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This Majestic Old Building Gave Away Its 100 Year Old Secret
The Historic Werthan Building, in the heart of downtown Nashville, was originally built in the middle of the 1800’s, where it stands today.
Its thick brick walls are stained nearly black from the years when coal was burned to heat and supply electrical current to the city. The area on which the building stands is rife with
history. The building stands where a pre-Civil War hospital once stood. The first non-native child was born there. Indian Tribes, which came from as far as Illinois to partake of its
health giving waters, once used hot mineral water springs located here.
From the time it was built, in the early part of the 19th century, this building contained cloth
weaving facilities, printing equipment, and sewing machines that were all “state of the art” for the time. Most bags were printed in two or three colors.
The factory specialized in producing both burlap and white cotton fabric bags that were used
for packaging milled flour, seed, sugar, cornmeal and all sorts of other foodstuffs found in the local corner groceries of the time. Each finished bag displayed the name, and the logo of the product.
Our country’s great rise to contemporary America is pictured on these bags, some show the
very early “flying machines”, trains, radio stations, and one even shows President Roosevelt’s famous dog “Falla.”
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