Belair (Hillsboro Rd.)

2500 Woodlawn Ave. (former Belair St.) Nashville, TN

Circa post 1884. 2-story frame Victorian house

Matthew "Matt" Franklin Allen (1843-1917) and Elizabeth "Betty" Catherine McCasland Allen (1861-1915) built Belair after 1884.

They wed in 1880. The Victorian house sat on 132 acres on the east corner of Belair St. (now Woodlawn Ave.) and 25th Ave. South. Matt worked with the state prison in manufacturing. Then Allen worked with Cherry, O’Connor & Co. which manufactured the Tennessee Wagon. In 1894, he bought W.L. Waters and Sons and renamed it Allen Manufacturing Co. with a plant downtown at Tenth Ave. and Union St. The plant made coal and wood burning stoves. He operated it until 1914. In 1890, the Allens sold Belair to developers to move to the city.

James Orville Shackleford (1809-1880) and Sabrina Metcalf Shackleford owned it in the late 1890s. They wed in 1836. Shackleford was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee and chancellor of the 7th Chancery Nashville Division in 1868. Mrs. Shackleford remained in Belair and lived with extended family.

Before 1914, a large tract of the property including the house was purchased by Bertrand Howe and moved across the street to its present address 2500 Woodlawn Ave. At that time, the street was called Belair, and later was changed to Woodlawn.

Later, Howe another home Bonnie Brae overlooking the valley to the south in 1914.

The next owner was Frederick Lowe.

Then Jane Lealand Black owned it and made it into a duplex.

In 1977, it was sold to Glenn W. and Cynthia Hull Petach, and they have remained Petach was a founder of the Hillsboro-Weset End Neighborhood Association. The Shackleford family is remembered by Shackleford Dr. nearby. The neighborhood is called Belair. See Bonnie Brae

Sources:

Nashville Pikes: Vol Two 150 Years along Hillsboro Pike, Ridley Wills II, p. 90

Home Place: History of the Hillsboro-West End Neighborhood, p. 13