Downtown Nashville’s most iconic landmark, The Nashville House, is closing at the end of this month.
The decision was announced with a brief post on the restaurant’s social media page last night.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I announce that Oct. 28, 2018 will be the last day the Nashville House will be open,” it read. “We can’t thank all of our employees and patrons enough for over nine decades of loyalty and patronage.”
The closure comes three months after the passing of the restaurant’s patriarch, Frank “Andy” Rogers. He had run the Nashville House since 1959, a business his father, Andrew Jackson “Jack” Rogers, had co-founded with Fred Bates Johnson in 1927.
Andy’s family members had been assisting in the management of his business affairs for several years.
His wife, Fran Rogers, passed away in January 2017. Her celebration of life took place at The Nashville House.
One of the five Rogers daughters, Gina Sarah Rogers, posted this message to the restaurant’s Facebook page this afternoon:
“To those who are angry or negative or don’t understand:
“Writing the post about the Nashville House closing was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
“My heart is broken. I loved my parents so much and miss them even more. My sister and I literally grew up in the Nashville House. I used to help my grandma White make coleslaw in the kitchen when I was just a toddler. We grew up having the run of the Nashville House. We’d help out and we were part of the Nashville House family basically from the time we were born.
“I started really working when I was around 7 (unpaid of course, lol) – running the desk, making change, handling the waiting list (I remember the 4 hour waits), busing tables, waiting tables, doing dishes, running the store, making biscuits and slaw, cooking, washing pots and pans – you name it, my sister and I did it.
In the past 2 years I’ve lost both my mom and dad. Despite taking care of my ill parents for years, my passion and love for the Nashville House never wavered. I miss talking to them about business and how things are going. As my parents grew more ill, I helped keep the Nashville House alive and my fiance Jay and I made many improvements to keep things going. It’s come a long way in the past few years and I’m very proud of that.
“I wish my parents could see how smoothly October has been going. I know they would be so proud of all of our employees. I can just picture all the times mom and dad helped out in October – they were never above getting their hands dirty and pitching in. I miss seeing the pride in my parents faces when they saw me or my sister working. I loved when I worked along side my parents. I miss running the desk with dad – even though after he handed me over the waiting list, I’d have to decipher his chicken scratches, lol – but I was always pretty good at it.
“We have always been one big family – everybody pitches in to get the job done. My parents were just another part of the Nashville House family (the mom and dad, if you will) – our family, our wonderful employees, past and present, have always been the heart of the Nashville House and we will always remember them and be truly grateful for them.
“I’ve always pictured carrying on my parents tradition for decades to come, but times change and dreams die.
“Thank you for all of your best wishes and support. This is the end of an era and very heartbreaking.
“With a very heavy heart,
Gina Sarah Rogers,
Proud Daughter of Andy and Fran Rogers”
History
Though it’s been known for almost 60 years for its country meals and rustic, homey dining room, The Nashville House has a much longer history in Brown County.
The original Nashville House was built just before the Civil War, in 1859, and served as a hostel and tavern.
That building changed hands several times in the late 1800s and early 1900s, taking on family names such as “the Hampton Hotel,” “the Hobbs Inn” or “Pittman’s Inn.”
Johnson and Jack Rogers visited it as guests the day after Christmas 1926, and Johnson casually remarked that what Brown County needed was a modern hotel. “Within a few minutes, a real estate deal was in motion and shortly after midnight he, with Mr. Rogers, found themselves the owners of the hotel,” the story said.
The partners expanded the building, installing a stone fireplace made from the former structure’s basement walls, and reopened it in October 1927 as a hotel serving meals. It also housed a gift shop, the Brown County Folks Shop.
Jack Rogers became the sole owner in 1934.
On Sept. 24, 1943, all of the building but the fireplace and fire escape were destroyed in a fire that was slow-burning enough for townspeople to go in and save antiques. They kept them in their homes until the building was rebuilt.
In a 1990 interview, Andy Rogers remembered his father seeing the glow from Belmont; he was on his way back from Bloomington and the fire was almost out when he got to town. “They ran out of water,” he said. “There were people crying in the streets.”
All the volunteers had was a bucket brigade until help arrived from the Bloomington fire department. At that time, the town’s greatest water source, besides Salt Creek, was a couple of hand pumps stationed around town.
This was the second fire in less than five years to threaten The Nashville House; a blaze in December 1939 had wiped out three buildings on Main Street, but the Nashville House was saved by a cooler explosion that leveled an ice cream shop next door, putting a gap in the burning block which the flames couldn’t breach, according to newspaper archives.
Before he would rebuild, Jack Rogers wanted a better water supply, Andy Rogers remembered.
It took four years to rebuild The Nashville House after the 1943 fire and World War II. It reopened in December 1947. “The structure will be as different from the conventional hotel as Brown County is different from the rest of the world,” the newspaper story said. “As A.J. Rogers, the owner, says, ‘We do things differently here in Brown County.'”
It was made of native timber and some reclaimed pieces, including a window from a former downtown building and a large piece of sandstone that townspeople had used to sharpen their knives. That stone became a windowsill.
The Nashville House was rebranded as a restaurant and gathering place with a large lobby and massive fireplace.
As tourism to the county grew, it was often out-of-towners who visited The Nashville House and its adjoining businesses.
Those now include Our Sandwich Place downstairs, the Creperie & Cafe in a walk-up stand outside, and the Spears Gallery in the shop space on the end.
Future?
The futures of the building and business are unknown at this time. The Nashville House is not currently for sale, as it is part of the Rogers estate.
David Martin, a former antique shop owner, has been leading a charge to create a historic preservation ordinance for Nashville buildings in anticipation of any changing hands in the future. Currently, if anyone wanted to take down any building in downtown Nashville, the most the town council could do would be to delay it by 45 days.
Martin called the news that the Nashville House was closing “very disappointing” because it’s “a landmark in our community, not just the architectural side but (also) the country store and restaurant.”
“I know that things have to change, but that’s part of Brown County, that things kind of stay the same, and people come back expecting to see the things that they have appreciated in the past, and it’ll be too bad to have (The Nashville House) gone,” he said.
Read more in the Oct. 24 paper.
