4215 Richland Turnpike (current Harding Rd.) (current Windsor Towers Apartments) Nashville, TN
Circa 1885. 2-story white brick Colonial
Susan Harding Smith (1829-1894) built this home after she sold Lynnwood to the Gardners (see Lynnwood blog). She had remained at Lynnwood about twenty years after her husband Wm. H. Smith had passed away. Susan, a daughter of John & Susannah Harding of Belle Meade, built this home on further north on Richland Pike on about 100 acres. She remained at this home for a decade until her death. There were a couple owners after her death.
By 1912, Richard Thornton Wilson (1883-1946) and Kate Ransom Wilson (1884-1931) owned the property. Wilson was the son of B. F. & Sally Morris Wilson of Wilmor Mansion - just up the pike. He was an investment realtor (B.F. Wilson Estates) and vice-president of Crescent Amusement Co. His brother was Robert Morris Wilson who owned Mount Alban/ Breeze Hill. His sister, Reba Franklin Wilson Gray wed John M. Gray, Jr. and built a house of part of the Wilmor property. His wife Kate Ransom Wilson created lovely gardens and imported an Italian fountain from Ravenna which remains in place today. Her parents John and Mary Ransom lived in Murfreesboro, then moved to Nashville. John was head of John B. Ransom Lumber Company, about the largest hardwood lumber company in the South.
By 1936, their son Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr. (1904-1938) had inherited the property. He only held it two years before his death.
John Bostick Wilson (1909-1963) inherited the property in the mid-1900s. He was a financier with downtown real estate. His wife was Gene Beasley Cochrane Wilson Johnson. During an incident at home, John B. was killed. After the death, Gene returned to her native Chattanooga and remarried.
In 1964, after John B.'s death, the family sold the house and 4 acres to a developer. The 12-story Windsor Towers was constructed on the site by 1967. The 2 stone lions guarding the front of the house remain as does the low stone wall. See Belle Meade, Mount Alban/ Breeze Hill, Lynnwood, Wilmor Mansion
The Weil House, Wilran (R.T. Wilson Home), Totomoi, and Hemlock (Sloan Home) were neighbors with the major estate of Overbrook (Joe Warner) across the street along Harding Rd.
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