Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railroad magnate, never visited the campus of Vanderbilt University, the private research university he founded here in 1873 with a $1 million gift, and you have reached its edge. Vanderbilt was established during Reconstruction with the stated goal of contributing to North-South reconciliation — a complicated mission in a city still emerging from Union occupation and the violent process of reintegrating formerly enslaved people into civic life. Its early decades were marked by the racial segregation that characterized all Southern institutions of the era.
Vanderbilt integrated in 1962, later than most comparable Northern universities and after considerable internal debate. Today it is among the most selective universities in the country, with a medical center that is one of the leading academic hospitals in the Southeast. The university's relationship with Midtown and West End neighborhoods has shaped Nashville's urban geography considerably — the commercial strips along West End and 21st Avenue exist largely because of the demand generated by the university's students, faculty, and medical workforce.