North Nashville is the area northwest of downtown centered on Jefferson Street, home to Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, and Tennessee State University. This category also includes Marathon Village and Capitol View near Charlotte Avenue.
Boundaries are informal. The Jefferson Street corridor runs west from Germantown to Tennessee State University near the Cumberland River, with Buchanan Street to the north and Charlotte Avenue to the south. Interstate 40 crosses Jefferson Street west of 21st Avenue North.
Development
Fisk was founded in 1866, Meharry in 1876, and Tennessee State in 1912. Jefferson Street was a center of Nashville’s Black-owned businesses from the 19th century, and from the 1940s to the 1960s its nightclubs, including Club Del Morocco, the New Era, and Club Baron, hosted artists such as Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, and Etta James. In the late 1960s, over community objection and a federal lawsuit, I-40 was built through the corridor, destroying more than 600 homes and about 128 businesses and dead-ending dozens of streets. Marathon Motor Works built automobiles in a Clinton Street factory complex until 1914; after Barry Walker began acquiring the buildings in 1986, they were restored as Marathon Village. Capitol View, a mixed-use development at Charlotte Avenue and 11th Avenue North, opened its first phase in 2016.
Parks & Recreation
Hadley Park, dedicated in 1912, is considered the first public park in the United States for African Americans. Marathon Village includes the Marathon Music Works venue.
Transit
WeGo Route 29 Jefferson runs the length of Jefferson Street to Tennessee State, Route 75 Midtown follows Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard past Meharry, and Route 50 Charlotte Pike serves Capitol View. Several routes meet at the North Nashville Transit Center on Clarksville Pike, opened in 2024.