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Old 04-14-2021, 10:40 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tragenvol View Post
A First Friday type deal; that's my guess.
I think you're right. Today's hint is It will only be offered on Mondays in May!
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Old 04-17-2021, 05:46 AM
 
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So...crickets. I can't find an announcement...seems they only gave a second hint and didn't announce on their FB page as advertised.
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Old 04-17-2021, 06:46 AM
 
13,337 posts, read 39,765,772 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tragenvol View Post
So...crickets. I can't find an announcement...seems they only gave a second hint and didn't announce on their FB page as advertised.
I noticed that, too. Very perplexing and disappointing.
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IMPORTANT READING:
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its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
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Old 05-03-2021, 12:19 AM
 
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I visited cookeville for a couple days. No idea what i was doing but all i saw was a strip of five lane psuedo-highway thru town. Where is this “quaint downtown “ people speak of? Does it actually exist how big is it? Id like to rectify my mistake if i made one and visit it
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Old 05-03-2021, 07:48 AM
 
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Quaint may be the square and downtown; it would appear you missed out on the West Side connected to downtown by Broad Street....the district encompassing this part of Broad intersecting with Cedar would be better described as vibrant.

https://visitcookevilletn.com/histor...tural-district
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Old 05-03-2021, 08:59 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tragenvol View Post
Quaint may be the square and downtown; it would appear you missed out on the West Side connected to downtown by Broad Street....the district encompassing this part of Broad intersecting with Cedar would be better described as vibrant.

https://visitcookevilletn.com/histor...tural-district
I'm attaching a map of the area which I think shows what thebruiser500 saw. In blue is Jefferson Avenue which is the main drag and connects the courthouse square to I-40 and on to Sparta (it used to be called Sparta Highway). Interestingly, north of the courthouse Jefferson Ave becomes a very quiet residential street. In purple is Willow Avenue which is another major thoroughfare that connects Tennessee Tech University to I-40. I suspect he was on Willow and/or Jefferson, maybe also Interstate Drive ("Restaurant Row").

The area outlined in brown is roughly the area considered downtown with the courthouse square circled in green and the WestSide circled in red. In between are Dogwood Park, the performing arts center, the federal courthouse, the main library, and a few businesses and churches. (Dogwood Park's placement is mislabeled in the map--it should be a couple of blocks north and west of where it's labeled.)



Downtown Cookeville originally sprang up around the courthouse on top of a hill. A couple of decades later the railroad depot was built in 1909 on top of another hill, and an additional commercial area sprang up around there. Today they're joined together by Dogwood Park.


Here are some Google Streetviews of the parts of downtown that people consider "quaint" or at least more happening than many other small town downtowns.

The WestSide area which is full of restaurants and shops:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1640...7i16384!8i8192

In this one, the building labeled "Antiques" has been razed, and a new, 3-story mixed-use building is currently under construction. If you continue north, you'll see the hospital on the left, and eventually this street dead-ends at the university. The city is currently redoing this street to bury the utilities and add bike lanes.
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1643...7i13312!8i6656

The courthouse square, as seen from Jefferson Avenue heading north from the interstate:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1618...7i16384!8i8192

The entrance to Dogwood Park. The courthouse square will be off to the right (east) while the depot will be off to the left (west):
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1631...7i16384!8i8192

Heading west on Broad Street towards the depot. The Italianate federal courthouse is on the left, and the performing arts center is on the right:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1634...7i16384!8i8192


And some pictures of downtown Cookeville

The beginning (or end) of the bike trail connecting downtown Cookeville and downtown Algood.


A festival on the courthouse square, with members of the children's theater advertising their upcoming performance of The Little Mermaid.


The WestSide in the snow.


The mayor and his wife at a wine festival downtown.
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IMPORTANT READING:
Terms of Service

---
its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD

Last edited by JMT; 05-04-2021 at 04:45 PM..
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Old 05-10-2021, 03:32 PM
 
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JMT thanks for the post. You are right. I did miss that downtown area somehow. It looks nice. Would you say it is declining, stagnating, or growing?


I'm pretty sure I'm gonna move to TN at this point. Have to decide on some area outside of Knoxville or Cookeville now! Would be curious to hear any opinions people have on differences and pros or cons of one over the other.


(FWIW, I am coming from MA and looking for something more relaxed, more live and let live than MA, with the less lockdown restrictions the better, and gonna try and have myself a mini hobby farm!)
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Old 05-10-2021, 04:04 PM
 
Location: Middle Tennessee
111 posts, read 134,623 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thebruiser500 View Post
JMT thanks for the post. You are right. I did miss that downtown area somehow. It looks nice. Would you say it is declining, stagnating, or growing?


I'm pretty sure I'm gonna move to TN at this point. Have to decide on some area outside of Knoxville or Cookeville now! Would be curious to hear any opinions people have on differences and pros or cons of one over the other.


(FWIW, I am coming from MA and looking for something more relaxed, more live and let live than MA, with the less lockdown restrictions the better, and gonna try and have myself a mini hobby farm!)
Anecdotally we are defintely growing.

