Sticking it to Belmont

Universities that seek to expand into neighborhoods take note of the substantial costs to Belmont University of picking on the wrong sports writer (via writer/blogger Jan Duke):

I don't think any one case created more turmoil than that of the local sports writer Margaret Lindsley Warden. Ms. Warden was not only a very popular equestrian writer, she was also a part of one of Nashville's oldest & most prestigious families that dated back to long time relationships to the McGavock, Jackson, and Grundy families in the early 1800's.

It has been said that she fought so hard to remain in her home on Belmont Circle that Belmont University eventually built her a replica home on another piece of Belmont land located on Acklen Avenue. We think that just maybe Margaret got a bit of sweet revenge because she donated her equestrian collection, one of the nation's largest known individual equestrian collections, to MTSU in 1998 and some of her Lindsley Family Collection to the TSLA.

But the last laugh actually came after her death, at the age of 103, when the remainder of her estate was auctioned off in 2008. This incredible collection included everything from war letters written in 1812 to an exceptional copy of an 1887 edition of Goodspeed's "History of Tennessee." If the folks of Belmont & Nashville Government (the MHDA in particular) had treated her just a tad bit better, then just maybe, many of these priceless historical items would've been donated locally to some of Nashville's Historical Organizations instead of finding their way to an auction block.