Centennial Park (Nashville, Tennessee)

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2500 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 862-8400
www.nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation/Parks/Centennial...

Centennial Park (Nashville) is a large urban park located approximately two miles (three km) west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, across West End Avenue (U.S. Highway 70S) from the campus of Vanderbilt University and adjacent to the headquarters campus of the Hospital Corporation of America.

The 132-acre park was originally farmland which was turned into the state fairgrounds after the Civil War. From 1884 to 1895, the site served as a racetrack and was known as West Side Park. In 1897, it was the site of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition and was renamed Centennial Park. After the exposition ended, most of the building and exhibits (with the exception of a full-scale model of the Athenian Parthenon) were dismantled, leaving in its place a landscaped open area with a small artificial lake (named "Lake Watauga" after the region in western North Carolina where many of Nashville's early settlers moved from), sunken gardens, and a bandshell. This area became an important recreation site for white Nashvillians; "Jim Crow" laws forbade its use by blacks until the 1960s, which resulted in disagreements which led to the closure of the park's swimming pool and its subsequent reopening as an arts center.