Bobby Boyd
Meteorologist
National Weather Service
Nashville, Tennessee

January 6, 2000

Weather Service Established within the Army
Used with permission by Mark Rose

On February 9, 1870 President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law a resolution1 requiring the Secretary of War to provide meteorological observations at military stations and other states and territories. This agency was called the Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce. The new agency operated under the Signal Service from 1870 to 1891.

Nashville Office among the First Established

The Nashville office was established by the U.S. Army Signal Corp Sergeant George H. Witmer on October 20, 1870 at 70½ Cherry Street (between Church Street and Union Street). The first weather report was sent on the morning of November 1, 1870. Nashville was one of twenty-four newly established locations to take and transmit weather observations via telegraph. The office had a wind vane, anemometer, and rain gage well exposed on the roof of the building. The instrument shelter projected from a window, which was not unusual in those days.

Sergeant Witmer's stay was short-lived as he was relieved on account of drunkenness January 31, 1871, and was succeeded by Sergeant W. Moore, who was relieved for the same cause on February 10, 1871 by Sergeant Thomas L. Watson, who remained in charge of the station until August 4, 1871, when he was relieved for failing to transmit his mail reports promptly. Sergeant J.H. Gerrard was placed in charge and assisted by newly assigned Private William Henderson, who was sent to the station on July 6, 1871.

Office Moved Several Times

The Nashville weather office moved several times while under the Army Signal Service, but remained in the same general area of the Nashville business district. The first move came on March 1, 1871 to 30 North College Street (3rd Avenue between Church Street and Union Street) where it would remain until moved again on August 1, 1882 to the Southwest corner of the Public Square and Market Street (2nd Avenue, 4th floor, Burns Block Building). The office remained at this location until July 1, 1889, when it moved to the roof of the Vanderbilt Building at 311-313 North Cherry Street (West side of 4th Avenue between Union Street and Deadrick Street).

Agency Transferred to the Department of Agriculture
and
U.S. Weather Bureau Created

On October 1, 1890, at the request of President Benjamin Harrison, Congress created the U.S. Weather Bureau within the Department of Agriculture. The actual transfer of weather stations, telegraph lines, apparatus, and personnel did not take place until July 1, 1891.

At the time of the transfer to the Department of Agriculture, the newly created U.S. Weather Bureau office in Nashville was located on the roof of the Vanderbilt Building and would remain there until September 1, 1894 when it was moved to the roof of the Chamber of Commerce Building at 307 Church Street. The office was moved again on June 30, 1905 to the Custom House at the corner of Broadway and 8th Avenue. Then, on March 25, 1909, the office was moved to the Stahlman Building on the 12th floor at 3rd Avenue and Union Street.