Legislative and War Memorial Plazas

As you ascended the steps to War Memorial Plaza from Deaderick Street, you probably noticed a set of stairs on either side of the lamp posts. Those small stairs lead to Legislative Plaza and a secret maze of hallways and offices. There is even a tunnel that runs underneath Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd. that leads straight into the lower floor of the capitol! 

Construction on what is called the Motlow Tunnel began in 1958 after a recommendation of Reager Motlow, the great-nephew of whiskey-distiller Jack Daniels. According to historian Elizabeth K. Goetsch, it was initially proposed to provide legislators and visitors easier access to the building, but there is speculation that it was actually a retaliation against the infamous prohibitionist Edward Ward Carmack. He was a prominent newspaper editor and congressman who abruptly switched his position on temperance. Just before his bid for Tennessee governor in 1908, he sided with those who desired to make alcohol completely illegal. Local newspapers and his political opponents had a field day with this “change of heart.” 

While it was enough to win the support of the Prohibitionist faction, it was not enough to win the election. After the loss, he returned to the newspaper business. Not far from where you are standing, Carmack was shot by his newspaper rivals, Duncan and Robin Cooper, over the victim’s slander of Duncan in their paper. Viewed by many as a martyr for the Prohibitionist cause, a statue of Edward Ward Carmack was erected right in front of the capitol. Motlow’s Tunnel, which runs underneath, was completed in 1958 and remains an amusing irony for Nashvillians. 

So are there other secret tunnels running underneath the streets of Nashville? Speculation abounds. There are rumors of tunnels used to transfer cadavers between medical colleges and hospitals on the southern end of downtown as well as a tunnel running from the basement of Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School. However, most historians remain skeptical. 

Turn LEFT and walk toward Union Street and the opposite end of the plaza. Once you get to the end of War Memorial, take a RIGHT. You will see a number of statues in a courtyard. The Military Branch Museum is on the side of War Memorial facing this smaller courtyard.