The Bellevue Community
Bellevue Community is located in the southwestern part of Davidson
County. It’s bordered on the west by Cheatham County, on the south by
Williamson County and its northern border is the Cumberland River. While the
population continues to grow, there are still plenty of rural areas in this
charming and scenic community that even offers a glimpse at the Scenic Natchez
Parkway which runs through the southern portion of this community.
County: Bellevue is located in Davidson County.
Local Trivia: Nashville Songwriter, Tom T Hall actually wrote
a song about an elementary school in the Bellevue Community…the song was
entitled ‘Harper Valley PTO.’
Nashville Subarea: Subarea 6
Zip Codes: 37221
Area Code: 615
Council Districts:
Council District 22
Council District 23
Council District 35
School Clusters:
Hillwood
Local Neighborhoods within the Bellevue Community:
Bellevue
Edwin Warner
Newsome Station
Harpeth River
The Iroquois Steeplechase
Beginning in 1941, with one year off during World War II, the
Iroquois Steeplechase has been running continuously at Percy Warner Park on
the beautiful race course inspired by Marcellus Frost and designed by William
duPont. The widely renowned event would not have endured without the guidance
of Mason Houghland and Calvin Houghland, who between them lovingly put on the
race for half a century. They combined the efforts of the foxhunters and volunteer
horsemen with the cooperation and support of the Metropolitan Board of Parks
and Recreation to create a great sporting spectacle that has become a springtime
institution in our region.
For the race in 1981, Henry Hooker and George Sloan proposed to Alice Hooker,
President of the Children's Hospital Board, and to Calvin Houghland, Chairman
of the Volunteer State Horsemen, the designation of the Children's Hospital
as the charitable beneficiary of the race meeting. With their enthusiastic encouragement,
this arrangement brought many additional talented, hard working, and dedicated
volunteers from the Friends of Children's Hospital who have enhanced many aspects
of the event and won substantial support for their charity. Moreover, their
efforts have helped the Race Committee to improve the course, the facilities,
and the purses.
It would take volumes to tell the names of the many great families associated
with the Iroquois through recurrent generations, and the names of the owners,
trainers, and riders who have mastered the three-mile weight-for-age race, a
daunting challenge not easily won and culminating up Heart Break Hill. This
list reads like an honor roll of American steeplechasing. The names of the volunteers
who have made this race meeting so special for 67 years are no less to be honored.
Henry Hooker
Iroquois Steeplechase Race Committee Chairman
History of The Iroquois Steeplechase
The first recorded steeplechase occurred in 1752 in County Cork, Ireland. Cornelius
O’Callaghan and Edmund Blake engaged in a match race, covering about 4
1/2 miles from St. John’s Church at Buttevant to St. Mary’s Church
in Doneraile. Church steeples were the most prominent, and tallest, landmarks
on the landscape. Though history did not record the winner of the O’Callaghan-Blake
race, the sport took its name from this simple “chase to the steeple.”
Though pointing out the first U.S. steeplechase is a difficult assignment, reports
point to an 1834 event in Washington, D.C. The National Steeplechase Association
(for many years known as the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association) was
founded on February 15, 1895 to oversee the fast-growing sport. Spawned from
the foxhunting field, jump racing had occurred earlier, but never under such
sanction. Meets took place on Long Island and in northern New Jersey before
spreading south to the Carolinas and Tennessee.
Steeplechasing’s backbone from the start was a group of one-day meetings
in rural communities. Gradually, the focus shifted to major tracks like New
York’s Belmont and Aqueduct, and New Jersey’s Monmouth Park. Unlike
flat racing, steeplechasing has never been dependent upon wagering. Thus, when
wagering was barred at the nation's race-tracks in 1908, steeplechasing came
to the devastated sport's rescue. Even when wagering returned years later, steeplechasing
remained a popular fixture for decades.
When racing fell on hard times in the 1970s, many tracks discontinued steeplechasing
because they felt they could take in more wagering dollars on flat races. The
steeplechase world responded by going back to its roots in the American countryside.
There, many new race meets were established in communities small and large where
they were operated by nonprofit organizations that donated the proceeds to worthy
charitable causes.
This process continues today. In 2007, the National Steeplechase Association
sanctioned 47 race meets throughout the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic, the Midwest
and the Southeast regions of the country. The racing season begins in early
March and continues through November, hosting an estimated one million spectators.
Participants in American steeplechasing travel the circuit from pockets of steeplechase
interest in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
As the result of continued growth throughout the last decade, steeplechasing
now pays out approximately $5 million in prize money per year. An equal amount
is paid each year to charity, proving that while steeplechasing has reached
new heights of material awards, it remains a sport with a heart.
The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce
The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce meets on the third Thursday
of every month with the exception of May and December. The meetings are held
at The Meadows, 8044 Coley Davis Road. Each meeting consists of lunch, provided
by the Chamber, interesting and informative speakers, Chamber spotlight; which
is a chance for a Business Member to highlight their comapny, recognition of
new members and guests, Chamber updates and cash give-a-ways.
The Bellevue Chamber believes that people do business with people they know,
like and trust. We provide monthly networking opportunities for our members
so that those relationships can build.
The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce welcomes new business and individual members.
Click on the "Join" section for more information on how to join.
2008 Bellevue Chamber Board of Directors
President - Bill Robertson D.D.S.
President-Elect - Joshua Swayze
Past President - Suzanne Greer
Treasurer - Jennifer Winchell
Sr. Member At Large - Ken Jelonek
Jr. Member at Large - Alan Bond
Executive Director - Cindy Tremblay
Committee Chairs
Membership - Kristen Schriner
Public Relations - Cindy Tremblay
Community Picnic and Music Festival - Karen Culver
Golf Tournament - Todd Officer
BBQ Cook-Off - Frank Pickard
Education - Laurel Wilson
Economic Development - Dave Lavelle
Beautification - Don Johnson
Technology - Rod Frank
Historical - Bob Allen
Outreach - June Gilmore