Old Will May Mean New Name For Brentwood Library

BRENTWOOD, TN — The Brentwood Library is in line for a huge donation, but there's a catch: it'll have to change its name.

It all goes back to a provision in a 32-year-old will that kicked in when one of the city's most beloved citizens and a member of one of its founding families died earlier this month.

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When Charles Wesley Witherspoon, Jr. died August 9 at the age of 90, the city lost a scion of one of its founding families, the Holts, who built the home known variously as Holtwood or Wildwood in the 1830s. But the city could gain a multi-million boon to its library, because of provision in the 1985 will of Witherspoon's aunt, O'Delle Holt.

Holt's will provided that Witherspoon would inherit her interest in the 275-acre Holt Farm for use during his life and that he could use funds from selling the land — which he did in 2016 and which is now under development — while he was alive, but when he died, half of that money would go to the Brentwood Library, with the other half to Brentwood United Methodist Church.

But the will also requires that the city name the library the John P. Holt Library in memory of O'Delle Holt's late husband.

The remainder left for the library, currently sitting in a bank account, was around $4.2 million at the end of 2016, though City Manager Kirk Bednar saidit could be higher now, according to the Brentwood Home Page, and, given that the library's annual budget is around $2.4 million, Bednar thinks changing the name is a pretty good idea.

“We need to make some decisions,” he said, according to the Home Page. “The first decision is do we want to accept the funds under those conditions, which I would encourage you to strongly consider doing.”

Bednar also said the city should not use the gift as a substitute for the annual line item.

The city commission is asking the library's board for a recommendation and, ultimately, the decision on renaming the facility is the city commission's. The library did just go through a rebranding, with new logos and signage, with would likely have to be changed, though, of course, funds for that could come out of the $4.2 million.

Image via Brentwood Library