1415 Gale Lane

Report on the lot and house at 1415 Gale Lane, Nashville, TN.

Lot Number nine, in the B. J. McCarthy subdivision

Researched and compiled by Debie Cox

Metro Nashville Archives -  January 25, 2012

In April of 1915, B. J. McCarthy purchased 16.1 acres of land, beginning at the corner of Gale Avenue and Granny White Pike, running along Gale Avenue to the corner of Gale Avenue  and Noel Blvd, then with the west margin of the blvd 371 feet to the right of way fence of Tennessee Central RR, then with west margin of Granny White Pike 372 ft, to beginning.

In April of 1921, B. J. McCarthy filed a subdivision plan for a tract of land, plat book 421, page 170,  bound by Gale Avenue and TCRR and by Granny White Pike and Belmont Blvd.  The property was divided  into  17 lots, numbered 1 through 17.  

McCarthy sold the lots to:

Lot # 1 to Murray T. Waller, for $1650.  Deed recorded 8/21/1922.

Lot # 2 not determined.

Lot # 3 to O. W. Enoch, for $1650.  Deed recorded on 8/4/1922.

Lot # 4 Neil Hunt, for $1650.  Deed recorded on 3/29/1924.

Lot # 5 not determined.

Lot # 6 to Frank W. Wharton, for $1650.  Deed recorded on 3/8/1924.

Lot # 7 to J. C. Oehmig, for $1550.  Deed recorded on 12/16/1922.

Lot # 8 to W. H. Parks, for $1575.  Deed recorded on 11/23/1922.

Lot # 9 to Hattie Kirkpatrick, for $1520.  Deed recorded on 5/20/1921.

Lot # 10 to Lillian E. McCarthy, for $1250.  Deed recorded on 3/21/1922.

Lot # 11 Not Determined

Lot # 12 to Margaret Haynes for $1567.50.  Deed recorded on 4/15/1925.

Lot # 13 to Tommie Owen Parrish  for $1500.  Deed recorded on 9/25/1922.

Lot # 14 to J. V. Cunniff, for $1250.  Deed recorded on 11/26/1921

Lot # 15 to J. V. Cunniff, for $900.  Deed recorded on 11/25/1921 .

Lot # 16 not determined.

Lot # 17 to W. A. Rainey for $1650.  Deed recorded on 8/20/1923.

Lot # 9 was sold by Hattie Kirkpatrick to R. J. Matthews  in 1925.

Rufus Joel Matthews was born about 1883, son of Alexis William Matthews and Eliza A. Matthews.  Rufus was married to Kate Thompson in Nashville on June 27, 1912.  Daughter Katherine was born about 1915.  Rufus Joel Matthews married Kate Thompson June 27 1912 in Davidson Co., TN .  In his youth Rufus helped out on his father's farm in Antioch.    Rufus was still living on his parents farm in 1910, but had began working as a traveling salesman.  By 1920 he was working in the auto industry. Alexis William Matthews bought the lot and house at 2223 Belmont for $9100.  The entire family moved in with A. W. and Eliza.  Rufus and wife Kate were living there, along with their daughter Kate.  Also in the house were Rufus' brother James and his sister Zula.  

In February 1925 Rufus and his wife Kate, his father A. W. and his sister Zula, along with J. T. Brannon charted a business called the Home Equipment Company for the purpose of selling mechanical devices and building materials, with a capital stock of $5000.  Business must have been good, for it was in August of that year that Rufus and Kate purchased lot 9 in the B. J. McCarthy subdivision.

R. J. Matthews and wife Kate Thompson Matthews purchased lot # 9 in the McCarthy subdivision from Hattie Kirkpatrick for the sum of $2000.00 on August 18, 1925.  McCarthy had sold lot number 9 on 5/20/1921, to Kirkpatrick  for the sum of  $1520.00  The language in the deed described  the lot as "part of the same property conveyed to B. J. McCarthy by deed of record in book No. 467, page 538….

The deed continues, with a covenant, containing six stipulations, stated in part below.

"First, that no shop, store, factory, saloon or business house of any kind, no hospital, asylum, or institution of like or kindred nature….  Second, no residence or dwelling house shall be erected or occupied on said lot costing less than Five Thousand ($5000.00) Dollars …. " 

The deed  from Kirkpatrick to Matthews was registered on August 28, 1925.  The deed stated that the same conditions, limitations and restrictions applied as set out in the original deed.  On March 10, 1927, Rufus and Kate Matthews executed a deed of trust in the amount of $6000.00, to the American Trust Co. with E. E. Murray named as trustee.  The Matthew's promised to repay the loan with 23 semi-annual payments of $180.00, with the remaining  balance of the principal due on the first day of Aug. 1942.

The address, "1415 Gale Avenue" first appears in a Nashville City Directory in 1928.  Based on the deed search, the restrictions in the deed, and the city directory listing, it is most likely that the house at 1415 Gale Lane, located on lot 9 of the B. J. McCarthy subdivision, was constructed for the Matthews family in 1927.

The Great Depression apparently took a toll on the Matthews family.  In the early 1930's Home Equipment Co. disappeared from the Nashville City Directory.  Rufus and Kate defaulted on their mortgage, and the beautiful home they had built on Gale Lane was sold on the steps of the Davidson County Courthouse, in July of 1932, to the highest bidder. The home was purchased by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for $6500.00.   William T. Hunter purchased the home from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, for $7250.00, in April of 1937.  

The Hunter's owned the home for 20 years.  Donna K. Hunter, widow of William sold the home to Clyde and Sue Davis in 1957.  Clyde Davis sold the property to Laura H. Jenkins in 1963.   Jenkins sold the home to the Huetter family in 1964.  In 2012 the home is still owned by the Huetter family.