But if you prefer numbers

Quote:
Originally Posted by JMT View Post
Ok the 2020 estimates are out. Remember, these are just estimates, not official Census counts. The official counts won't come out until July, I think. The only estimates right now are for metropolitan and micropolitan areas and their counties.

metropolitan area...2020 est...1-year change...10-year change
Nashville...1,961,232...27,777...315,032
Memphis...1,348,678...2,332...32,578
Knoxville...878,124...8,986...63,210
Chattanooga...569,931...4,749...41,788
Clarksville...314,364...4,615...40,415
Kingsport-Bristol...308,183...393...-1,361
Johnson City...204,540...560...5,824
Jackson...179,131...476...-563
Morristown...143,982...1,140...7,374
Cleveland...125,906...909...10,118

micropolitan area...2020 est...1-year change...10-year change
Cookeville...115,359...1,293...9,313
Tullahoma-Manchester...106,555...1,144...6,345
Sevierville...99,244...842...9,355
Greeneville...69,571...444...740
Crossville...61,603...771...5,550
Athens...54,208...398...1,942
Shelbyville...50,179...495...5,121
Lawrenceburg...44,432...269...2,563
McMinnville...41,605...336...1,766
Dyersburg...36,693...-429...-1,642
Newport...36,225...208...563
Lewisburg...35,016...509...4,399
Dayton...33,443...237...1,634
Martin...33,334...65...-1,687
Paris...32,056...-253...-274
Union City...30,131...-118...-1,676
Brownsville...17,002...-242...-1,785

https://www.census.gov/programs-surv...cal-areas.html
Then by those estimates Cookeville is the 2nd fastest growing micro in the state. Our growth speed is also passing up a lot of the metropolitan areas in TN. Keep in mind these are ~April 2020ish numbers. I would say ever since the pandemic set in; we've only gained more people.
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Old 05-10-2021, 04:18 PM
 
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Well I know that Cookeville the town is growing. I'm curious if the nice downtown area is growing, or if all the growth is gonna be on those 5 lane pseudo-highways going through Cookeville to I-40.
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Old 05-10-2021, 05:13 PM
 
13,337 posts, read 39,765,772 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thebruiser500 View Post
Well I know that Cookeville the town is growing. I'm curious if the nice downtown area is growing, or if all the growth is gonna be on those 5 lane pseudo-highways going through Cookeville to I-40.
Oh the bulk of the growth, like most places, is along the wide highways where land is plentiful and cheap(er). But downtown Cookeville is definitely robust. Supposedly the only town in Tennessee with a lower downtown vacancy rate than Cookeville is Franklin (fancy Nashville suburb). I can think of only one empty storefront in downtown Cookeville, and it just sold last month so I don't know how much longer it'll stay vacant. There's a large vacant lot where an old sporting goods factory used to be which burned down a few months ago which was supposed to become a Hilton branded hotel/conference center, but those plans were scrapped. I hope something else goes there. It's really the only eyesore in an otherwise nice downtown.

Anyway, there are several things which are helping downtown Cookeville stay relevant:
  • Federal government contractor SAIC opened a large operation in a bank building downtown where, when it's fully ramped up, will have 300+ IT workers. They're almost there already, and they've pretty much taken over the entire building except for a small section in the back for the bank. All those (well paid) workers are filling up downtown restaurants at lunch, and those restaurants and the downtown breweries become packed at night, many with outdoor patios and live music. Many of those IT workers are also choosing to live downtown or at least very close by. Here's a picture of the Regions Bank/SAIC building:


  • The performing arts center is downtown, catty corner from the SAIC building. The performing arts center includes an outdoor performance pavilion which is immensely popular in warmer months. Again, all those people coming downtown for entertainment help keep restaurants, breweries, and cafés filled.
  • The hospital is adjacent to downtown.
  • The university is just a few blocks from downtown. The city is improving Cedar Avenue, a 2-lane road which connects the university to the part of downtown with most of the restaurants/breweries to add bike lanes and wider sidewalks to encourage all those college students to walk/bike downtown instead of drive.
  • There are many, many festivals that take place downtown, some of them in the streets, some of them in the wildly popular Dogwood Park. My elderly mother moved to downtown Cookeville a couple of years ago from Knoxville and sometimes gets a little perturbed that the streets downtown are closed so often in the warmer months for all these festivals. But she's gotten used to it, and she doesn't want to live anywhere else. She walks to Dogwood Park, the main library, the farmers market, her favorite bakery, a couple of museums where she volunteers, her financial planner, the downtown post office, the performing arts center, especially the outdoor performance pavilion for all the free concerts and outdoor movies, and a host of restaurants. That's a kind of lifestyle that she could never have afforded in Knoxville.

And downtown is still growing. A nice office building was just completed (I don't have a picture of the finished product, unfortunately):




A mixed-use building is being built (it's up to the 3rd floor now):




And some of the priciest new housing in Cookeville, as measured per square foot, is downtown, and they're selling almost as quickly as they're built:



But remember, Cookeville is a small town (35k), and it was a REALLY small town back when downtowns were really being developed with only 2400 people in 1920. So the footprint of downtown Cookeville isn't large, and there are no large historic buildings other than the county courthouse. But for what we've got, I think it's wonderfully compact, attractive, and bustling.
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IMPORTANT READING:
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its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
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