Hendersonville, Tennessee

History

Hendersonville was settled circa 1784 by Daniel Smith when he began work on Rock Castle. In 1790, William Henderson, for whom the area was named, settled in. With the monumental completion of the Old Hickory Dam in 1954, Hendersonville started to grow into the most populous city of Sumner County and one of the most populous suburbs of Nashville, along with Franklin and Murfreesboro. The city of roughly 250 was incorporated in 1969 under the leadership of L.H. "Dink" Newman, and over the next decades has been one of Tennessee's fastest-growing cities. The city contains around 0.7% of the population of Tennessee. During the Civil War, Monthaven, a historic home on the National Historic Register, was used as a field hospital.

Government

Hendersonville is governed by a board of 12 aldermen and a mayor, known as The Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA). The aldermen are elected for staggered terms of four years by district. The mayor is elected once every four years by the whole city.

Flood scare

In 2007 a risk was identified that the trouble-prone Wolf Creek Dam in the neighboring state of Kentucky might break, which could have resulted in a complete inundation for the lower lying parts of Hendersonville. Since then extensive repairs have been performed on the dam, and the maximum level of water behind it has been lowered, thus reducing the pressure of water on the structure and resolving the identified flood risk.

Geography

Hendersonville is located at 36°18′00″N 86°36′22″W (36.300084, -86.606109).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 32.9 square miles (85 km²), of which 27.3 square miles (71 km²) is land and 5.6 square miles (15 km²) (16.93%) is water.

Climate

Hendersonville has a humid subtropical climate.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 40,620 people, 15,823 households, and 11,566 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,486.4 people per square mile (573.9/km²). There were 16,507 housing units at an average density of 604.0 per square mile (233.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.93% White, 4.12% African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.10% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.65% from other races, and 0.90% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.71% of the population.

There were 15,823 households out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.9% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the city, the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $50,108, and the median income for a family was $57,625. Males had a median income of $40,823 versus $27,771 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,165. About 5.2% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Rhoades Car has its national headquarters in Hendersonville. It is the home of the Indian Lake Village business, shopping, residence, and recreation complex.

Arts

Hendersonville Arts Council, is a non-profit organization and housed in Monthaven Mansion (built before the Civil War and used as a hospital during several battles, where entertaining paranormal activity is now alleged to occur frequently. It is also on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tennessee Civil War Trail and Ring of Fire) and exhibits visual art, music, workshops, wine tastings, crafts, culinary demonstrations, performances, and cultural activities. They produce a long running summer concert series and are open daily for self-guided tours.

Hendersonville Performing Arts Center, is a non-profit theater (formerly known as Steeple Players Theatre). HPAC has presented theater productions since 1996. Since 2003, it has been located in the City Square Shopping Center.

Board of Education

Hendersonville's schools are governed by the Sumner County Board of Education. The twelve-member group consists of eleven elected representatives from each of the eleven educational districts in the county, as well as the Director of Schools, Del Phillips. The members serve staggered four-year terms; the Director serves under contract with the Board of Education. Don Long serves as the Chairman of the Board for the 2013-14 year. The board conducts monthly meetings that are open to the public. The school system’s General Purpose School Fund budget during the 2013-14 school year was approximately $203 million.

The county-wide school system consists of approximately 1,950 teacher-licensed employees and approximately 1,800 non-teacher employees. The system has more than 180 bus routes which cover more than 13,330 miles (21,450 km) per day. The floor space in all of the county's schools totals more than 126 acres (0.51 km²). Approximately 28,500 students were enrolled in the county school system as of August 2013.

Some areas of Hendersonville are also zoned for schools outside of the city limits including schools in both Gallatin (Station Camp High School is considered to be on the city border of Hendersonville and Gallatin) and Goodlettsville.

Notable people