Greenwood Park (Tennessee)

Greenwood Park
The park entrance
TypeUrban park
LocationNashville, Tennessee
Coordinates36°08′39″N 86°43′21″W / 36.144067°N 86.722433°W / 36.144067; -86.722433
Area40-acre (0.16 km2)
Established1905; 119 years ago (1905)
Closed1949; 75 years ago (1949)

Greenwood Park was the first urban park and recreation area established for African Americans in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][2] It was located on a 40-acre (16 ha) plot approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east-southeast of downtown along Spence Lane between Lebanon Pike and Elm Hill Pike, across from Greenwood Cemetery.[1][3] The park was founded in 1905 by Preston Taylor, a wealthy minister and former slave.[1][4] It remained open until 1949.[4]

Natural features of the grounds included hills, dales, evergreen trees, and streams.[3] The park, which was lit by electric lights, also had a restaurant, theater, roller rink, roller coaster, shooting gallery, merry-go-round, zoo, swimming pool, and a baseball diamond.[3][4] The ballpark's grandstand had seating for a few thousand people and hosted the games of the independent minor league Nashville Standard/Elite Giants and local amateur Negro league teams.[3][5]

It was the home of a large annual fair hosted by the Tennessee Colored Fair Association.[6] The 1909 fair was to include oration by Booker T. Washington and music by the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[6]

The park was served by electric streetcars and was at the end of the Fairfield Street trolley line.[3]

  1. ^ a b c "Story of Greenwood". Historic Nashville. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  2. ^ Phillips, Betsy (February 19, 2015). "Fascinating figures and forgotten stories from African-American history in Nashville". The Nashville Scene. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Richardson, Clement (1919). The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Montgomery: National Publishing Company. p. 335. Retrieved December 31, 2019 – via Internet Archive. Tennessee Colored Fair Association,.
  4. ^ a b c "Greenwood Park - 3A 129 - Nashville, TN". Waymarking. Groundspeak. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  5. ^ Nipper, Skip (October 18, 2013). "Tom Wilson and the Nashville Elite Giants". 262 Down Right. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Tennessee Colored Fair Association advertisement – Trials and Triumphs". Nashville Globe. July 23, 1909. p. 8.