YMCA, Ward Seminary, TSU Avon Williams Campus

You are now at the YMCA, where you will learn about three schools that were all within three blocks of this site. The YMCA is known for sports leagues, workout classes, and swim lessons, but from 1911 to 1991, the Nashville School of Law operated out of the lower basement level of the Downtown YMCA. The school was designed for working and middle-class men, and later women, who did not have the time or the money to attend a traditional law school as full-time students. The YMCA Night Law School offered evening classes, providing non-traditional students the opportunity to pursue their professional aspirations in the legal field. Walk inside the building during business hours to see an exhibit about the history of the YMCA in Nashville, which also mentions the law school. 

Two all-female schools have roots in this area as well. On the bottom level of the YMCA building you can find a historical marker for the Nashville Female Academy, which was founded in 1817. The school suspended operation in 1862 and returned in 1865, but ultimately closed 13 years after the Civil War. The second school, Ward Seminary, was located on 8th Ave (now Rosa L. Parks Blvd.) which you passed on your way here. 

Ward Seminary opened in 1865, just six months after the Civil War. It was a school for the daughters of wealthy white southerners at a time when many young women did not attend high school. In 1913, Ward Seminary merged with Belmont College for Young Women to become Ward-Belmont School. Ward Seminary still exists albeit by a different name. Located in Green Hills, the Harpeth Hall School remains an independent all-girls school for grades 5-12. Minnie Pearl, Cornelia Fort, Amy Grant, Tracy Caulkins Stockwell, and Reese Witherspoon are but a few of their many notable alumnae. Ward-Belmont became Belmont College and later Belmont University. We’ll end this tour at Belmont University, but that’s getting ahead of our story a bit.

Now walk north away from Church Street and the YMCA, toward the large concrete building behind it. This is the downtown extension of Tennessee State University, which you will visit later in the tour, named for Civil Rights lawyer Avon Williams Jr. The Avon Williams campus began as a branch of the University of Tennessee, called UT-Nashville. UT-Nashville officially opened in 1968.

In 1971, this modernist building was built for the expanding school, with classrooms, laboratories, and a 450-seat auditorium. A year later, a prominent African American lawyer and state senator named Avon Williams Jr. represented a group of plaintiffs in an important court case called Geier v. Blanton. The plaintiffs argued that two public universities—Tennessee State and UT-Nashville—perpetuated a state of segregation in higher education. The court ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, and in 1979, UT-Nashville merged with Tennessee State University. Today, the TSU Avon Williams campus serves as the hub for the University’s night, weekend, and distance education offerings for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Head back to your vehicle and continue north on YMCA Way until you reach Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Turn LEFT and drive about a mile then turn RIGHT onto Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Blvd. Before you head over the Jubilee Bridge look to your right at the etching of Martin Luther King Jr. with the inscription “JUBILEE-- The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” This is the MLK Magnet High School, located in the former Pearl High School building. Pearl was the first public school for African Americans in Nashville, opening downtown in 1883 just two blocks south of Hume-Fogg High School. The school moved to this location in 1937. Turn RIGHT when you reach Jackson St. and park in the lot behind the Franklin library, on your left.