Qualla: Opryland USA

Opryland USA: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dough4872, CC BY-SA 3.0. The decision that still haunts Nashville happened on November 4, 1997, when Gaylord Entertainment announced it would tear down Opryland USA and build a shopping mall. The park was profitable. It had been profitable every year since it opened on May 27, 1972. At its peak in the late 1980s, nearly 2.5 million people walked through its gates annually. Former CEO Bud Wendell would later say, bluntly: "Opryland was successful. And it was successful when they shut it down. We weren't losing money." He called the decision "the dumbest thing I've ever seen." By July 1998, the entire site had been scraped to bare concrete. Where the Wabash Cannonball once roared and live bands played jazz in a French Quarter replica, there is now Opry Mills, an outlet shopping mall.

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Image: Dough4872 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Opryland USA: Born from a Visit to Houston

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam mcmaster at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Opryland's origin story begins in 1969, when WSM, Inc. President Irving Waugh visited the Astrodomain complex in Houston, Texas, and noticed something: AstroWorld, the adjacent theme park, drew visitors on days when the Astrodome sat empty. Waugh's company ran the Grand Ole Opry ...

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Image: Adam mcmaster at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Opryland USA: The Showpark That Celebrated American Music

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Oliver F. Atkins, Public domain. Opryland opened two years before the Grand Ole Opry House itself, which debuted on March 16, 1974, with a visit from President Richard Nixon. Despite its name -- borrowed from WSM disc jockey Grant Turner's radio show -- the park was never solely about country music. Nine themed ...

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Image: Oliver F. Atkins | Public domain

Opryland USA: Country Music's Living Room

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photographer: Zack Bennett (Zpb52 at en.wikipedia), Public domain. Gaylord Broadcasting Company of Oklahoma City purchased the entire WSM package -- the radio stations, The Nashville Network cable channel, the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, Opryland Hotel, and the theme park -- in September 1983. Ed Gaylord's close friendship with Sarah C...

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Image: Photographer: Zack Bennett (Zpb52 at en.wikipedia) | Public domain

Opryland USA: Hemmed In by Water and Asphalt

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0. From its first day, Opryland's geography was a slow-burning problem. The park occupied a triangular tract bounded by the Cumberland River on one side and Briley Parkway on another, with Opryland Hotel filling the third edge. In 1975, the Cumberland flooded most of the park before...

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Image: Bobak Ha'Eri | CC BY 3.0

Opryland USA: What Remains at Pennington Bend

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zotdragon at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Nashville tourism dropped 40 percent in the summer of 1998. The city's Convention and Visitors Corporation had to reinvent its entire marketing strategy, shifting focus to the downtown renaissance that was already underway with the new arena, the football stadium, and the relocat...

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Image: Zotdragon at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0