I am the only one left who has been so long and intimately connected with this house.

It never occurred to me that I would really live out my life in this old community, but it was such a convenient place to live that we could never bring ourselves to move away from it. It is so very near town;  the only obstacle being the fact that a negro community

lies between our home and Broad Street. This was commonly known as Black Bottom, although I have always tried to get my friends to call it Ebony Flats. But that settlement did not detract too much from the great convenience of our location. In the

days when my father was connected with Merchant Bank and the Federal Trust Company, a hot dinner was sent to him daily. It was taken to him by Willis a colored boy who lived with us from the time he was seventeen until he was forty-two. He was the son of our cook who was with us for an even longer period of time. He took care of the horses and whatever vehicle we were using at the time, drove Father to work every morning and took his hot lunch to him. That is almost unbelievable at the present time.

Dr. Price found this location equally convenient for him. He could eat breakfast at home, teach a class at Vanderbilt Medical School, which was located in the immediate vicinity, and then go to his office. He could come home for a mid-day dinner, attend clinics at the University in the afternoon, and then go back to his office. He was always home for supper in the evening, and if by chance there were night clinics, he was nearby to attend. So you can see how hard it would have been for us to contemplate moving.

Rutledge Hill, which was just off South Market, was a very select neighborhood in which to live. The [William B.] Reeses, [Horace G.] Lipscombs, and Frank Gray lived there. Ed Baxter had one of the most pretentious homes in the community. He had first married Eliza Perkins. Later he married the widow of his brother Jones. The children of his first wife were Katie, Perkins, and Nannie. Lucille and Ewin were children of the second wife. The Baxters had a gymnasium where all of the children took exercises and where the Goodwin sisters had a dancing class. Miss Mary played the piano, and Miss Eliza taught the dancing. Eliza eventually became Mr. Mitchell's second wife. Charles, Margaret, George, and Mary were children of his first wife. Margaret married Dr. McLeod of the Episcopal Church. The second wife of Mr. Mitchell lost one child.

On Market Street lived the Morrows, Hardisons, R.W. Tuner, who married Miss Wright, and Mr. Dillon who married Miss Turner. Between the Dillons and the Turners was a tiny little house which the owners would not sell. It was always an eyesore in the community, but the man insisted that he would not sell until "hell froze over."

Across from us lived Mr. [Henry] Metz, a German Lutheran. I should say, however, that he did not join the church until he was on his deathbed. He kept a gentleman's furnishing store. Eventually, one of the Metz's girls married Oliver J. Timothy. They lived in the second house from the Metzes until Mrs. Metz died and they came back to the family place to keep house for the old man. The Metz girl was really lovely; she was chubby and blond and beautiful. I think that she probably went to a convent and joined the Catholic Church even before she married Timothy. She was married in a very elegant manner at the Cathedral; well do I

remember the excitement of that wedding. I was just a little girl of twelve, but I found all of the goings on across the street very exciting and romantic, indeed. Mr. Metz objected to the wedding, but he finally could hold out no longer against his daughter and Timothy. But for a time the end was doubtful.

Mr. Oliver J. Timothy was a remarkable gentleman who ran a dry goods store. He did a great deal for South Nashville. He bought up fifty or sixty houses and tried to improve them in order to make the community better and more attractive. He also owned much business property in town. The daughter of Timothy and Miss Metz married Charles M. McCabe, who became postmaster. Many people considered Mr. Timothy very eccentric. He was abrupt and blunt to some people, and he seemed to have a bad disposition; but his neighbors found him warm hearted, generous, and loyal. He was very good to clerks in his store. It was said that he sent clerks to Denver when they had tuberculosis, giving them the money to stay until they were able to return. A story is told of his taking off his coat and giving to a beggar at the entrance of the church saying that the poor man was in greater need of it than he was. He knew a great deal of history and poetry and could quote great quantities of the latter. He was an ardent Catholic and member of the Knights of Columbus. He was also a member of the Hermitage Club and took great delight in hanging out there, for he was very popular with the other members. He bought property in large quantities, and the report was that he always made at least six percent on it. H.J. Grimes was one of Timothy's clerks in the store, which was between Union and the Square on the west side of College Street...

...It was on Carroll Street that the Caverts lived. The Medical School was on Elm and  Summer. Old Peabody was on Market, Mr. Litterer gave the building for a laboratory for the Vanderbilt Medical School, and it was located on Market Street...

... I cannot seem to remember the people who lived on Cherry Street. It was a street of very small houses, and no people of great importance lived there. South Summer Street was an entirely different matter. It was a street of attractive houses and lovely people. McCarthy, Covington, Chase, Dr. McMurray, Hancock, McKay of McKay and Cameron, G.P. Rose, Dr. Ross, Mitch Blanton, Sneed, John McCann the miller, Sorey Bailey, and Mr. Gennett are a few of the names I can recall with ease. Mr. McCann was a brilliant speaker and loved to do it on all occasions. My father bought the Houston home on Summer Street and gave it to my brother when he married. Most of the people whom I have mentioned were very active in Elm Street Methodist Church, but a few of them went to McKendree.....

....One if the most elegant parties that I can remember was one given by the Charles Nelsons, who lived on South College Street. It was a reception commemorating their twenty-fifth anniversary. Everything was imported from Louisville ? food, waiters, decorations, and everything. The menu was stamped in gold on white satin ribbon, and the food was elegant. ...

...One of the big events of my life was the coming of the electric street cars to Nashville. Albert Marks was aboard the first one I rode and had a pin made from the nickel fare with my initials put on it. That was my memento of the ride. Our cook used to rush to the front door to watch the cars go by just as people of today used to rush out to the airport to watch the planes come in...