Explore Historic Murfreesboro Preview

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Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County: 225 W. College Street

Begin your tour at the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County to get an overview of the county’s history through exhibits and additional tours. Great photo ops await with both our outdoor and interior murals! The Heritage Center is free and open to the public. For current information on hours of operation, please call 615-217-8013 or visit our Facebook page.

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Rutherford County Courthouse

Rutherford County, named for Revolutionary War Gen. Griffith Rutherford, was established in 1803. Murfreesboro became the county seat in 1811; soon after commissioners acquired land from Col. William Lytle for the public square.The ca. 1858 Greek Revival-style courthouse is one of only six remaining antebellum courthouses in Tennessee. During the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the courthouse and square, using the cupola to watch for threats. On July 12, 1862, Confederate troops under C.S. Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked the Union garrison, forcing the troops to surrender and temporarily ending Murfreesboro’s occupation.On December 31, 1862, C.S. Gen. Braxton Bragg’s army clashed with U.S. Gen. William S. Rosecrans’s forces at the nearby Battle of Stones River. Rosecrans prevailed, and the Union Army reoccupied Murfreesboro for the remainder of the war.In 1863, the Union Army recruited African American men in Murfreesboro for the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The 13th USCT marched downtown before leaving to fight in the Battle of Nashville, carrying a regimental battle flag presented by an organization of African American women known as the Colored Ladies of Murfreesboro.In 1920, Sara Spence DeBow and other women gathered signatures here supporting woman suffrage; anti-suffragists also protested here after Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment.Today, the courthouse houses the Courthouse Museum, which includes an outstanding collection of decorative arts, paintings, and historical objects from the 19th and 20th centuries.

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The Public Square

The square’s commercial architecture is an eclectic mix of 19th and 20th century styles. The earliest buildings date to ca. 1820. On April 15, 1869, a fire destroyed the square’s west side, and a tornado demolished and damaged other buildings in 1913. Although these disasters changed the face of the square, many historic buildings and much of the original design remain.In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the square was a bustling place. The courthouse and surrounding businesses drew residents from across the county. Popular businesses included the Princess Theatre (now demolished), Goldstein’s Department Store, Woolworth’s, Elrod’s French Shoppe, and many others.Despite the challenges of segregation, a thriving African American business district operated near the square’s southwest corner. However, following the passage of the National Housing Act of 1949 and the city’s plans for urban renewal, many businesses and homes in the Black neighborhood were razed to build Broad Street in the 1950s and a new City Hall and Civic Plaza in the 1980s. Remnants of this historic neighborhood survive at the intersection of East Vine and South Maple Streets.In the 1980s, preservation efforts helped transform the downtown into the revitalized square that you see today. Main Street Murfreesboro/Rutherford County, established in 1984, coordinated streetscape improvements including brick sidewalks, period lamp posts, sidewalk furniture, and the re-creation of the original town well. Pop into the shops, restaurants, and businesses to enjoy historic architecture and support local businesses.

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The City Café: 113 East Main Street

The City Café first opened its doors in 1900. In the 1930s, you could order a meat, three vegetables, and dessert for 35 cents. Waitresses were not employed in City Café until 1936, at which time the wage for new waitstaff was $7.00 for every 69-hour work week, as well as all the food they could eat. The City Cafe is the state's oldest known restaurant still in operation.

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First Baptist Church: 200 East Main Street

Founded in 1843, the First Baptist Church has anchored downtown Murfreesboro for over 175 years. Designed by acclaimed Chattanooga architect Ruben H. Hunt, this Classical Revival building was built from 1916 to 1920. Many public buildings and churches were constructed in this style because the elements are associated with stability, tradition, and high ideals. Financial challenges during the Great Depression forced the church to auction their building, but by 1941 the congregation was able to buy the building back and continue worshipping at this site.

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East Main Street Church of Christ: 216 East Main Street

The East Main Street Church of Christ has been meeting in this location since 1859. During the Civil War, both armies used it as a hospital. U.S. Col. James Garfield (later the 20th U.S. president) participated in services here in 1863 while serving as chief of staff to U.S. General William Rosecrans. The present building dates from 1900 and features stained glass windows and heavy brick Romanesque arches – a decorative, structurally strengthening technique popular at the turn of the 20th century.

