Preservationists, baseball park developer wants Cannonsburgh Village saved: 'It has charm'

Murfreesboro preservationists convinced a ballpark developer to save the city's historic Cannonsburgh Village rather than relocate or demolish the buildings.

"If any plan negatively impacts Cannonsburgh Village, I will not be a part of it," said Jason Rose, majority partner of a proposed minor league baseball team seeking to lease an estimated $30 million to $40 million ball park the city would build.

Rose, however, says he believes the ballpark will blend with the city's historic Cannonsburgh Village, making it an attractive site.

Rose met Tuesday at Cannonsburgh Village on Front Street with people wanting to preserve the historic parks and recreation property, including Lisa Cisco, Cathy Watts, Barbara Hutson Fry, Virginia "Ginger" Jenkins and Bill "Mr. Murfreesboro" Wilson. The group by 8 a.m. that day had collected 1,118 online signatures of people also wanting to save the village from being demolished or relocated to make room for the proposed ball park or another development.

Rose even signed the online petition that reached 1,341 by 5:16 p.m. Tuesday at the urging of Fry.

The village opened 47 years ago to celebrate the nation's Bicentennial with a collection that includes reassembled historic buildings and a steel bridge from the 1800s that used to go over Stewart Creek below One Mile Lane in a former farming neighborhood in the southwest Smyrna area.

The Murfreesboro City Council discussed the proposed baseball park during a Thursday meeting packed with supporters of Cannonsburgh Village at Murfreesboro Airport.

The council also might consider establishing a sports authority to finance, own and oversee the operations of the ball park under the team’s management, and pursue available state funding to assist with the stadium development, according to an agenda report prepared by city administration.

In addition to minor league games, a proposed memorandum of understanding between the city council and Rose suggests the ball park could serve high school state championships and college games in a city that includes a baseball team and stadium at Middle Tennessee State University. Other possibilities include soccer games and concerts, according to the proposed memorandum.

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Rose: Ball park will use downtown parking to 'Celebrate the heritage'

Developers of many baseball parks the past three decades-plus have sought designs that blend into the landscape, such as Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore that serves a Major League Baseball team.

Rose foresees a similar blend-in approach with a much smaller minor league park opening next to Cannonsburgh Village.

"It has charm," said Rose, an owner of Rose & Allyn Public Relations firm with an office is in the Scottsdale, Arizona, area. "It is an absolute incredible part of the community and asset that could make this project uniquely somewhere in America. It could bring more people to celebrate the heritage, which is expressed at Cannonsburgh."

The proposed team would play 51 games per year May through September, Rose said.

He can visualize people on game days driving to downtown Murfreesboro to park, supporting local businesses and walking through Cannonsburgh Village to get to the ball park and enjoying the historical heritage.

Rose said downtown Murfreesboro area's existing 1,500 parking spaces should serve the people wanting to commute to games. The city has plans to build a pedestrian bridge over Broad Street at the Church Street intersection, which has about 40,000 vehicle trips per day crossing.

Murfreesboro officials also have a concept plan to build another pedestrian bridge over Broad Street by intersection with Vine and Front streets that are closer to Cannonsburgh Village.

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Feasible land may challenge ball park plan

Rose wants a baseball park design for a minor league American Association of Professional Baseball expansion team to complement Cannonsburgh Village. The stadium would seat about 4,500 people on approximately 4.5 acres if feasible in an adjacent area south of neighboring Cannonsburgh Village.

What's neighboring to the south now includes a Hooper Supply family business that's not expressed any interest in moving from longtime location on Front Street off Northwest Broad Street, which is part of U.S. Highway 41.

The Hooper family business owns three parcels that total more than two acres, including one property that's over a half acre on the east side of Old Salem Road with an appraisal value of $233,000 from the Rutherford County Property Assessor's Office.

The remaining parcels that are closer to Cannonsburgh Village include about an acre with an appraisal value of $338,000 and over a half acre with an appraisal value of $504,100.

