Explore Historic Murfreesboro

Come explore historic downtown Murfreesboro and East Main Street!!

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Explore Historic Murfreesboro

Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37130, United States

Created By: The Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County

Tour Information

Come explore historic downtown Murfreesboro! Politics, commerce, faith, and education all intersected here to influence the stories and architecture of these special places. Downtown buildings and homes document the town’s beginnings as a frontier county seat (and briefly the capitol of Tennessee from 1819-1826) into a booming 21st century city.

As you take this tour, please note that many of the properties are privately owned and should only be viewed from public thoroughfares.

The historic East Main Street portion of this tour is easily walkable. The additional sites off East Main Street may be more easily accessed by driving.


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What You'll See on the Tour

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 C... Read more
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. 185... Read more
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 bui... Read more
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 e... Read more
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 a... Read more
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 wh... Read more
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 ... Read more
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, J... Read more
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... Read more
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... Read more
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... Read more
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... Read more
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 Neoc... Read more
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 i... Read more
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 g... Read more
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.
Late Victorian in design, this c. 1895 house features a wraparound porch, fish-scale shingles, and elaborate millwork, or bargeboard, beneath the gables.
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.
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.... Read more
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. ... Read more
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. Ano... Read more
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 Qu... Read more
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 t... Read more
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 su... Read more
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 ... Read more
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 windo... Read more
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-fro... Read more
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 als... Read more
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 th... Read more
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. C... Read more
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 f... Read more
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... Read more
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... Read more
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 adapte... Read more
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 Murfrees... Read more
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 w... Read more
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... Read more
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... Read more
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 th... Read more

 

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