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320 East Main Street

Virginia native John Newton Clark, a member of the First Presbyterian Church and a city recorder for several terms of office, built this Greek Revival-style house in 1850. During the Civil War, Clark’s 19-year-old son James was killed at the Battle of Shiloh. HIs daughter Mary nursed wounded from both sides that were brought here after the nearby Battle of Stones River. The house also marks the start of the National Register-listed East Main Street Historic District.

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332 East Main Street

Mathias B. Murfree, son of Revolutionary War Col. Hardee Murfree for whom the town was named, built the oldest part of this Federal-style house ca. 1835. The Murfrees lived in this house for about ten years. During Reconstruction in 1867, John A. and Mary Baugh purchased the house and added the brick side addition.

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340 East Main Street

Frequently built from about 1900 to 1925, the popular American Foursquare style was practical for town lots because it provided maximum floor space in a small area. These residences could be of frame, brick, or stucco with hipped or pyramid rooflines, dormers, and wide overhanging eaves. Different style characteristics (such as Classical Revival or Craftsman) are often seen in the windows, porch columns, and eave details, making each house unique. Other American Foursquare homes can also be seen at 347, 440, 453, and 521 East Main Street.

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346 East Main Street

Charles Byrn, a hardware merchant and prominent civic leader, spent five years building this stunning Queen Anne-style home, which was completed in 1903. Designed by Nashville architect Thomas J. Moore, the house incorporated five bathrooms, a game room, gymnasium, and both gas and electric lights for his large family.

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Central Christian Church: 404 East Main Street

Built in 1912, the Central Christian Church is the town’s best example of Neoclassical design, including the dome, Iconic columns, and pedimented entrances. The sanctuary is a perfect square with semicircular seating rather than the usual center aisle arrangement. The floor is canted downward as in a theater to focus on the altar and chancel area.

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Palmer House (National Register): 434 East Main Street

C.S. Gen. Joseph Palmer built this National Register-listed house ca. 1870 during Reconstruction. A former state representative and mayor of Murfreesboro, Palmer organized an infantry company and was eventually promoted to brigadier-general during the Civil War. After the war, General Palmer built this home in the Italianate style, the elements of which can be seen in the paired, arched windows, wide waves with decorative brackets, and metal grill work on the front porch.

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446 East Main Street

This two-story brick house was built in 1869 by J.C. and wife Lizzie Alice Leiper. In 1881, Capt. James Clayton and his wife Hadassah purchased the house and added modern plumbing and Victorian details. His son updated it by adding the Neoclassical porch with square Iconic columns in 1910. (The nearby house at 440 East Main Street is another adaptation of the American Foursquare plan).

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450 East Main Street

A two-story portico with fluted Iconic columns, an entrance with a fanlight and sidelights, and side porches characterize this home as a textbook example of the Neoclassical style. Nashville architects Fletcher and Bell designed this home in 1910 for George and Tempe Swoope Darrow, an affluent and flamboyant couple that previously owned Oaklands Mansion and once arranged for a choral scholarship for an impoverished Frank Gumm, who would later become the father of famed superstar Judy Garland.

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506 East Main Street

This outstanding local example of “Stick” style has vertical pieces of wood arranged in a variety of ways on exterior walls, giving the style its descriptive name. Other Stick style elements of the c. 1915 home are the steeply pitched gabled roof, the decorative bracketing in the gable, and the overhanging eaves.

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Cedar Grove Church: 528 East Main Street

This 1941 Colonial Revival church, complete with steeple, is reminiscent of Colonial-era churches in New England. The current Cedar Grove congregation has met in the building since the turn of the 21st century.

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550 East Main Street

Late Victorian in design, this c. 1895 house features a wraparound porch, fish-scale shingles, and elaborate millwork, or bargeboard, beneath the gables.

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602 East Main Street

Victorian style elements – an irregular roof line, cross-gables, gabled dormers, and windows of various sizes and shapes along with Neoclassical porch elements of paired and single columns – distinguish this house.

