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An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A gospel tabernacle, a city concert hall and the home of the Grand Ole Opry offer several ways into the story of the Ryman Auditorium.
On this page
A gospel tabernacle
The Union Gospel Tabernacle opened in 1892, built under the lead of Thomas Ryman after his conversion at a revival led by Samuel Porter Jones. Hugh Cathcart Thompson designed the red-brick building with its tall pointed windows.
It was renamed the Ryman Auditorium after Thomas Ryman’s death in 1904.
The home of the Opry
From 1943 to 1974 the Ryman was the home of the Grand Ole Opry, which gave it the name the Mother Church of Country Music.
The hall was restored and reopened in 1994, and it is still a working concert venue as well as a place to tour by day.
A protected landmark
The Ryman was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
