Antioch, Tennessee

Antioch is a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, located in the southern part of Davidson County. It is not autonomous, and is governed by the Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government. The area is assigned to postal zip code 37013.

Demographics

According to the 2000 census, Antioch had a population of 82,462. Racial makeup for the city is 47% Caucasian/White (non-latino), 33% Black/African American, 12.2% Hispanic/Latino, 6.8% Asian, and 1% more than one race. The Hispanic/Latino percentage would be much higher if the immigrant population was counted.

History

The community takes its name from Antioch First Baptist Church, established in 1910. As recently as the 1960s Antioch was a small community catering to the needs of area farmers with amenities such as a feed mill. It was located on the banks of Mill Creek, a minor tributary of the Cumberland River that rises near Nolensville, several miles to the southeast. This area has become less important over time as zoning restrictions forbidding further development on a floodplain have limited the construction of more businesses in this area, which had started to become quite congested.

In the 1970s Antioch experienced explosive growth, largely due to the expansion of the Nashville sewer system to the area and the availability of large amounts of former farmland, which made possible the construction of many low-rise apartment complexes, and several mobile home communities. More than perhaps any other Nashville suburb, Antioch maintained a "blue-collar" image and became a magnet for those seeking affordable housing. Many relatively low-priced, site-built detached "starter" homes were built as well.

Present day

The presence of large quantities of affordable housing led to influx of young families with children, greatly overtaxing the area's schools, which have been overcrowded for decades and remain so, despite an extensive construction program and the development of some private schools, largely church-affiliated. Large numbers of recent immigrants have also come to Antioch in the last two decades, attracted initially by the affordable housing and also by the presence of immigrant communities. Immigrants are predominantly from Southeast Asia and Latin America, but many are from other places.

The most important business concentration in Antioch is Hickory Hollow Mall, which opened in 1978 and has been renovated and expanded on several subsequent occasions. It is a typical suburban shopping mall with large anchor stores such as Sears, Macy's, and Dillard's. The Nashville Zoo is also located in Antioch. A Walmart Supercenter, and many new shopping strip malls have also opened in the area. Large-scale home builders such as Beazer and Centex Homes have constructed many new subdivisions.

Hickory Hollow Mall

The mall in Antioch has over 150 stores. It is a regional mall and has a gross leasing area of 1,088,280 sq. feet. It has 5,795 parking spaces. The trade area population is 768,390 as of the 2006 estomate. The food court seats up to 600 people.

Some of the major stores in the mall are Dillard's, Macy's, Sears, and Steve & Barry's University Sportswear. It is located in the South East side of the city. One of the mall's most successful stores is a hip hop clothing store that came in late 2000. It replaced a cowboy clothing store and made twice as much as the cowboy store.

Starwood Amphitheatre, Nashville's former primary outdoor music venue, is located a few miles south of Antioch on the Rutherford County line. The amphitheatre was closed prior to the 2007 season.

Antioch is the site of the denominational headquarters of the National Association of Free Will Baptists.[1]

External links

• Antioch, Tennessee at Curlie