Dog Hill

Dog Hill. Architectural District and Spur Line Park. The Spur Line Park was conceived to preserve and enhance a portion of a historic area within the city and interpret its unique connection with rail and water transportation. The development of railroad and river commerce was essential to the early growth and success of Montgomery County and the region. By the late 1800s railroad tracks looped through Clarksville on spur lines which literally ran to backdoors and sometimes through commercial buildings. Clarksville's warehouse district contained some of the largest buildings in the world at that time, some covering several acres., Nineteenth-century Clarksville was nicknamed the City of Seven Hills as the town expanded along the Cumberland River to occupy seven peaks from its northern to southern limits. One of those peaks was dubbed Dog Hill because neighborhood canines would howl at the whistles of the nearby trains and steamboats. The residential area surrounding First, Union, Munford and Madison streets was named the Dog Hill Architectural District on May 9, 1980. , Visitors to the one-and-a-half story Victorian Gothic home at 422 South First Street can notice none of the windows are the same and floors in each room display different woods. Its builder, G.B. Wilson, who owned Sewanee Planing Co., used his home to showcase products for customers. Across the street at 429 South First Street, the two-story brick home was constructed using the bricks and cornerstone of the dismantled Catholic Church, built in 1844 at College and Fourth streets. , Most of the homes in this district are typical turn-of-the-century framed construction cottages dating from the 1880s to the 1910s. However two are among the oldest existing houses in Clarksville. The house at 202 Madison Street contains a log interior which dates to about 1820 while the house at 66 Union Street was built circa 1835. , The two-story rectangular house at 102 Union Street, with its first-floor verandah sporting Ionic columns and balustrades, also pre-dates the Civil War. In 1856 William Andrew Quarles (1825-1893) owned this property. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Quarles, a wealthy and respected attorney, organized the Confederate 42nd Tennessee Infantry and served as its colonel. Quarles was promoted to brigadier general in August 1863. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Pickett's Mill, Georgia, recovered, and was again wounded at the Battle of Franklin. After the war, he was active in state politics, serving in the State Senate in 1895., Another Confederate veteran lived just around the corner from the Quarles home on Second Street. Horace Harmon Lurton (1844-1914) fought with Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's Cavalry. After the war, as a successful Clarksville lawyer, Lurton was elected in 1886 to the Tennessee Supreme Court, then in 1910 was appointed by President William Howard Taft to the U.S. Supreme Court. , A later Dog Hill resident to reach national prominence was Frank Spencer Sutton (1923-1974). A stage, film and television actor, his most famous role was Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter in the television series Gomer Pyle USMC, which aired on CBS from 1964 to 1969. The Sutton home still stands at 416 South Second Street. , Many Dog Hill homes were heavily damaged in 1999 when an F3 tornado tore through the neighborhood on its way downtown. Volunteers flocked in to help with repairs, and residents said the neighborhood actually experienced a renaissance after the tornado, reporting that the following spring seemed more vibrant than usual.