Nashville named the ‘It City’ 11 years ago

Mark Kelly
·2 min read
2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Monday, Jan. 8 is an important anniversary for Music City.

Eleven years ago, The New York Times named Nashville the “It City.” News 2 took a look at how one headline launched Nashville as one of the best places to visit and live in the country.

Jan. 8, 2013 was an ordinary Tuesday, but here at home, it was the launch of a new Nashville.

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“In 2013, the New York Times crowned Nashville as the ‘It City,’ and ever since then, we are no longer the best kept secret in America,” said historian David Ewing.

Ewing knows Nashville history inside and out. He said that single national newspaper article drew a whole new type of tourist.

“The ‘It City’ article had an immediate bump for Nashville. Everyone was emailing that article. It went viral online,” he said.

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However, Ewing added modern Nashville actually started 20 years earlier with big civic investments like Nissan Stadium, and downtown added new museums and entertainment venues, but even with all those accomplishments, Ewing said it was Nashville’s restaurants in neighborhoods like Germantown that catapulted Nashville to the top of the list.

“Today, there’s so many new restaurants opening every month here in Nashville. It’s really hard to keep track of how many great, amazing chefs we have here,” Ewing said.

According to Ewing, that combination of history, authenticity, and great food, plus just being a cool, friendly city, drew young people to Music City’s universities and new corporate towers to our skyline.

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“The companies that have come here since that ‘It City’ article include Amazon, AllianceBernstein, and Oracle,” Ewing said. “Out of town money started saying, ‘Why aren’t we investing in Nashville?'”

Ewing admitted affordability and traffic can jeopardize Nashville’s momentum, but he said the city is working on those issues, and the best is yet to come.

“No one has unseated us as being the ‘It City’ now.”

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