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628 East Main Street

The gable-front and wing house was a popular style in the second half of the 19th century. Serenity, built during the 1850s, was constructed in brick and features a stick-and-ball spindle porch frieze supported by wooden rope twist columns. This type of decorative millwork would have been produced in Murfreesboro’s own lumber mills. (Residences at 618 and 407 East Main Street also reflect the gable-front and wing house form).You are now ready to cross East Main Street and continue your tour heading back to the Downtown Square.

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Historic Schools – From Union University to Central Magnet School

The Central Magnet School campus has a long history of educational excellence. Union University was built on this site in 1849. The school accommodated 300 students and operated until 1861, when classes were suspended during the Civil War. Used as a hospital and soldiers’ quarters, the building was badly damaged. Reopening after the war, it operated in Murfreesboro from 1868 to 1873 before moving permanently to Jackson, Tennessee.Tennessee College for Women was also located here, built in 1907 by the Southern Baptist Convention. Housed in a Neoclassical-style domed building, it was Tennessee’s only senior college for women at that time. It later became a standard college offering bachelor’s degrees. In 1946, the college merged with Lebanon’s Cumberland University and later became part of Ward-Belmont School for Women in Nashville (now Belmont University).The current 1950 building opened as Central High School. Murfreesboro began desegregating schools in 1962, eight years after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board decision declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Paul Marchbanks, Jr., son of a local minister, was the first African American student to attend CHS, graduating in 1966. The high school was converted into Central Middle School in 1973 and became a magnet school in 2010.

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549 East Main Street

An apartment building built in the early 20th century, this home illustrates Tudor Revival style characteristics of brick and stucco construction techniques; multiple, half-timber decorated front gables, and multi-paned, narrow windows. Another apartment building at 415 East Main Street (c. 1913) also exhibits stucco and half-timber Tudor Revival construction techniques.

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537 East Main Street

The combination of Queen Anne and Classical Revival elements makes this house one of the most architecturally entertaining properties on East Main. The irregular roof line, gazebo front porch, and steeply pitched roof are features of the Queen Anne style in this house, while paired columns, a pedimented portico, and surrounds with bullseyes are Classical Revival influences. A stained-glass window with keystone is another detail of interest.

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Collier-Crichlow House (National Register): 511 East Main Street

Built to reflect a combination of wealth and fashion, the Collier-Crichlow House was designed by Nashville Architect W. C. Smith and built by local carpenter H. C. Jackson. The first owner, Ingram Collier, was a successful businessman and the mayor of Murfreesboro in 1872 and 1873. The home’s Second Empire style is characterized by the Mansard roof, central tower, two-story bay windows, and metal cresting along the roof line. The Collier-Crichlow House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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443 East Main Street

This American Foursquare is distinctive because of several features, including Craftsman-style brackets. Rather than the classical columns seen on most of the neighboring Foursquare houses, this porch is dominated by sturdy columns which support elongated or Ogee arches. The window to the left repeats this arch design.

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435 East Main Street

The Clardy House was built in 1898 for J. T. Rather, a former mayor of Murfreesboro. This is Rutherford County’s only remaining Richardsonian Romanesque residence, featuring three wide, rounded arches supported by squat porch columns. In 1948, Hattie Moore opened a guest house in this building. In 1954, Betsy and Frank Clardy purchased the house, where they raised their family and continued to welcome guests. Their daughter next operated the business. When the bed and breakfast closed in 2000, it was one of the oldest in the state.

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425 East Main Street

Built ca. 1849 by merchant and cabinet maker Ivy J. C. Haynes, this house was re-modeled in the 1870s to reflect the popular Italianate style that dominated architecture from about 1850 to 1880. Paired rounded archest, brackets, a bay window, and the projecting tower covering the entry are typical of the Italianate style.

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Allen Chapel AME Church (National Register): 224 South Maney Avenue

The Gothic-styled Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is home to Rutherford County’s oldest African American Methodist congregation. Freed men and women established the church in 1866. In 1889, congregants built this gable-front brick sanctuary here in the heart of one of Murfreesboro’s historic African American neighborhoods.

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City Cemetery: Vine Street

Just to the west of the church, on Vine Street, is the Old City Cemetery, with burials dating to 1812. The cemetery is the final resting place for Revolutionary and Civil War veterans as well as prominent 19th century settlers. It was also the site of the original First Presbyterian Church (destroyed during the Civil War) which served as the state capitol building during the 1822 legislative session.

