Broadway Historic District

About this property

Broadway is a major thoroughfare in the downtown area in Nashville, Tennessee. It includes Lower Broadway, a tourist and entertainment district renowned for honky tonks and live country music. The Broadway Historic District or Honky Tonk Highway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Davidson County, Tennessee (NRHP) on July 18, 1980. The street is also home to retail shops, restaurants, dessert spots, tourist attractions, and hotels. Originally named Broad Street, the eastern end of Broadway ended at the shipping docks on the Cumberland River. It was one of the first roads to run east–west in Nashville, and the first public high school in the city was built on the road in 1875. It eventually became a commercial center lined with hardware stores, feed stores, and various other businesses and had a section known as "Auto Row" at the beginning of the 20th century due to large numbers of car dealers and tire and auto shops. A new post office – now the Frist Art Museum – was built next to Union Station on Broadway by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. Jimmie Rodgers started performing in bars along Broadway near the river in the 1930s. His success eventually attracted other performers, and a thriving music scene developed on Lower Broadway – the section of Broadway that runs from 1st Avenue to 5th Avenue. The popularity of Broadway declined for a time after the Grand Ole Opry left Ryman Auditorium in 1974, but the area came back to life when the Opry moved some shows back to the Ryman in the 1990s. Today, the historical buildings are home to retail shops and restaurants in addition to honky tonks. The official Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation page defines a honky tonk as "an establishment that contains at least one rockin' stage, cold beverages, and a party that lasts all day, every day." Live music plays in most bars and restaurants along Lower Broadway from as early as 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. or even later each day, which is how the street came to be known as "Honky Tonk Highway". The venues don't have cover charges, and established music artists sometimes make appearances to perform with the up-and-comers. Many famous stars have gotten their starts in these venues, including Dierks Bentley, Gretchen Wilson, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Blake Shelton, and Kris Kristofferson. Broadway divides downtown Nashville into North of Broadway and South of Broadway (SoBro). The entire Lower Broad district (2nd Avenue and 5th Avenue) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Additionally, several locations farther down Broadway are registered historical landmarks.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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