A History of the Dominican Campus

Originally the campus was grasslands with deer drinking at its creeks and springs, as still happens today. Accordingly, it was the hunting grounds for various Native American tribes, as we are reminded of when exiting to Cherokee Road.

In 1784 the land that is now The Dominican Campus was granted to Isaac Johnston by North Carolina for services rendered during the American Revolution. At that time Tennessee was part of the “Tar Heel” state, not gaining independent statehood until 1796. Charles Bosley purchased the land from Mr. Johnston in 1818, and built a substantial residence where once the log cabins had stood. Bosley Springs Water was mineral water, bottled and sold for medicinal purposes. A faint outline of the old road that led past the bottling house to the spring may still be seen in front of Our Lady’s Shrine.

The historic marker to the entrance of the campus reads in part: "A double log house and a few cabins . . . stood here about 1790. On May 9, 1793 four children on their way to the spring were attacked by Indians. Three were scalped and killed. One escaped. The home of Charles Bosley . . . later stood on this site. Probably Johnston’s children were playing in the vicinity of the spring house, close to their log cabin home where the big white house now stands, when they were attacked."

During the Civil War there was action on and around the future campus. In the Battle of Nashville, Dec. 15, 1864 the left flank of the Confederate line was situated at Harding Road, then Richland Pike, and Bosley Springs Road which runs between St. Thomas Hospital and the Imperial House. Federal troops attacked and over ran the position.

In December, 1910 Joseph Warner and his wife Lillian Black Warner bought this acreage for $72,000 from the Bosley Estate. Their lasting monument to us is the “big white house,” originally built as their home. The Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation bought this and 92 acres from Mr. Warner on June 23, 1923 for $180,000.

The congregation now has 235 sisters who serve in 32 schools in 13 states, reaching more than 13,000 students in preschool through college, with now a new mission in Sydney, Australia. The median age of the sisters is 36.