HERMITAGE HOTEL 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
SEPTEMBER 17, 2009-2011
On September 17, 1910, The Hermitage Hotel first opened its doors. Today, The Hermitage still stands in pristine condition and is the only Mobil Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond hotel in Tennessee.
The Hermitage Hotel's 100th Anniversary Celebration festivities kick off on September 17, 2009 and will continue for two years. The September 17 event will include free live music and ice cream social open to the public. Other festivities planned throughout the next two years include:
- The release of a new book, "The Hermitage at 100 - Nashville's First Million Dollar Hotel," by Ridley Wills
- The release of a commissioned print by artist Phil Ponder.
- Contests and drawings
- Historic room rates for The Hermitage Hotel and menu prices for The Capitol Grille
- A retrospective of James Carpenter, the architect of The Hermitage, at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts
- And more
History
The grand hotel was commissioned by 250 Nashvillians in 1908. Only the finest materials were used, including Italian sienna marble, Russian walnut wall panels, stained glass, Persian rugs and elegant, overstuffed furniture.
As Music City's first million-dollar hotel, it was a gathering place for the city's socialites, a national platform for both pro- and anti-suffrage forces, a political headquarters, the birthplace of a national radio program and frequent stop for some of the nation's most prominent figures from actors and musicians to war heroes, gangsters and presidents. Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Al Capone, Gene Autry and Sergeant Alvin York all stayed at the hotel at one time. U.S. Presidents Taft, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon visited The Hermitage. Pool legend Minnesota Fats even made the hotel his home for eight years and had his own table on the Mezzanine. More recently, celebrities like Bette Midler, John Ritter, Cesar Romero, Willard Scott, Brooke Shields, Nancy Sinatra, Steven Spielberg, Billy Graham, Isaac Hayes, Oprah Winfrey, Christy Yamaguchi and many others have guested the hotel.
