531/533 Madison St. Clarksville, TN
Circa 1869
James Lyle Glenn (1828-1916) and Ella Poindexter Glenn (1835-1875) built this home. They wed in 1856. He was the cashier at Northern Bank. In 1853, Glenn established the private banking house of James L. Glenn. The next year, in 1854, he associated with D.N. Kennedy in Kennedy & Glenn. Then, the next year, 1855, the bankers created the Northern Bank of Tennessee. Their granddaughter Susan Ewin Glenn Cheek married John H. Cheek and eventually owned Oak Hill.
In 1881, he sold the home to Henry Clay (H.C.) Merritt (1839-1913). Merritt went to Clarksville after the Civil War in 1865 and was admitted to the Clarksville bar. Merritt was married at least 2 times: in 1866 to Mary C. La Prade (1845-1881) and in 1882 to Maude Bailey (?-1924). Merritt was an attorney and businessman. In 1868, he was elected president of Clarksville National Bank, and the next year, in 1869, he served as Clarksville mayor. He was on the board of directors of the Mobile, Clarksville & St. Louis Railroad in 1882. In 1884, Merritt and a partner bought the hotel building at tourist attraction Dunbar Cave and enlarged the hotel and as well as becoming a member of the Clarksville Hedge Fence Co. which sold fences across middle Tennessee. At some point, H.C. bought the old Hopkinsville Turnpike Co. bridge from an initial investor. Maude, as president of the Women’s Club of Clarksville, helped establish and sustain the Clarksville-Montgomery Co. Public Library in 1901.
Their son, H.C. Merritt, Jr. resided with his widowed mother until at least 1924.
In 2020, the property hosted a government building. See Glennwood/ Glenn-Hudson House, Oak Hill
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