1971

In early December 1971, the Sumner County School Board created a committee to study year-round schools.
The idea had been suggested in 1970 by the Concerned Citizens Committee of Sumner County, a pro-schools group with heavy involvement from Hendersonville parents. Repeatedly failing to get more funding from the county government for schools, the Concerned Citizens considered year-round schooling as a means of getting 25 percent more use from overcrowded school buildings. Individual students would still attend for nine months each year. But, their start dates would be staggered. Also, their school calendars would have shorter, more frequent breaks with-out a summer vacation.
A couple months after members of the Concerned Citizens publicly made the suggestion, their nemesis, County Judge I.C. McMahan, brought up the idea at a county meeting. Then the editor of the “Gallatin News Examiner” suggested the school board examine the idea. This marked a rare situation where the two sides of the school argument agreed. Support from the newspaper’s editor was exceptionally ironic because of his history of spent ink criticizing the group.
After the editorial, the school board created a committee to study the matter. That was in early December 1971. A month later the school board appointed members to the committee, and in February the committee submitted a report.
There the idea died. The school board deferred consideration of the report, and the idea did not resurface.

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1971

On December 7, 1971, the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce passed a “Resolution recommending reapportionment of the Sumner County Quarterly Court.”
Sumner’s four districts each elected six magistrates to the county court but ranged in population from 16,794, to 11,848. Hendersonville’s growing population was vastly under-represented.
The county body agreed to correct the district lines using the 1960 census, a move to negate the growth of Hendersonville. Forced to use the 1970 census by a federal judge, the county body prepared to hold elections with new district lines but appealed the ruling.
After the subsequent election, the new county court, composed of more people from Hendersonville, dropped its appeal.

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1968

On December 10, 1968, executives from General Electric with officials from the state and county broke ground for the Hendersonville Motor Plant, a 250,000 square-foot building. The location, considered just east of Hendersonville, is today the Aladdin Temp-Rite facility near the intersection of Gallatin Road and Maple Drive.
When General Electric finished construction, the company started manufacturing small A-C motors and generators there. Known locally as the “GE plant,” it became Hendersonville’s largest private employer, requiring police officers to help employees exit the plant onto Gallatin Road every weekday.

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1940

On December 12, 1940, the Sumner County Board of Education approved a resolution offered by Hendersonville’s Harold B. Roney to build the first four-year high school in Hendersonville.
At the time, students could attend public school in Hendersonville until 10th grade. To continue students from Hendersonville often enrolled in Central High School in Gallatin.
The board’s decision had a disclaimer: “provided a building is acquired and appropriations made to operate the school.” Nevertheless in less than a year the new school opened at the end of Campus Drive.
When the domed HHS was built 25 years later, the building on Campus Drive became Hendersonville Junior High School.
(Much of this information comes from Tim Takacs’ Volume I of “The City by the Lake.”)

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1975

On December 16, 1975, the Hendersonville Civic Club met for the last time after 32 years of community service. Organized in 1943, the Civic Club had a hand in nearly every significant event over the next 30 years. The club’s members
• Frequently raised money for schools by organizing parades, festivals, concerts, and the annual Field Day;
• Erected the first welcome signs;
• Built the first HHS football stadium;
• Bought the first fire engine for the community;
• Bought and erected the first traffic signal;
• Created a committee to organize an HHS band;
• Designated the first addresses on property and the first street markers;
• Erected the first speed limit signs and stop signs on Hendersonville side streets;
• Initiated the Hendersonville Utility District; and
• Explored the creation of a city government.
That final endeavor led to the organization of a city in 1968 and the Civic Club’s demise five years later. Having served as a community government without the authority to tax, the Civic Club’s mission of serving the community was taken over by the city. Residents expected the taxes levied by the city to cover the community’s needs. They were reluctant to give more than what was demanded.
The Civic Club’s minutes from December 16, 1975, state, “Discussion was that we disband the Civic Club. Everyone agreed that the club had served its purpose. All voted unanimously that we disband after this meeting. John Freed made motion, Elbert Jones seconded motion, that the president appoint a committee to get all information together concerning the H’ville Civic Club to be put in the H’ville Library.” The Club then decided to donate the balance of its funds to the library, the Civic Club’s most tangible success in its history.

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1973

During December 1973 the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce initiated a study to recognize and preserve a town center. The idea had been mentioned in a 1971 annexation study as an alternative to the trend of the linear business strip along Gallatin Road.
At the time, the center of Hendersonville activity was undoubtedly near Sanders Ferry Road, Walton Ferry Road, and Gallatin Road. Ron Cooper, a representative from the state’s office of local planning, explained that a town center should include business offices, government offices, a community center, and library.
Cooper helped bring in a Regional-Urban Design Assistance Team from the American Institute of Architects (AIA RUDAT) to survey the city and make recommendations. The team recommended thoroughfares parallel to Gallatin Road, a focal center of the community, and more employers in Hendersonville. They provided models for landscaping and suggestions for zoning.
The League of Women Voters supported implementation, as did the city commission. At the time, though, the commission was embroiled in a life-or-death battle over the form of government.
Momentum for a town center fell to the fledging group Hendersonville Civic Center Inc. That group eventually recommended that a civic center be built outside the area of the town center.
The town center cause was passed back to the city commission, which was considering buying the vacant former home of the Hendersonville Church of Christ. That effort generated huge disagreement aside from conversations about a town center.
During the whole effort–at least five years–more houses were built on the east side of Hendersonville while new businesses popped up on East Gallatin Road. These shifts and the turmoil at city hall had residents skeptical of the town center concept and doubtful that the city needed to implement it.

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