Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park
Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, commonly known as Bicentennial Mall, is an urban linear landscaped state park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.[1] The park is located on 19 acres (77,000 m2) north-northwest of the Tennessee State Capitol, and highlights the state's history, geography, culture, and musical heritage. Receiving more than 2.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited of Tennessee's 56 state parks.[2]
Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park
600 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
19 acres (77,000 m2)
June 1, 1996
Year round
The park is modeled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and was first conceptualized in 1989 by former Governor Ned McWherter as part of the planning for the state of Tennessee's bicentennial commemoration. Groundbreaking occurred on June 27, 1994, and the park opened to the public on June 1, 1996, the 200th anniversary of Tennessee's statehood.
History[edit]
Site history[edit]
Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park is located near the site of the French Link, a natural salt lick which was fed by the McNairy Spring under the mall. French traders under the command of Charles Charleville established a trading post along the French Lick by the same name in 1714, which was the first European settlement in what is now Nashville.[14] The French Lick and spring attracted settlers from East Tennessee to the region in 1779, who established Fort Nashborough, the namesake of Nashville, along the Cumberland River, and founded the Cumberland Association the following year.[15] The spring continued to be used as one of the city's primary water sources throughout the 19th century, and the area gradually became known as Sulphur Bottoms.[12]
As Nashville grew, a number of residences and businesses occupied the site. Between the 1880s and the 1950s, part of the site that was prone to flooding was used as a dump, with many relics from this period found during construction. A brick sewer tunnel was also constructed under the site of the park in 1892. Beginning in the early 20th century, the area fell into disrepair, and became a red light district. By the 1940s, many of the structures on the site were declared substandard and were subsequently demolished as part of an urban renewal project initiated in 1950.[12]
Park history[edit]
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a building boom resulted in several skyscrapers being constructed around the capitol building.[16] The view to the north, however, remained unobstructed, and a movement arose to preserve this.[2] The state began gradually acquiring much of the land north of the capitol in the early 1970s with the intent of eventually constructing a large office complex, necessitated by the growth in the size of the state government.[17] In 1985, Nashville landscape architect Joe Hodgson suggested redeveloping the land north of the state capitol into a public park, which was echoed by John Bridges of Nashville-based Aladdin Industries in 1988.[3] On July 19, 1989, then-Governor Ned McWherter suggested that the land to the north of the capitol be converted into a linear green space modeled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with the intent of opening to the public for the state's bicentennial.[17][18] On November 7, 1991, the Metropolitan Nashville Council approved a revitalization plan for downtown Nashville, which included the mall.[3]
On June 1, 1992, McWherter signed an executive order creating the Tennessee Bicentennial Commission to oversee the planning of the statewide bicentennial celebration.[19] This 23-member panel, which included a number of prominent business leaders, celebrities, and governmental leaders from around the state, began preliminary planning work for the mall on August 12, 1992.[20] That month, Tuck Hinton Architects and staff from SSOE Engineers and Ross/Fowler Landscape Architects were hired to develop a master plan for the mall.[3][21] This plan was unveiled to the public on June 2, 1993,[22] and approved by the State Building Commission on July 8, 1993.[23]
The cornerstone for the mall was laid on June 27, 1994, in a ceremony overseen by Governor McWherter.[24] By October of that year, the project had already gone over budget, and engineers began to recommend reductions to the original plan, which resulted in the carillon being deferred in March 1995.[25][26] On April 27, 1996, the time capsules in the Walkway of the Counties were buried in a ceremony.[27] The park was dedicated on June 1, 1996, by then-Governor Don Sundquist and then-Vice President Al Gore as part of a celebration of Tennessee's 200th anniversary of statehood.[28] The World War II memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 1997.[29] On April 18, 1998, the Civilian Conservation Corps monument was dedicated in a ceremony officiated by David B. Roosevelt, a grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[9][30] Construction on the carillon began in January 1999, and operation began on July 14, 2000.[31][32] The bell on Capitol Hill was dedicated on June 1, 2003.[33] The Tennessee Department of Transportation placed a time capsule on the north end of the park on July 1, 2015, as part of a celebration of the agency's centennial. It will be unearthed on July 1, 2115.[34]
Legacy and events[edit]
Since its opening, Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park has routinely hosted numerous events, including festivals, concerts, and community gatherings, and has come to be the most visited state park in Tennessee. It was ranked by the Nashville Business Journal as the number one tourist attraction in Nashville in 2006.[35] In 2011, the American Planning Association listed the park as one of the top ten public spaces in the United States.[4] Since 2004, the mall has hosted the Tennessee History Festival. This event, which takes place during the second weekend in October, includes reenactors of historical figures and events, and numerous exhibits chronicling the state's history.[36][37] Since 2016, the park has hosted a New Year's Eve celebration which includes concerts and the ceremonious dropping of a musical note, owing to the city's music industry and nickname of "Music City".[38][39] In addition, the park routinely offers tours and interpretive events.[40]
Railroad trestle at the south end of the park
Central lawn with the Capitol Building in the background.
Rivers of Tennessee fountains and monument wall
The Pathway of History
Civil War monuments on the Pathway of History
Tennessee World War II Memorial
The Walkway of the Counties
Groundbreaking time capsule
Fountain over the site of McNairy Spring at the Statehood Memorial
Tennessee Amphitheatre
Civilian Conservation Corps Monument
Obelisk detailing the history of the Tennessee State Capitol
Media related to Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park at Wikimedia Commons