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Edgehill/ The Edge

Updated: Jul 17

Original site: Hillsboro Turnpike and Jackson St.(current 21st Ave. South and Edgehill)/ relocated to current Bowling Ave.

Circa 1879. 2-story home.

Photo from Just Curious! site


Charles A.R. Thompson (1825-1898) and Kate Morton White Thompson (1833-1884) constructed Edgehill with 12 acres of expansive gardens. He was a partner in Thompson & Kelly, downtown dry goods merchants. According to the sign in front of the home, the company was founded as Thompson and Company in 1845. It was Nashville’s most prominent merchant for silver, china, furs, wools, linens and laces. The store was closed in 1932. Nearby, the Thompsons also owned a 75 acre lot called Thompson Commons; the Edgehill estate stretched from current Edgehill Ave. south to the old L&N railroad tracks (current I-440). In 1896, Vanderbilt students got permission to turn it into a primitive 9-hole golf course which lasted a year. The students moved the idea to a large spot of flat land near Cherokee Park owned by Mark Cockrill.


In 1910, Charles sold the property to George Peabody College, and arranged to dismantle and move Edgehill to the west to Golf Club Lane (current 211 Bowling Ave.). It was reconstructed across from the contemporary Nashville Golf & Country Club, which became Richland Country Club. That property is now Whitworth Club, and to the west of it is West End Middle School. The relocated Edgehill was the first home in the newly developing Whitworth area and near the start of Whitworth Ave. They also transplanted their 12 magnolia and ginko trees. In addition, in 1913, Judge Daniels built his Washington Hall as a neighbor. Then, Charles' brother Edward W. (E.W.) Thompson owned it. He was also part of Thompson's Dry Goods.


By 1962, Dr. Thelma Byrd "Byrd" Bowie (1902-1985) was the owner. She had 2 other sisters who were also physicians: Evangeline "Van" (1899-1992) and Anna May (1890-1980). Van stored a large medical collection at the property. Anna Mary Bowie was the first female faculty member at Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine in 1922. She was an assistant professor of gynecology at the south campus from 1922-1943. At some point, Anna Mary operated a private medical practice from her Edgehill home. Byrd was one of the two women admitted to Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine when it allowed women in 1925. In the 1950s and 60s, Van and her sisters purchased hundreds of acres in Williamson Co., deeded it to the City of Fairview, and the lands became Bowie Natural Park.


In 1985, ownership had changed to James R. Guenther for a year until Steven E. Crook purchased Edgehill the next year.


In 1986, Steven Crook purchased the home, remodeled and revitalized the home into a single family home again. Crook also painted the home’s exterior purple and called it The Edge. The home is recognized by the street Edgehill Ave. Crook worked within the grocery business his grandfather had started in East Nashville to become president and owner: Crook Brothers Grocery, Bill Crook's Food Town, and Steven's. The company had multiple grocery stores in the Nashville area. Crook divested the properties to various buyers by 1997.


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