Cookeville News

[jmtunafish]

The mysterious "Project UNO" has been revealed.  It's Barcelona-based Ficosa which is building a new, state-of-the-art, 270,000 square foot facility in Cookeville to replace its Crossville plant.  The Tennessean is reporting that the 500 Crossville jobs will move to Cookeville, and 400 additional jobs will be created as other jobs are brought to this new plant from China and Mexico.

 

Ficosa produces mirror assemblies for Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and other auto manufacturers.

 

http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/cars/2015/05/26/ficosa-build-new-plant-cookeville/27988879/

[smeagolsfree]

Good news for the folks there.

[tragenvol]

Very true. I had friends who were living in Cookeville at the time and were opposed to liquor by the drink.  Yet they would drive all the way to Nashville to eat at Red Lobster.  Having liquor by the drink really started the beginning of Cookeville's growth spurt.  I think it helped attract a lot more retirees than before in addition to telecommuters to Nashville and those who work out of home and can live anywhere.  Even though I don't drink, I was very supportive of the liquor by the drink initiative and am glad it passed.  Not only has it brought restaurants to town like Olive Garden, Outback, Chili's, Red Lobster, Longhorn, etc., but some of the locally owned restaurants have really stepped up, places like Spankie's, Nick's, Crawdaddy's, Mama Rosa's, and some wonderful, new independent places have opened like Char, Cooke House, Mauricio's, Father Tom's, Seven Senses, Taiko, and some others whose names I can't think of right now.

 

Even though I don't drink, I really do wish that a microbrewery would open up downtown.  It would go over like gangbusters and would make downtown Cookeville even more attractive.  I've heard that there were a couple of proposals to do that but I don't know what happened with those.

A friend and I playfully kicked around opening a microbrewery (we're dreamers); this was prior to Calfkiller exploding and becoming the local beer scene.  There were two ideal spots; in the space underneath the Cream City signage where the ice cream parlor and other shops are....it would have been Cream City Beer.  Another spot was the disused depot shed just above the 12th and N Washington intersection.  Great dreams...even in the early 2000s we had a concept of TNA (use your imagination if you want, but the acronym is for Tennessee Ale); the flagship beer was going to be christened Polk after the GOAT POTUS:  James K. Polk.  Then came the proliferation of craft beer.  A day early and a dollar short.

 

Alas, dreams fade...and although I have a pretty nice little beer making kit stored away...it is still waiting to ferment the first drop in the carboy.  But I do remember hearing something about the City Council making moves to allow such an establishment within the rules of the municipal code.

Edited June 15, 2015 by tragenvol

[memphian]

All great news for Cookevegas! I went to university at TECH and I find myself missing it (not sure if I miss the town or my glory days). I am glad to see forward-thinking steps being taken.

[BnaBreaker]

Dear Tennesseans,

 

Please stop with the 'city name Vegas' nicknames.  They sound ridiculous. 

 

Love,

 

Me

[UTgrad09]

Dear Tennesseans,

 

Please stop with the 'city name Vegas' nicknames.  They sound ridiculous. 

 

Love,

 

Me

 

You're just mad that Chivegas doesn't sound as good.

[fieldmarshaldj]

^Chivegas is what I get when I eat onions.

[BnaBreaker]

You're just mad that Chivegas doesn't sound as good.

 

 

^Chivegas is what I get when I eat onions.

 

LOL!  Well played fellas.  Well played.

[Nathan_in_DC]

You're just mad that Chivegas doesn't sound as good.

Isn't that some sort of tropical disease?

[tragenvol]

LOL!  Well played fellas.  Well played.

I don't know....I've lived in the Upper Cumberland for most of my life....just this weekend I saw the term BaxVegas in reference to Baxter....that is ridiculous.

[BnaBreaker]

I don't know....I've lived in the Upper Cumberland for most of my life....just this weekend I saw the term BaxVegas in reference to Baxter....that is ridiculous.

