Centennial Arts Center and Swimming Pool

Hi, I’m Jerome Moore, Nashville Sites cultural ambassador, NashvillePBS host and cultural affairs producer, and most importantly, I’m a Nashville native. This stop is part of the Nashville Sites walking tour. To explore more stories, take the full tour on NashvilleSites.org.

For this stop, locate Metro Parks’ Centennial Art Center, situated at the corner of 25th Avenue North and Park Plaza. This building has a complicated past and has been reimagined as a space for creativity and reflection.

Constructed in 1932 as part of a public swimming pool complex, the facility opened during the Great Depression. Like many public amenities in the South at the time, the pool was strictly segregated and admitted only White patrons, in line with Jim Crow laws. If you were Black and living in Nashville, your only option was the public pool at Hadley Park in North Nashville.

That changed on July 18, 1961, when two African American students—Kwame Lillard of Tennessee State University and Matthew Walker Jr. of Fisk University—challenged segregation by staging a “swim-in.” Kwame Lillard stated that they were denied entry to the pool, but the controversy had already begun. Rather than desegregate, the city chose to close all 23 public pools, citing “financial reasons.” By 1971, the Centennial Park pool was filled with concrete. According to historian Jeff Wiltse, author of Contested Waters, public swimming pools were particularly charged spaces—both visually and physically intimate—exacerbating racial and gender anxieties among many White Americans.

After sitting vacant for more than a decade, the building was reborn in 1972 as the Centennial Art Center. Today, visitors come to take classes, see exhibits, enjoy lunch, or simply reflect among the fountains, flora, and sculpture garden. Where the deep end of the pool once stood, you’ll now find the Herb Garden—an oasis maintained by the Herb Society of Nashville in partnership with Metro Parks. First planted in 1977, the garden was redesigned and replanted in 2024 and 2025. It now features more than 70 varieties of culinary and medicinal herbs, along with flowering plants that attract bees and other essential pollinators.

The Arts Center is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m, and Fridays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can go inside to see the art exhibits and the former swimming pool area. The space stands as a testament to Nashville’s commitment to preserving its cultural heritage while nurturing creative expression.

In 2022, a historical marker was installed to honor the bravery of Kwame Lillard and Matthew Walker. To explore more of Nashville’s civic past and creative present, check out our Civil Rights and Arts & Murals tours on Nashville Sites.

Head back to the walking trail and continue along the north side of the lake back towards the Parthenon. You’ll also pass an interpretive panel that tells more about the Centennial Exhibition. When you reach a concrete bridge at the edge of the lake, the Sunken Garden will be on your right. The Taylor Swift bench in the garden will be straight ahead near the willow tree.