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Collier-Lane-Crichlow House/ The Mayors: Four Relatives-4 Mayors

Updated: Jan 6, 2023




Located at 500 North Spring St., the Collier-Lane-Crichlow House was built in 1850 in Southern National vernacular style. Sterling P. Jones built the original portion of the house.


In 1858, brothers Jessie A. Collier and Newton C. Collier purchased it for their mother, Martha Covington Collier (1801-1863), to reside because she was a widow of I.B. Collier (of Collier-Critchlow House).


In 1868, nephew Ingram Collier, Jr. bought the property for his sister Martha Lane and her husband, William T. Lane. In 1891, the Lane’s daughter Emily Lane Crichlow (1845-1923) bought out her siblings and lived there with her husband, James H. Crichlow (1850-1922) and family. They married in 1874. The Collier-Crichlow House has also been known as the House of Mayors because four relatives have lived at the house and served as mayor of Murfreesboro: Ingram Banks (I.B.) Collier (mayor 1872-73 and first cashier and founder of First National Bank of Murfreesboro and famous cotton broker), Col. Newton B. Collier (mayor 1878-79 and director of Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad), James H. Crichlow, Jr. (mayor 1900-1909 and president of the Board of Education and Murfreesboro’s postmaster), and Newton Collier Crichlow.


After 1920, the Collier-Lane-Crichlow House was sold out of the family. From 1962-75, the house sat vacant. In 1975, the Howell family purchased it. In 1978, property was owned by Charles A. Howell III, Juliet H. Howell, and Charles A. Howell IV. The Howell family had renovated the house from apartment style to single family dwelling.


In 1994, Deborah Wagnon, a Middle Tennessee State University professor of music business, purchased the property and has lived there since. In 2018, she put the house on the market. In 2020, it remained vacant.


On Jan. 4, 2023, the historic House of Mayors/ Collier-Lane-Crichlow House was demolished. It had fallen into great disrepair since the last owner left in 2018 and had been vacant. Local Murfreesboro media covered the notice and the demolition. NRHP 1978 See Collier-Critchlow House

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