City: Nashville, TN

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (615) 256-2805

Address: 316 Broadway

Description: Founded in 1879 in downtown Nashville, Hatch Show Print is the oldest working letterpress print shop in America. For years the shop produced promotional handbills and posters for vaudeville acts, circuses, sporting events, and minstrel shows throughout the Southeast, but it is best known for its posters of Grand Ole Opry stars. From 1925 to 1991 it was on Fourth Avenue N., near the Ryman Auditorium; it relocated a few times before settling at its current site, a 100-year-old building between Third and Fourth Avenues. The business is now owned and operated by the Country Music Foundation. Today Hatch finds its letterpress posters and designs in constant demand. The shop continues to create posters and art for such clients as Nike, the Jack Daniel’s Distillery, local bands, and national recording artists, including Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. One wall of the tiny space is lined with thousands of wood and metal blocks of type used to produce posters. With its original tin ceilings, wooden floors, metal windows, shelves, and composing tables, the shop appears today much as it did in the early 1900s. Take a peek inside the next time you’re downtown. Though formal tours aren’t offered, thousands of visitors stop by each year. You can even take home a sample of Hatch’s product. Posters are available and range in price from $3 to $300. Hatch is open Mon through Sat.