Cedar Street and Capitol Hill

In the shadow of the state capitol, Cedar Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.) was an area known for dope dens and bawdy houses. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, this district, located in the heart of “Hell’s Half-Acre,” was largely populated by African Americans and immigrant communities. Mixed with some residential homes, there were many commercial establishments that doubled as dens of vice. The area even supposedly had underground sex “circuses” and homosexual clubs. It was quite a different scene from the other side of Capitol Hill, where most of Nashville’s affluent families lived until the early 1900s.

Perhaps no other enterprise along this stretch caused more uproar than Park Theater, located on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Fourth Avenue North. This venue was rumored to engage in all types of lewd behaviors, including “nightly orgies.” The company re-branded itself as May’s Opera House in the 1880s. But the Nashville Tennessean newspaper was not fooled by the name change and regularly called for its closure. Although it is unclear when May’s Opera House closed permanently, redevelopment projects in the 1930s brought the end for many of the provocative establishments of Capitol Hill.