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Rose meets with city leaders

Rose has been meeting with elected council members and other city officials about the proposed ball park.

"We are excited about the possibility of bringing professional baseball to Murfreesboro, but at least with our group, it will not happen without the engagement, the investment, the reinvigoration of Cannonsburgh," Rose said.

American Association of Professional Baseball officials suggested that Rose pursue bringing a team and developing a ball park in Murfreesboro to be part of league expansion, he said.

The 12-team league website shows minor league teams in bigger cities, such as the Chicago Dogs, Kansas City Monarchs and Milwaukee Milkmen. The league has teams in smaller suburban cities, such as the Cleburne (Texas) Railroaders, which is located about 33 miles from downtown Fort Worth in the Dallas area.

In addition to a baseball park blending with Cannonsburgh Village, Rose foresees the nearby CSX railroad tracks, the tall nearby Murfreesboro water tower, the city's Town Creek with trails project and the Stones River Greenway offering sights and sounds that add to the experience of attending a baseball game.

He also can visualize faith nights and arts festivals being part of baseball games and the village, he said.

"That is about as charming as a setting as can be," Rose said.

The ball park can help attract more visitors to the village and provide potential economic stimulus that helps the downtown businesses, Rose said.

Average game attendance for the American Association of Professional Baseball is 2,668 people, league Commissioner Josh Schaub told members of the Murfreesboro City Council Thursday.

Bringing 150,000 fans to the baseball park for games and other events over the course of a season will help more people learn about Cannonsburgh Village and attract more events back to the city historic property, Rose said.

Cannonsburgh Village used to serve as the location for the Uncle Dave Macon Days music festival and BoroPride LGBTQ+ festival.

Rose said he found the niche he was looking for to promote a minor league baseball team from all the people he's recently met behind the "Save Cannonsburgh Villeage" movement.

"I admire their passion for the place, and together I know we can create something amazing," Rose said.

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Will taxpayers be protected?

The proposed ball park, however, does raise issues for many. Will taxpayers, for example, be protected from annual costs to pay for the financing and operations of the stadium?

Other cities have faced tax burdens. Jackson, Tennessee, for example had to spend $13.4 million from 2010 to 2020 toward baseball-related expenses to keep the minor league team, the Generals, according to a news story from the Jackson Sun.

People in Glendale, Arizona, have questioned a 2014 decision by city officials to pay $15 million per year for 15 years, involving an arena management contract for the Arizona Coyotes, a National Hockey League franchise.

Murfreesboro City Manager Craig Tindall previously worked as a city attorney for Glendale and then the hockey team. Tindall was cleared in a conflict of interest ethics complaint for his role in the stadium deal, according to a story from The Arizona Republic.

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'Save Cannonsburgh Village' gains momentum

Others worry that the city could still decide to tear down or relocate Cannonsburgh Village.

"I would really be unhappy about that," said Cisco, who grew up in the log home where the village Visitors Center is located. The home had been in Rutherford County's Lascassas community northeast of Murfreesboro before crews moved the logs and reassembled them at Cannonsburgh Village.

There's also the historic Leeman House now located in the village.

"That’s my grandmother's childhood home," said Cisco, a downtown Murfreesboro resident who started the "Save Cannonsburgh Village" Facebook page.

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Grandparents renew wedding vows in 1976 at Cannonsburgh Village

The village also includes the reassembled Westbrooks Store from the Link community. The store belonged to the grandparents of former Murfreesboro Mayor W.H. "Hollis" Westbrooks, who's recognized as the founder of Cannonsburgh Village on a stone monument in the center of the property.

The store also serves as a treasured memory for Fry. She was 15 when her grandparents, Arthur Straw Hutson and Vergie Douglas Hutson, accepted the invitation of Mayor Westbrooks to renew their marriage vows at the historic store as part of the celebration of the opening of Cannonsburgh Village in 1976.

