Shelby Park Nashville TN Only Five (5) blocks from Top O’Woodland
Shelby Park’s 361.5 acres are located between Shelby Avenue and South 20th Street on the Cumberland River. The park was once owned by John Shelby, who built the Fatherland and Boscobel mansions in East Nashville during the 19th century; born in 1786, Shelby was the first white child born in Sumner County.
It was called Shelby Park by a real estate development company which owned it at the turn of the century and operated an amusement park in it. When that company bankrupted in 1903, the Park Board investigated its purchase as a public park, but deferred action as a result of opposition from East Nashvillians. In 1909 the Board purchased the first 151 acres of the park from the creditors of the bankrupt land company for $40,000 and initiated negotiations with J.R. Meredith for his eighty acres, acquiring the Meredith property in 1911. Additional land adjoining the park was subsequently purchased as the need and opportunity arose.
Though public support existed for naming it Riverside Park, the original name was retained by the Board. The park was opened to the public on July 4, 1912, and Major E. C. Lewis prepared the plans for park development, designing the Sycamore Lodge which opened on August 24, 1912, the Mission House, several log cabins, and various other park features. A Dutch windmill was built on a promontory overlooking the park and a unique boathouse resembling a steamboat at the side of Lake Sevier. A rock quarry was opened in the park and seven bridges were constructed over ravines. A mule stable and tool shed was constructed in Meredith Grove for park maintenance.
The original intention of the Board was to maintain the park largely in its scenic natural condition, but public demands for golf courses, athletic fields, playgrounds, and other recreation facilities eventually forced use of most space in the park. In 1923 the Board purchased the 50-acre Hinds tract to build thereon the first municipal golf course in Nashville, which opened in 1924, and in 1927 it purchased the 60-acre Tillman tract to expand the course to eighteen holes and the total park acreage to about its present size.
In 1915, Dr. A.S. Keim of the YMCA organized the first city park baseball league with eight teams which played on Saturdays at diamonds in Shelby Park. The Shelby Park swimming pool was constructed in 1932 and served until 1961 when it closed. During the Second World War, the pool was used by the Army for river assault boat training and the park riverfront was used as moorage by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers. The U.S. Naval Reserve office, shaped like the prow of a ship was constructed from 1946 to 1949 on land leased in Meredith Grove from the Board.
The most serious accident in park history occurred on May 27, 1945, when four young people drowned in Lake Sevier after their boat overturned. The City of Nashville annexed all of Shelby Park into its corporate limits in 1954. The baseball diamonds in the park were named in honor of Oscar Capps of the Jess Neeley Athletic Association in 1974.
Shelby Park in 1985 had 10 ball diamonds, 4 of which were completely reconstructed in 1981, a community center, six picnic shelters, tennis and basketball courts, and playgrounds, along with 27 holes of golf including the Riverview golf course.
