NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Historic Nashville has released the "Nashville Nine" — its annual list of historic properties in Music City that are endangered by demolition, neglect or development.
This year's list includes four buildings on Second Avenue N., which were significantly damaged on Christmas Day by a bomb.
Historic Nashville has published this list every year since 2009. The list is created through a public nomination process.
"It's very important to a city of storytellers to keep the ties to the city's history," said Brian Mansfield, incoming president of Historic Nashville.
Mansfield said the organization's mission is clear.
"What historic Nashville tries to do with the Nashville Nine is point two parts of the story that will be harder to tell if those buildings go away," Mansfield said.
For another year, the organization listed nine Nashville properties at risk of losing their historical roots.
Buildings like Woolworth, Southern Ground and the Elk's Lodge No. 1102 are on the list.
"It was the club Baron in the 50s; and I think into the early 60s where people like Muddy Waters and BB King and Little Richard and Eddie James played," Mansfield said.
Even the city's first Black funeral home can become history, Mansfield says, if we don't take steps to preserve it.
Historic Nashville says as more development moves in, these buildings are at risk of coming down.
"A lot of those buildings if they're not churches are being built in the last 15 or 20 years, those are going to be gone in the next 20 to 25 years as development extends out that way," Mansfield said.
Sites like Woolworth have new owners and they are making renovations and repairs.
"We are urging them to take the kind of care and the kinds of steps to preserving as much of the integrity of the inside that remains as they would the outside," Mansfield said.
Each property featured in the list will be the focus of Historic Nashville's advocacy and outreach in 2022. The organization promotes the recognition of historic places and the impact they have on the culture, commerce and creativity of Nashville.
This year's list includes:
- 170, 172, 174 and 176 Second Avenue N.
- Elks Lodge No. 1102 at 2614 Jefferson Street
- Patton Brothers Funeral Home at 1306 South Street
- Southern Ground at 114 17th Avenue N.
- Woolworth Building at 221 Fifth Avenue N.
- Coca-Cola Bottling Plant at 1525 Church Street