Fry's grandparents were married at the store in 1913 at the former location in the Link community. She also has memories as a younger girl of sitting on the steps of the store before the relocation and drinking orange or grape NiHi beverages.

The grandparents arrived for the 1976 event in a horse-pulled buggy for a ceremony with the mayor presiding. Fry recalled her grandmother, who was blind at the time, bought a new dress for the event.

"She told me, 'I didn’t have a new dress to wear when I got married, but I got one now,'" Fry said.

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'We can’t get rid of our history'

Wilson, the local celebrity who calls himself, "Mr. Murfreesboro," recalled being a 10-year-old boy the day Cannonsburgh opened. He remembers his grandparents being close friends with Westbrooks and the mayor's wife, Allie Clark.

"Mayor Westbrooks taught me to play rook," Wilson said between pointing out the historical buildings at Cannonsburgh Village.

Fry said she's not opposed to a baseball stadium coming to Murfreesboro but questions if Broad Street can handle the traffic of fans. She worries that the stadium could lose a tenant to another city that built a new ball park in 15 years.

A lifelong resident of the Murfreesboro area, Fry also opposes any efforts to replace Cannonsburgh Village with another mixed-used development with apartments, condos and commercial properties.

"What’s wrong with Cannonsuburgh?" Fry said. "We can’t get rid of our history. Cannonsburgh is a wonderful history. It’s a lesson for everybody who goes over there."

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'I like the small town of it'

The Westbrooks Store from the days when it was located in the Link community also provides a great memory for Jason Haney, who's a cousin of Fry.

"My granddaddy used to hang out there," Haney said. "They'd hang out there and talk."

After hearing about the proposed baseball park, Haney decided to visit Cannonsburgh Village Monday with his 16-year-old son, Jeremiah, 11-year-old daughter, Jacklyn, and their dogs, Bailey and Dixie.

"I like the small town of it," said Haney, who now lives in Rutherford County's part of the rural Bell Buckle community that's also in Bedford County.

Haney also worries about the city deciding to move Cannonsburgh Village to make way for urban metropolitan development.

"It seems they are pushing out the little man to bring in more revenue," Haney said.

Jason Green expressed a similar view about preserving Cannonsburgh Village after stopping his bicycle by the historic bridge that now crosses over Town Creek to toss pieces of bread to turtles and fish.

"They like bread," Green said. "It's nice the way it is."

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Hands-on learning for children, adults remains at Cannonsburgh Village

Those learning about history at Cannonsburgh Village include children who get volunteer tours with hands-on activities from Jenkins, who dresses up in period costumes from the 1800s.

"You can see it on their faces," said Jenkins, who has been a volunteer at Cannonsburgh Village for 11 years. "This is better than a book."

Moving Cannonsburgh to another park for the government to clear the area for another development would be challenging, Jenkins said.

"I would prefer Cannnonsburgh to stay here," Jenkins said.

Cannonsburgh also includes 70 members of the Rutherford County Blacksmiths Association, President Tom Padgett said.

The blacksmiths have provided training to 165 students since June, 25, 2020, Padgett said. He also wants to preserve a Cannonsburgh Village that includes the world's largest cedar bucket.

"Blacksmiths rebuilt the cedar bucket after it burned," Padgett said.

The blacksmiths' students include Lia Ritchie, an MTSU senior studying aviation to become a professional pilot. She also wants to see Cannonsburgh Village stay in a location where she pursues the hands-on blacksmith training.

"I love it," said Ritchie, who's from Murfreesboro. "That's why I come every week. I want to see it stay."

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Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow his tweets on the X social media platform @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.

Meeting time and place

The Murfreesboro City Council will discuss a proposed "Project Diamond" proposal for a minor league baseball park during an 11:30 a.m. Thursday meeting at Murfreesboro Airport.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Minor league baseball park developer wants Cannonsburgh Village saved