Henry H. Mayberry House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Henry H. Mayberry House
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Henry H. Mayberry House, September 2014.
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 Location in Tennessee
Location in the United States
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| Location | US 31 just across the Harpeth River N of Franklin, Franklin, Tennessee |
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| Area | 26 acres (11 ha) |
| Built | 1902 |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| MPS | Williamson County MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 88000335 |
| Added to NRHP | April 13, 1988 |
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The Henry H. Mayberry House is a special old home in Franklin, Tennessee. It is also known as "Riverview." You can find it on Franklin Pike (which is also US 31). It sits just north of the Harpeth River Bridge.
This beautiful house was built in 1902. It has a style called Classical Revival. This makes it one of the most important homes built in Williamson County between 1900 and 1935. When it was first built, it had the most modern features around. This included electric lights and its own water system. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. At that time, the property was about 26 acres (about 10.5 hectares).
Who Was Henry Mayberry?
Henry Hunter Mayberry was the person who dreamed up this house. He was born in Williamson County, Tennessee on January 5, 1861. His parents were H.G.W. Mayberry and Lenora Hunter Mayberry. Both came from well-known local families. Henry was a small man who wore big wire-rimmed glasses. His family came from a Revolutionary War veteran from Germany.
Henry grew up in Franklin. He went to the Campbell School for Boys. After that, he studied at the University of Tennessee. He then moved to Birmingham, Alabama. There, he started the Mayberry Hardware Company. He became very successful and earned a lot of money. He was also the vice-president of the Alabama National Bank. In Birmingham, he helped create a steel company. This company showed that steel could be made from local iron ore.
Henry Mayberry retired in 1904. He then moved back to Franklin, Tennessee. He became the president and main fundraiser for the Franklin Interurban Railway. This was Franklin's first big way to travel to Nashville. It was an electric train that ran every hour. The trip from Franklin's town square to Nashville was about 20 miles (32 kilometers). Henry Mayberry passed away on December 27, 1931. He was 71 years old. This was four days after a car accident where he broke his hip.
Amazing Features of the House
The land for the house was originally about 95 acres (about 38 hectares). Henry Mayberry bought it in 1901. He hired an architect from Birmingham to design his new home. There was already a small brick house on the land. The architect decided to use two front rooms from that old house. These rooms became the back part of the new, bigger house.
When it was finished, the Mayberry house was the most modern home in all of Williamson County. It was the first house in Franklin to have its own water system. Water was pumped from a spring using a gasoline engine. It went to a storage tank, then through pipes into the house. Even the buildings outside had water! The house had four bathrooms with tiles. They had bathtubs, sinks, and toilets.
The house also had an electric lighting system. It was made by the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco). A historian named Virginia M. Bowman said there were "lights not only in the house but all outbuildings and on gate posts." Another cool feature was central heating. A furnace in the basement kept the house warm. But each room also had a fireplace. The third floor of the house was a large ballroom.
Henry Mayberry also helped the city of Franklin. He gave them another spring he owned in Still Hollow. This spring helped supply water to the city. The city provided the pipes and got permission for them to be laid. In return, Mayberry wanted the job of laying the pipes. By 1906, Mayberry's spring system was supplying 450,000 US gallons (about 1.7 million liters) of water per day to the town. This steady water supply meant Franklin no longer had to rely on groundwater.
