About Us

The Gordon Jewish Community Center is at the center of Jewish life in Nashville, providing recreational, educational, social and cultural programs and services to over 1,700 member families. It is a place where non-Jews are welcome to join, play and learn side by side with their Jewish neighbors. Its purpose has changed little in its one hundred years: to enrich lives and strengthen the community.

Gordon Jewish Community Center
801 Percy Warner Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37205
(615) 356-7170

The roots of the Gordon Jewish Community Center are in the Young Men's Hebrew Association, which held its first meeting in December 1902. The organization obtained a charter in 1903, but it was not until 1908 that the first building opened downtown. By 1916 the Young Women's Hebrew Association allied with the YMHA, and in 1924 a larger facility opened. It was through these doors that an estimated 415,000 military personnel passed during World War II, receiving sustenance and camaraderie during breaks from maneuvers.

As the post-World War II era saw the movement of the Jewish population farther west in Davidson County, the YMHA—now known as the Jewish Community Center of Nashville—moved in that direction, too. In 1952, its building at 3500 West End Avenue opened. While striving to maintain its role in providing a welcoming, safe haven for Nashville's Jews, the Center also recognized its place in the larger community. In 1965, its board voted to offer membership "without discrimination or segregation because of race, creed or national origin."

With the purchase of 52 acres on Highway 70 in 1966, the future of the Jewish Community Center was secured. An outdoor site was created by the end of that decade, and in 1984 the building on Percy Warner Boulevard was dedicated. An expansion and renovation in 2000 created one of the finest complexes in Middle Tennessee, and motivated the addition of the "Gordon" name in recognition of the generosity and commitment of the Joel Gordon Family.