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331 East Main Street

Windows of different shapes and sizes characterize this 1896 house built for Murfreesboro jeweler William R. Bell. The elegant oval stained-glass window beneath the Neoclassical porch is overshadowed by the projecting Palladian window on the first floor, above which are paired arched windows with keystones. On the roof, an elaborate round window, finials, cresting, and towering chimneys add to the picturesque quality of the dwelling.

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St. Paul’s Episcopal Church: 315 East Main Street

St. Andrew’s Chapel, the historic part of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, is an example of the Gothic Revival style. One of the church’s founders, Mary Noailles Murfree, achieved fame writing under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock. Consecrated in 1897, the building was originally constructed in frame and located on Spring Street. In 1926, it was moved to the present site and covered with Sewanee stone. The modern sanctuary of St. Paul’s was built in 2002.

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Woman's Club (National Register): 221 East College Street

In 1856, Dr. William T. Baskett contracted with local builder Richard Sanders to begin the house at the corner of East College and North Academy streets. The Italianate-style Baskett House shows a mix of traditional classical features and fashionable details including bracketed eaves, arched windows and entryway, pilasters, and pediment. The Neoclassical wraparound porch was added ca. 1910, before its purchase by the Women’s Club in 1918.

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Childress House (National Register): 225 North Academy Street

This house was originally built as an I-House with Greek Revival influences in 1847 by contractor Jim Fletcher for James Bivens. In 1874, John Childress remodeled the residence in the Italianate style. Childress was a prominent farmer and a director with the Bank of Tennessee and the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad. His sister Sarah was the wife of President James Knox Polk. Mrs. Polk often visited her family in the Childress House.

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First Presbyterian Church (National Register): 210 North Spring Street

This landmark was built in 1914, after the 1913 tornado demolished the congregation’s earlier Gothic Revival building. The dome, Ionic columns, stained glass, recessed entrance, and dentil moldings are all characteristics of the Classical Revival style. Maugans and Bell are believed to be the local contractors that rebuilt the church.

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1 East College Street - Former First Methodist Church/Mid South Bank

Completed in 1888 by local builder H.C. Jackson, the arched windows and doors, along with the grand tower, showcase the Romanesque Revival style. Formerly the First Methodist Church, the property was acquired by Mid South Bank, which adapted the historic church building. The original building and bell tower are now preserved as part of a new mixed use downtown development.

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Center for the Arts: 110 West College Street

Prominent national architect John Knox Taylor designed this Italian Renaissance-styled landmark in 1909. First it was the city post office until 1961 and then housed Linebaugh Public Library from 1962-1992. Two years later, the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County Cultural Arts Commission renovated the building, and in 1995 it became home to the Center for the Arts.

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Rutherford Health Department (National Register): 303 North Church Street

Built in 1931, the Rutherford Health Department building was designed in the Colonial Revival style by prominent New York City architect James Gamble Rogers. The Commonwealth Fund of New York, a private philanthropic foundation whose goal was to improve the daily lives of rural Americans, selected Murfreesboro as the site for its first public health facility. This landmark building served white and black clients while regional workshops and training took place in the second story auditorium. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the renovated building now houses Rutherford County Human Resources CONFIRM.

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Mt. Zion Baptist Church: 228 North Maple Street

For over 120 years, the African American congregation of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church has worshipped at this site. The congregation first formed after emancipation in the 1860s. The present sanctuary, built in the Gothic Revival style, dates to 1884.

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Oaklands (National Register): 900 North Maney Avenue

From 1815 to the late 1850s, Oaklands was built in four distinct phases for the Maney family by their enslaved workforce. After the Civil War, the Maneys sold the mansion to cover debts, and several other families lived here until the house was left vacant. By the 1950s the derelict mansion was scheduled for demolition. Determined local women restored and transformed it into a house museum that serves the community as a popular heritage tourism destination.

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Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center (National Register): 415 South Academy Street

A center for African American education for over 100 years, the two-story brick school was built in 1917 and opened in 1918. With the opening of Holloway High School in 1928, Bradley became a school for younger students before closing in the 1960s as the city’s schools slowly desegregated. Restored by the community in the 1990s, Bradley Academy houses an original classroom, and history and arts exhibits about the African American community.