A father to eight children, Dr. Nailling spent most of his life in Union City. His adult children included Sam, a prominent attorney and former mayor of Union City, William Jr., owner of the Nailling Mill, and Richard, who also graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and became a physician. When the time came, however, he sent his three daughters to college in Boston. One of those daughters, Ima Nailling Ring, eventually became a grandmother to David Ring, a businessman who would decide to carry on Dr. Nailling’s legacy.
David Ring, a Massachusetts native, grew up visiting his grandmother’s hometown of Union City. While she had decided to remain in Boston, where she had attended school and met her fiancé, Frank Ring, she returned to Union City in 1919 for her wedding and would make trips back to the area a couple of times a year.
Ring’s memories of visiting the area consist mainly of trips to Reelfoot Lake and hearing names of extended family and locals come up in conversation. He found the South’s use of double names confusing at times because it created the false belief that he had more relatives than actually was the case.
Although his great-grandfather, Dr. Nailling, had already passed, he heard many stories of his impact and of what an extraordinary person he was. He had been exposed to his family’s history through his grandmother, father, aunts, and uncle as well as extended family who would visit Boston in the summer. His interest in that part of the country began to grow, so right after college, in the middle of a cross country trip, he spent some time working in his family’s lumber yard in Obion County.
David’s father, Frank Ring, Jr., was inspired by Dr. Nailling’s medical practice and wanted to follow in his footsteps but experienced setbacks due to a medical diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. Unfortunately, in 1948, the disease was very misunderstood, and medical schools did not accept type 1 diabetics. However, his inherited independent spirit and interest in medicine sparked a desire to start a medical device company called Applied Plastics. David went into business with his father and eventually became the owner of the company. Over the years, he partnered with many major medical device manufacturers worldwide, but then in 2019, he made the difficult decision to sell the business and retire.
During this time, the city of Union City notified the family trust that The Nailling Building was in need of repairs. Unfortunately, it wasn't a simple fix. David was a joint owner of the building along with another 22 members of the family trust. Everyone involved agreed something had to be done. David felt the timing was right, so in honor of his great grandfather’s commitment to Union City, he bought out the rest of his family and assumed sole ownership of the Nailling Building.
Another element that played in his favor was his long-time association with Ethan Watson-Hogan, the President of Windermere Management, and his family. Watson-Hogan oversees successful projects all along the East Coast and was willing to help bring David’s vision to life.
To further develop his reconstruction plans, David also purchased the neighboring Wosley Building, home to a grocery store at one time, and renamed it The Ring Building. He first began work, though, on the Nailling Building in a near-total reconstruction effort. It had experienced extreme degradation over the years, but Ring felt it was important to preserve as much of the original brick structure as possible. He was able to maintain the existing masonry façade, but only a portion of the bricks from the other sides could be salvaged. In effect, a whole corner of the building had been lost because of extensive deterioration, so it was rebuilt with a heavy steel frame and its original bricks in an effort to put it back together historically.
Photographs and a newspaper article served as a basis for information to help him maintain the standard layout and design consistent with a 1910-period building. In buildings from that era, one might see a historical period glass shop front made from structural steel and adorned with a hard canopy. Other features reminiscient of that period included retail spaces with offices upstairs, a particular pattern of windows and masonry, stone lentils above the windows, and a decorative brick on the front façade with unitarian brick on the other two sides. Several things that had been added over the years would need to be removed to restore original period features.
From a historic preservation standpoint, the third floor of The Nailling, which had been added on, and The Ring Building needed to be represented as new structures with defining characteristics that make them complementary and able to blend in, while distinguishing them from the original building. To do so, a shadowing technique was applied on the third floor to set it back one foot from the original façade. The Ring Building was made with a more modern touch and uniquely showcases an aluminum storefront and a brise soleil, an architectural feature that acts as a solar shading system.
Ring has carried on Dr. Nailling’s vision of sharing his building with other businesses. Aside from the 27 luxury apartment homes, he created three high-end executive suites as well as modern spaces for a coffee company and marketplace.
He has also tried to transmit many aspects of life in Boston that he appreciates, from the old architecture to the ability to go downstairs to a café, restaurant, or shop. Ultimately, he wants to create a greater sense of community while preserving an important fixture in the town’s history, strengthening the downtown, and giving the area a bit of a city feel.
Just as importantly, he wanted the Nailling to embody as much history as physically possible. In the lobby, you can find a commemoration nook with an original leaded glass window framed for preservation and dedication to all Dr. Nailling accomplished. On the back façade, you can find the original writing, DOCTOR NAILLING OFFICE, which has been accentuated for better visibility. While Dr. Nailling did, indeed, write The Nailling’s history in the 1900’s, his great grandson, David Ring, has big plans to keep it alive.
The history of Dr. Nailling and the Nailling Building was supplied by David Ring, great-grandson of Dr. Nailling, Jay Ostrosky, great-great grandson of Dr. Nailling, Bill Ring, grandson of Dr. Nailling, and an article from the Union City Souvenir newspaper.
