1975

During May 1975, several people who owned businesses along Gallatin Road rushed to get sign permits before the city’s new sign ordinance went into effect.
Growing commercially, Gallatin Road had become a series of advertising that had run amuck. With safety an issue, the city commission took up the idea of restricting signs.
Business owners opposed the idea. Residents overwhelmingly supported it. Said Mrs. Norman Dam, “As a resident of Hendersonville, [I] have watched with dismay the haphazard and indiscriminate use of outdoor advertising along our main street. We feel the hodgepodge of clutter is unsightly, unsafe and unnecessary.”
Eventually the city commission agreed to eliminate portable electric signs, set 64-square feet as the maximum size for signs, and ban new billboards.

With a delay for the ordinance to take effect, many businesses rushed to secure permits throughout May. The commission responded by placing a moratorium on new permits. The commission also allowed those with permits to keep their larger signs for five more years. That caused many larger signs to be removed closer to the deadline of May 1980.

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1976

Within the conversation to build a bypass for Hendersonville, the Tennessee Tollway Authority voted on May 14, 1976, to fund a feasibility study of a route from Hendersonville to Briley Parkway. The design in mind involved a 6.4-mile road that would cross the Cumberland River at Pennington Bend, allowing cars to make their way to Briley Parkway. Cars would cross at a cost of 25 cents each. What came back in the study effectively killed the project. It stated that the bridge would not be used enough to generate sufficient revenue. In short, it was not feasible. After City Manager Louis Oliver found data to refute the study, several Metro council members spoke up to oppose the plan due to the impact on their constituents. Through some negotiations, the route was adjusted to reach Briley Parkway directly, an idea that would increase the use but require three, expensive bridges. No data or engineers could overcome that obstacle.

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1981

Built in the late 1700s, Rock Castle continued for more than a century to be owned by descendants of Daniel Smith—a frontier general, surveyor and statesman. The last of his descendants to live in the house died in 1888, leaving the working farm to be operated by caretakers. Even though the home had changed very little, it had lost much of its historical demeanor by the late 1960s, when a small group of Hendersonville residents initiated an effort to have the grounds restored and opened to the public. Prompted by those residents and State Representative John Steinhauer, the Tennessee Historical Commission bought the house and its surrounding land with intentions of deeding it to a local organization. The Friends of Rock Castle Inc., held its first meetings in January and February 1971. That group and the Hendersonville chapter of the General Federated Woman’s Club partnered with the state to restore the house and open it to the public on May 2, 1981.

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1988

Superstar Johnny Cash faced failure in his hometown in May 1988. Wanting to sell 95 acres to be developed as 219 residential lots and several commercial parcels, he applied for rezoning to the city. Several nearby residents opposed him. Cash and the developer took the request to the board of mayor and aldermen only to be sent back to the planning commission, deferred later by the board, and denied altogether on May 21, 1988.

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