Higher vision masterplan

Throughout 2018 and 2019, the Friends of the Edmondson Homesite facilitated a community-led planning process to help direct the future of the William Edmondson Homesite Park, including the greenspaces, historic site, and the former Murrell School. The result is a bold, yet practical proposal for Metro Nashville to invest in to preserving, protecting, and enhancing this public asset. This would include a public plaza and historic interpretive area where Edmondson’s workshop once stood, and a William Edmondson Cultural Arts Center, which would include a new Edghill Branch Library, multi-use spaces, and more.

Community-led planning process

The Higher Vision Master Plan is the result of several months of community meetings and discussions among Edgehill residents and neighborhood groups, interested citizens around Nashville, historic preservationists, Black history scholars, and art and cultural historians. We were supported and assisted by the Nashville Civic Design Center, Nashville Public Library, and civic architect and former Edgehill resident Georgeanne Matthews and her teams at Catholic University and University of Maryland.

William Edmondson Cultural Arts Center

The William Edmondson Cultural Arts Center, Museum and Library, the centerpiece of the Higher Vision Masterplan, will serve as a living legacy of its namesake by housing a variety of educational and arts resources and programs. The building will house a new, expanded Edgehill Branch Library and an Edgehill Archive. The main library entrance will directly overlook and connect to the William Edmondson historical site.

Inside, visitors will enter a spacious grand lobby with displays that recount the rich history of Edgehill, from its start during the Civil War as a "contraband camp" for those who fled behind Union lines to escape from enslavement, through the Civil Rights era and on to the present. In addition to Mr. Edmondson, other notable African American Edgehill figures, including 19th century activist Callie House, pioneering musician DeFord Bailey, groundbreaking architect Moses McKissack, and civil-rights leader Mansfield Douglas III will be honored and remembered.

Spaces will be dedicated to community arts education for adults and children. We envision curated multi-use/gallery spaces with priority for local artists and performances, particularly from members of underrepresented groups. Classrooms would also host general community education such as computer classes and job training.  

Other Features

• The Cultural Arts Center will be oriented Northward, its main entrance adjacent to a new historical interpretive plaza to mark the Edmondson homesite, and facing into the park, and the Edgehill neighborhood

• ·The multipurpace field, the walking paths, and other park features will be maintained and further improved. 

• The Community Gardens, Nashville’s oldest and largest, will be outfitted with needed infrastructure improvements, to support its mission of urban gardening, healthy nutrition, youth education.

• New youth soccer and basketball courts will be installed, and youth instruction provided.

• Park amenities will be improved, including power, lighting, and water hookups, to support a variety of activities.

•  New and upgraded pedestrian entrances, sidewalks and signage will be added.