| Lifestyles and Entertainment:
Wanamaker's project completed
Local artist Monty Wanamaker has completed the fourth in a series of numbered calendars, comprised of six suitable-for-framing prints from his original paintings and drawings. Only 250 limited editions of "McMinnville and Warren County, Tennessee's Landmark Calendar 2003" are available for purchase, making them unusual collectibles and special as Christmas gifts. At a cost of $20 each, the calendars can be obtained at Art and Antiques Emporium (Now Southern Museum & Galleries, Antiques-on-Main and Martin-Glenn Glass Company. Featured subjects include the following: Charles Faulkner Bryan, 1911-1955, was raised in the Faulkner Springs community at Falconhurst, the 1840s ancestral home of his great-great-uncle, |
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Beersheba Springs Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1836, two noted McMinnvillians acquired 500 acres of mountaintop land in an area which was then part of Warren County and built a tavern near the bluff overlooking Collins River Valley. In 1854, the tavern and several cabins purchased for improvements would become the celebrated Hotel. By 1860, hundreds of guests were being entertained at the site which boasted a French chef, servants and a band. During the War Between the States, Federal troops camped inside its walls. Through the years the Hotel's ownership changed many times and it is now property of the United Methodist Assembly.
Viola Normal College, built in the mid 1880s, was Viola's first school. This Gothic brick building became an acclaimed educational institution with some 50 students enrolled by 1892. Eventually the structure was torn down and Todd Boarding School was erected there. Now on the site is the Viola Valley Community Center in the building which housed Viola School until 1990.
Spring Street Service Station, located at the corner of Spring and Morford streets, was built in the late 1930s by J.D. Womack for Pure Oil distributor L.L. Quinn. It was later owned by Kelly McVey Sr. as one of the last full-service stations in the downtown area. Designed by architect Carl August Peterson, this English-style building is the prototype of the Pure Oil stations erected throughout the country. The building was purchased by Oscar and Vickie Spivey and after renovation was opened by Mrs. Spivey as The Station-Pure Art gallery. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 2001.
The Black House, recognized as the oldest remaining residence in McMinnville, acquired its name from Dr. Thomas Black, who purchased the property in 1874 and practiced medicine on the premises up until his death in 1904. Built in 1825 by Jesse Coffee, the old structure has undergone extensive renovation and was placed on the National Register in 1984. It now serves as a museum.
First Presbyterian Church bell was cast in 1877 and the stained glass windows date back to the early 1800s. In June of 1839, the McMinnville Cumberland Presbyterian Congregation was organized in the small Baptist meeting house on Lyon Street, but later became known as Presbyterian U.S.A. About 1840, its first building was erected on West Main, but was destroyed by fire in February 1866. The present building was constructed in 1872 with the sanctuary completed about 1878. The original wooden pews and grand pine organ purchased in 1890 are still in use today.