Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Murfreesboro is a city in, and county seat of, Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States.[6] The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010.[7] Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropolitan area of Middle Tennessee, 34 miles (55 km) southeast of downtown Nashville.
"Murfreesboro" redirects here. For other uses, see Murfreesboro (disambiguation).
It served as the state capital from 1818 to 1826. Today, it is the largest suburb of Nashville and the sixth-largest city in Tennessee. The city is both the center of population[8] and the geographic center of Tennessee.
Since the 1990s, Murfreesboro has been Tennessee's fastest-growing major city and one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.[9] Murfreesboro is home to Middle Tennessee State University, the largest undergraduate university in the state of Tennessee, with 22,729 total students as of fall 2014.[10]
Parks and recreation[edit]
Cannonsburgh Village is a reproduction of what a working pioneer village would have looked like from the period of the 1830s to the 1930s. Visitors can view the grist mill, school house, doctor's office, Leeman House, Caboose, Wedding Chapel, and other points of interest. It is also home to the World's Largest Cedar Bucket.[44][58]
Old Fort Park is a 50-acre (200,000 m2) park which includes baseball fields, tennis courts, children's playground, an 18-hole championship golf course, picnic shelters and bike trail.[59]
Barfield Crescent Park is a 430-acre (1,700,000 m2) facility with eight baseball fields, 7 miles (11 km) of biking/running trails, an 18-hole championship disc golf course, and ten picnic shelters.[60]
Murfreesboro Greenway System is a system of greenways with 12 miles (19 km) of paved paths and 11 trail heads.[61] In 2013, the city council approved a controversial 25-year "master plan" to extend the system by adding 173 miles worth of new greenways, bikeways and blueways at an estimated cost of $104.8 million.[62]
Education[edit]
Elementary education within the city is overseen by Murfreesboro City Schools (MCS). MCS focuses on prekindergarten through sixth grade learning.[70] The city has 12 schools serving 8,800 students between grades pre-K through 6th.[71]
Secondary schools are overseen by Rutherford County Schools, which has 50 schools and a student population of over 49,000.[72]
The Japanese Supplementary School in Middle Tennessee (JSMT, 中部テネシー日本語補習校 Chūbu Teneshī Nihongo Hoshūkō), a weekend Japanese education program, holds its classes in Peck Hall at Middle Tennessee State University, while its school offices are in Jefferson Square.[73]
Murfreesboro is serviced by the following media outlets:
Newspapers:
Radio:
TV:
Infrastructure[edit]
Transportation[edit]
Murfreesboro is served by Nashville International Airport (IATA code BNA), Smyrna Airport (MQY) and Murfreesboro Municipal Airport (MBT). The city also benefits from several highways running through the city, including Interstates 24 and 840; U.S. Routes 41, 70S, and 231; and State Routes 1, 2, 10, 96, 99, and 268.
Industry also has access to north–south rail service with the rail line from Nashville to Chattanooga. Into the latter 1940s the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway's #3/#4 (Memphis - Nashville - Atlanta) served Murfreesboro.[74] By 1950 that train's route was shortened to Nashville - Atlanta. Until 1965 the Louisville & Nashville's Dixie Flyer (Chicago - Florida) made a stop in the town on its route. Likewise, the #3/#2 (renumbered from #3/4) continued to that period as an overnight train between Nashville and Atlanta, also making a stop in town.[75]