Preston Taylor

Preston Taylor (November 7, 1849 – April 13, 1931) was an African-American businessman, minister and philanthropist. In the early 20th century he was considered one of the most influential leaders of Nashville, Tennessee's black community. He created Greenwood Cemetery, which is the second oldest African-American cemetery in Nashville, and Greenwood Park, which was the first park for African-American communities in Nashville. A later public housing project was named in his honor.

Biography Early life Taylor was born into slavery in Shreveport, Louisiana, on November 7, 1849, to enslaved parents, Zed and Betty Taylor. He was said to tell his mother that he wanted to be a preacher at the age of four after attending a sermon in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1864, during the American Civil War he enlisted in Company G of the 116th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops as a drummer and was at the Siege of Petersburg, fall of Richmond, and surrender of Lee. After the end of the war in 1865, his regiment did garrison duty in Texas and New Orleans where he was mustered out a free man. After the war he became a marble engraver and moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Whites in Kentucky refused to work with him, and he instead found work as a train porter for the Louisville & Chattanooga Railroad where he worked for four years.

Mt. Sterling After resigning from the railroad, Taylor traveled throughout the North. When he returned to Kentucky, he was called to become a pastor.

He was a strong advocate for the education of blacks and in the mid-1880s he purchased college property at New Castle, Kentucky, and created the Christian Bible College at New Castle, of which he was later a trustee and financial agent. He was also unanimously chosen the general evangelist of the U.S. He also edited a section of the denominational journal, the Christian Standard called "Our Colored Brethren".

He married one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, Georgia Gordon Taylor (1855–1913), better known as Georgia Taylor. After her return from the tour she married Taylor. They had a son in 1891, who died as an infant.

In 1917 Taylor took the lead in creating the National Christian Missionary Convention, a nationwide organization of African American Disciples of Christ churches; he served as president of the Convention from its founding until his death. Greenwood Cemetery is the second oldest cemetery for blacks in Nashville. The park included gardens, fountains, a bandstand, and a baseball park. The annual "State Colored Fair" was held there. He even arranged for horse-drawn wagons to transport patrons from the streetcar to the park.

Recognition Preston Taylor Housing, a public housing project in Nashville, was named in 1951 in his honor. It is located at 3900 Clifton Road and is now known as the Historic Preston Taylor Apartments. That part of Nashville also houses the Preston Taylor YMCA and Preston Taylor Ministries.