Demolition underway at Genesco World Headquarters

Kenley Hargett
·2 min read

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Since the 1960s, the Genesco building has stood as a Nashville landmark, but it’s now seeing its final days.

Demolition began Wednesday at the iconic Genesco building along Murfreesboro Road in South Nashville.

PREVIOUS: Iconic Genesco building to be demolished

Nashville International Airport (BNA) owns the property and decided to demolish the building due to its poor condition.

  • Genesco Building demolition
    (Photo: WKRN)
  • A scene from the Genesco Industrial Park (1415 Murfreesboro Road) ribbon cutting ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee on August 5th, 1962. (Courtesy: Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County Archives, Nashville Public Library)
    A scene from the Genesco Industrial Park (1415 Murfreesboro Road) ribbon cutting ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee on August 5th, 1962. (Courtesy: Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County Archives, Nashville Public Library)
  • Genesco
    (Photo: WKRN)
  • Genesco
    (Photo: WKRN)
  • Genesco
    (Photo: WKRN)
  • Genesco Park ribbon cutting
    Genesco Park ribbon cutting in 1962 (Courtesy: Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County Archives)
  • Genesco building
    An exterior view of the Genesco Park Administration Building pictured from the porch of Monell’s at the Manor in 2005. Courtesy: Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County Archives)
  • Former Kingsley home on Murfreesboro Pike. Current site of the Genesco Plant. Photo courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives
    Former Kingsley home on Murfreesboro Pike. Current site of the Genesco Plant. Photo courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives

Demolition on the building was initially set to begin in May 2023 though its parking lot was used for BNA’s cell phone waiting lot over the holidays.

Scott Maclay has lived in Nashville his entire life and remembers his dad working for the Jarman Shoe Company. He was only 10 years old and remembers watching planes take off from the nearby airport.

“There was other curiosities in there, like they had a size 48 work boot, and just stupid stuff, and then I remember in the early ’70s, they had like a men’s shoe…and in the shoe, it was a plexiglass heel on it, and you could, with the plexiglass heel, it was made to put goldfish in the heel of the shoe.”

According to library resources, this building later turned into a Johnston and Murphy factory store. The store closed in 2002.

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An airport spokesperson told News 2 there are no plans to develop the land. They wanted to demolish the building because it was not viable to use.

Many people in Music City have great memories and said they consider this another part of Nashville’s past that will soon be gone. Through the years, the building served as a landmark for motorists traveling along Murfreesboro Road or travelers who landed at BNA in addition to serving as a place of employment for thousands of Nashvillians.

To learn more about the Genesco building’s history, click here.

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