05/01/2026
Always fun to see old photos from inside what is now the Vice Mayor’s office within Nashville's Metropolitan Council Office! You can find more photos from the archives taken inside the Historic Courthouse & City Hall in the new City Hall & Public Square tour from Nashville Sites. Link here for the Legislative Branch portion of the digital/audio tour: https://nashvillesites.org/tours/City-Hall-and-Public-Square/legislative-branch
We have another to celebrate - the predecessor to Mayor Ben West - Mr. Thomas Leon Cummings Sr. would be 135 today! 🎉🎂
Thomas Leon Cummings Sr. started out as a farmer, ran a grocery store, and eventually became a lawyer before entering public service. He served in the Tennessee Senate in 1927 and 1937, then was elected Mayor of Nashville in 1938—holding the office through 1951. 🎉
Over his long tenure, Cummings oversaw a growing city during the World War II and postwar years, and made several notable appointments and civic decisions that reflected a changing Nashville.
From farm fields to City Hall, his career spanned some of Nashville’s most pivotal mid-century years.
📸: Nashville Symphony Proclamation signed by Mayor Cummings, date: December, 1948; City Photographer Collection.