 

Oy vey.  That gives me a serious case of chivegas just thinking about it.

 

 

[MidTenn1]

I always thought that Nashangeles was more appropriate.

[BnaBreaker]

I always thought that Nashangeles was more appropriate.

 

Haha, I suppose.  Sorry Cookeville, I didn't mean to derail the conversation here.  These 'Vegas' nicknames just irk me.  Nashville is cool enough in it's own right.  You don't have to imagine yourself as a different city to get cool points from others!  It reminds me of some teenager trying to mimic the clothing and hairstyle of some pop star in the hopes that it will raise their status amongst their peers.  You're cool as it is Jimmy!  Be yourself!  That Justin Bieber haircut just makes you look desperate for attention.  lol, and with that, I've officially rambled on way too long about this.  Back to Cookeville!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Speaking of Cookeville, the former courthouse which still stands was butchered back in 1962 where everything above the roofline was removed. It would be nice if they restored it to its 1900 glory:

 

Today:

https://www.google.com/maps/mms?ll=36.161959,-85.496802&spn=0.000009,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=36.161959,-85.499728&panoid=3ZRTeyLO6K92RMVycpXCag&cbp=12,347.65,,0,0.34

[MLBrumby]

Haha, I suppose.  Sorry Cookeville, I didn't mean to derail the conversation here.  These 'Vegas' nicknames just irk me.  Nashville is cool enough in it's own right.  You don't have to imagine yourself as a different city to get cool points from others!  It reminds me of some teenager trying to mimic the clothing and hairstyle of some pop star in the hopes that it will raise their status amongst their peers.  You're cool as it is Jimmy!  Be yourself!  That Justin Bieber haircut just makes you look desperate for attention.  lol, and with that, I've officially rambled on way too long about this.  Back to Cookeville!

 LOL... I can see it that way too.  I just think it sounds very redneck.  Maybe that's just because the first people I ever heard it called that were some very redneck (I won't say what they do for a living, but it's commonly used in that field.. ahem, involves large diesel trucks).   "Nayush-vayguss"!

[rookzie]

Speaking of Cookeville, the former courthouse which still stands was butchered back in 1962 where everything above the roofline was removed. It would be nice if they restored it to its 1900 glory:

 

Today:

https://www.google.com/maps/mms?ll=36.161959,-85.496802&spn=0.000009,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=36.161959,-85.499728&panoid=3ZRTeyLO6K92RMVycpXCag&cbp=12,347.65,,0,0.34

 

But at least they did manage to keep an old parlor sign and business intact, as well as the old passenger depot (unlike Baxter and Monterey, which ended up constructing new ones lately).

 

 

-==-

[memphian]

If I remember correctly, the "vegas" thing was a running joke because the university students found Cookeville to be rather sleepy. So, they called it "Cookevegas" as a back-handed compliment directed towards the city. I first heard it 20 years ago and it had been around for a while. I guess it grew some roots as I still hear people refer to it in that way.

[BnaBreaker]

If I remember correctly, the "vegas" thing was a running joke because the university students found Cookeville to be rather sleepy. So, they called it "Cookevegas" as a back-handed compliment directed towards the city. I first heard it 20 years ago and it had been around for a while. I guess it grew some roots as I still hear people refer to it in that way.

 

Haha, well that I guess I can get behind.  I do get the impression though that most who use that nickname for their city do so because they actually think it improves the image of their city.  Anyway.  Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.  haha

[rookzie]

But you do have a good point ─ both of you.  Out-of-towners, particularly ones who might be sentenced "assigned" to a locale for an extended period of time ─ a place which "the memphian" refers to as being "sleepy" and traditionally "roll-up-the-sidewalks-at-dusk".

