Nashville Then: Experience 50 years ago in August 1974 through photos (2024)

A toddler, center, waits on the floor as voters line up to cast ballots at Commerce Union Bank in Green Hills on Aug. 1, 1974.

Ray Blanton, center, gets kisses from his mother, Mrs. L.A. Blanton, left, and his wife, Betty, as election returns on Aug. 1, 1974, showed he won the Democratic nomination in the Tennessee governor's race. Blanton won out over 11 other opponents.

Nashville lawyer Lamar Alexander, right, gets the news on the telephone in Knoxville that he has won the gubernatorial race in the GOP primary on Aug. 1, 1974. With him are, from left, his wife, Honey, and their children, Leslie, 2, and Drew, 4.

Comedian Jerry Lewis, center, is greeted by Harold Crump, second from right, of WLAC-TV and others as he arrives at the Nashville Municipal Airport on Aug. 2, 1974, to appear at Muscular Dystrophy events.

Bill McEnaney, a trick rider with the Longhorn Rodeo, finds the going tough as his horses, Apollo and Samson, part company during practice at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds on Aug. 2, 1974. McEnaney was not injured. The rodeo opens the next night at Municipal Auditorium.

David “Skull” Schulman, right, chats with dancer Linda Brigette, center and another dancer outside the door to his Skull’s Rainbow Room in Nashville's Printers Alley on Aug. 2, 1974.

Minnie Pearl, left, gets a pre-match kiss from actor Wayne Rogers during the Muscular Dystrophy Celebrity Tennis Tournament in Nashville on Aug. 3, 1974. Rogers plays Trapper John on the TV series "M*A*S*H."

Singer-actor Ed Ames, who portrayed Daniel Boone's Native American scout on TV, returns a shot during a doubles match in the Muscular Dystrophy Celebrity Tennis Tournament on Aug. 3, 1974.

Rabbi Baruch Korff, right, presents his arguments against President Richard Nixon’s impeachment and removal from office to WLAC-TV’s Stan Siegel during an interview on the station's morning program on Aug. 5, 1974.

As the man-made Watauga Lake in Centennial Park slowly drains, ducks swim around an island near the northern edge on Aug. 6, 1974. The lake is being drained so that repairs can be made to the basin.

With Tennessee Gov. Winfield Dunn at the controls, a bulldozer begins demolition of a 67-year-old wing of the Farmer Complex at Central State Psychiatric Hospital on Aug. 8, 1974.

An aerial photo shows the rapid change of downtown Nashville on Aug. 8, 1974.

Herbert C. Gabhart, left, president of Belmont College, shows off the school's new science center on Aug. 8, 1974, to Mrs. and Mr. Tom J. Hitch of Columbia, for whom the building is named. The $1.3 million center will be dedicated Aug. 16.

Stratford High School star Walter Jordan, left, leads his team through opening day drills as fall practice gets underway on Aug. 9, 1974. In the background are quarterback Stan Ryan and head coach Jerry Pigue.

Denmark’s Torben Ulrich returns a shot against Frank Sedgman in the championship match at the Commerce Union Bank Tennis Grand Masters at Centennial Tennis Center on Aug. 11, 1974.

Metro firefighters battle a fire in the sanctuary of the Woodmont Baptist Church in the early morning of Aug. 13, 1974. Bill Sherman, the pastor, said damage to the church would amount to between $250,000 and $400,000.

Mickey Mantle, left, baseball's newest Hall of Famer, is all smiles as he gets ready to play in the opening round of the Capital City Golf Association tournament at McCabe Golf Course in Nashville on Aug. 13, 1974.

Construction crews are clearing a site for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville on Aug. 13, 1974.

Led by the Rev. Bob Mowrey, center, in the driver’s seat of a bulldozer, the congregation of Park Avenue Baptist Church at 43rd Avenue North in Nashville holds groundbreaking services for their new sanctuary, gymnasium and administration building on Aug. 18, 1974.

Fran Duncan is not a Shriner, but she donned an Al Menah Temple fez on Aug. 19, 1974, to help attach decals to one of the 80 new Oldsmobiles that will be used by visiting members at the upcoming 40th annual Southeastern Shrine Association convention in Nashville. Duncan’s boss, Jack Newsome of Hippodrome Oldsmobile, is in charge of transportation for the convention.

Tennessee State Trooper Paul Ervin, center, on Aug. 21, 1974, examines the charred wreckage of the 1974 Corvette in which former McNairy County Sheriff Buford puss*r was killed in Adamsville. puss*r, whose career had become legend through books, ballads and the hit film “Walking Tall," was killed when the sports car left the road at 11:55 p.m. Aug. 20.

Miniature Indy-style racers driven by members of the motor corps of Egypt Temple of Tampa, Florida, line up for a precision drill during competition at the Nashville Municipal Airport on Aug. 22, 1974.

Mrs. James H. Schippers Jr., goes for a stroll with her son Brock in the courtyard of the Elmington Condominiums on Aug. 22, 1974. They are using an English-made “perambulator” that is considered the Rolls-Royce of baby buggies.

Members of the Mahi Temple’s Arab Patrol stand at attention for inspection by two Marine sergeants before they begin their competitive precision marching event at Hillwood High School’s football field in Nashville on Aug. 23, 1974. The temple from Miami is in town for the Shrine convention.

Tennessee State offensive coordinator Alvin Coleman, bottom left, observes as three candidates for the Tigers' staring quarterback job this fall warm up for passing drills on Aug. 24, 1974. From left, Lonnie Stewart (15), Austin Thompson (10) and Edward Cow (11) are preparing for the team's Sept. 7 opener against Middle Tennessee State at Vanderbilt’s Dudley Field.

Buford puss*r's 13-year-old daughter Dwana, center, mourns along with around 200 people who gathered for the graveside services for her father at the Adamsville Cemetery on Aug. 24, 1974. With Dwana is her grandmother, Helen puss*r, center right.

Thousands lined West End Avenue in Nashville as motor units of the Southeastern Shrine Association go through maneuvers during a parade on Aug. 24, 1974, that lasted from early afternoon to almost dark.

A crowd gathers on the steps of the Main Post Office on Broadway in downtown Nashville on Aug. 24, 1974, to watch the longest parade in the city's history, staged by the Southeastern Shrine Association, which is finishing up their convention in Nashville.

David Toombs, left, assistant general manager and assistant chief engineer for Nashville Thermal Transfer Corp., pushes a button on Aug. 29, 1974, to start a working scale model of a scrubber unit that will be installed at the thermal plant within 60 days. Looking on is Carl Avers, general manager and chief engineer of the plant.

Newly elected Metro General Sessions Court Judge J. Randall Wyatt Jr., left, gets some help with his robe from his wife during swearing-in ceremonies at the Metro Courthouse on Aug. 30, 1974.

A couple of role-playing Metro Police officers haul away Kenny, a would-be assassin portrayed by actor David Hayward, center, in Centennial Park during filming the final scene of the movie "Nashville" on Aug. 30, 1974.

Chancellor Alexander Heard, left, and his wife greet Wendy Kaye of Newcastle, Pennsylvania, and John Evans of Gainesville, Florida, during a reception on Aug. 31, 1974, honoring new Vanderbilt University students held at the Heards' home on Deer Park Drive in Nashville.