A new playground has opened at Murfree Spring in Murfreesboro, giving families a play space just steps from the park's wetland boardwalk. The play area sits at 460 SE Broad Street, right next to the raised boardwalk that winds through the park's urban wetlands.
According to the City of Murfreesboro, TN - Government, visitors can now enjoy the new playground and stroll around the Murfree Spring boardwalk, which sits next to the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring. The playground is located alongside the boardwalk.
A Facebook post from the city highlights the new playground and thanks Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation.
Ground Cover at the Playground
The play area includes ground cover beneath the equipment.
The playground sits inside Murfree Spring Wetlands, a 25-acre city park at Maney Avenue and Broad Street that features paved walking trails and raised boardwalks threading through wetland habitat, according to the City of Murfreesboro. The boardwalk is another feature of the park.
A Park Built on Industrial History
Right next door, the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring is a hands-on children's museum.
The whole complex actually sits on the former site of Murfreesboro's water treatment plant, and that industrial past hasn't been erased so much as repurposed. Salvaged pump equipment has been worked into environmental sculptures scattered across the public plaza, according to the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, with fountains and railings echoing the mechanical hardware that once ran the plant.
The wetland preserve surrounding the playground also functions as a genuine urban wildlife habitat, home to river otters, beavers, raccoons, turtles, and migratory birds, according to a Facebook post from BoroPulse. Visitors may also spot wildlife in the preserve.
Part of a Bigger Downtown Push
The playground's debut lands in the middle of a much larger transformation taking shape around it. Murfreesboro is in the middle of a $22.5 million project to daylight Town Creek — unearthing the underground stream to build a linear park connecting the wetlands to Cannonsburgh Village, according to WGNS Radio. Key stormwater-funded portions of the project are due for completion by late 2026. Hoodline previously covered the creek's comeback in July.
The new play structure adds another recreational facility to Murfreesboro's park system.
