Opryland USA, the theme park that ran from 1972 to 1997 on the banks of the Cumberland River northeast of downtown, once filled this ground, and the retail and entertainment complex you see now is Opry Mills. Opryland USA was the entertainment anchor the Grand Ole Opry built around its 1974 suburban home — a music-themed park that at its peak attracted enormous crowds and defined the Nashville tourist experience for a generation. Gaylord Entertainment made the controversial decision to close the park in 1997 and replace it with a shopping mall, arguing the mall would generate more revenue on the same footprint.
The decision drew fierce public opposition from Nashvillians who had grown up at Opryland, and the bitterness of that loss has not entirely faded. Opry Mills opened in 2000 and was severely damaged by the catastrophic Nashville flood of May 2010, which submerged most of the mall. It reopened after extensive repairs.
The relationship between this commercial complex and the Grand Ole Opry House next door represents Nashville's ongoing negotiation between music heritage and tourism economy.