[3] During the Civil War, the house was used by Confederate General John Bell Hood in his preparation before the Battle of Nashville of December 15–16, 1864.

[3] In 1878, the cottage was purchased by James Erwin Caldwell, the president of the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company, which installed the Bell System in the American South.

[3] Caldwell redesigned the house in the Italianate architectural style, and added a second story.

[3] In that process, the house was expanded with a portico, a winding staircase, and an attic in the third story.

[3] After Caldwell's death, the house was sold to the Franklin Road Church of Christ.