 

With such a single name-brand institution as TTU as it's figurehead, and TTU providing a high percentage of its livelihood (staff, faculty, students), Cookeville is like many other college towns, where most of the entertainment leisure and entertainment engaged by members typically is intramural with the institution itself, or within a rather close proximity.  Not saying, though, that there's not a lot for non-natives to do in Cookeville.  It's as if popularity, among those who would give Cookeville (or any other such sleepy-hollow community) that moniker, has it as an eulogy of intentionally implied contradiction, sort of like pinning a horse tail onto a donkey, so to speak.  I would consider those associated with Freed-Hardeman (Henderson, TN) or University of the South (Sewanee) more apt to adopt such a name for the town.

 

Again I am not belittling Cookeville.  I go there for fun (not at the school) at least twice a year.

-==-

[memphian]

I am "the memphian".

[rookzie]

I am "the memphian".

 

That's what I thought.  My hat's off to you.  Here's your namesake:

 

-==-

[tragenvol]

Haha, well that I guess I can get behind.  I do get the impression though that most who use that nickname for their city do so because they actually think it improves the image of their city.  Anyway.  Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.  haha

Actually, the term may have sprung from those of us who relied on Cookeville as the "Hub of the Upper Cumberland;" e.g. "we're going to Cookevegas to bowl....or watch a movie."  The entertainment was and is still lacking in several UC area towns; so, you went to Cookevegas to entertain yourself.  If you want to go to Kroger, you have to go to Cookeville, or Crossville (Sparta's closed)..you can't go to Kroger in Gainesboro, Livingston or elsewhere.

[jmtunafish]

Did that whole "-vegas" thing really start with Cookevegas?  I've heard Nashvegas and Knoxvegas for as long as I can remember, too.  I don't think anyone ever used those monikers as anything other than a way of poking fun at how Cookeville or Nashville or Knoxville are NOT like Las Vegas in any shape or form.  And thank goodness, too.

 

 

Speaking of Cookeville, the former courthouse which still stands was butchered back in 1962 where everything above the roofline was removed. It would be nice if they restored it to its 1900 glory:

 

Today:

https://www.google.com/maps/mms?ll=36.161959,-85.496802&spn=0.000009,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=36.161959,-85.499728&panoid=3ZRTeyLO6K92RMVycpXCag&cbp=12,347.65,,0,0.34

 

I don't think there's a soul in Putnam County that doesn't wish to God that the county had kept the courthouse the way it was.  I remember hearing something once that said the clock tower was just too heavy and needed to come down, or something like that.  It is such a shame.  Granted, I don't think the renovated version is THAT bad, but it's still nothing like the old one pictured above.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2015 by jmtunafish

[jmtunafish]

But at least they did manage to keep an old parlor sign and business intact, as well as the old passenger depot (unlike Baxter and Monterey, which ended up constructing new ones lately).

 

 

-==-

 

I remember when the Cookeville Depot was dilapidated and falling down, and there were almost zero businesses in that part of downtown.  The railroad was actually going to tear down the depot, but fortunately the city stepped in, and I think they bought it from the RR for $1.  And now that part of town is booming with all kinds of neat little shops and restaurants, not to mention the Depot itself which has become a nice RR museum complete with an old Tennessee Central locomotive and caboose.

 

Speaking of nice old buildings in Cookeville, did you know that Cookeville has one of the few remaining arcade buildings in the state?  I think Nashville's was the first.  Back in the day the one in Cookeville housed a local department store, Maddux and Proffitt (I have no idea if it's the same Proffitt from East Tennessee that eventually sold out to Belk).  Here's the Cookeville Aracde building today which is essentially a bunch of lawyers' offices (it's right across the street from the courthouse):

 

 

And the interior of the Cookeville Arcade:

 

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5508/14322812587_98e44cc365_h.jpg

Edited June 17, 2015 by jmtunafish

[jmtunafish]

And why the heck not, here are some pics I took of the area around the historic Depot.  The Cream City ice cream place serves Mike's Ice Cream from out of Nashville.  It's good stuff.

Edited June 17, 2015 by jmtunafish