The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was established in 1982. Early members of the community gathered in members' homes and in rented commercial spaces, until a 2,100 sq. ft. space in two units of a strip mall could be purchased at 862 Middle Tennessee Boulevard. By 2009 that space, which served local residents and students at nearby Middle Tennessee State University, was no longer large enough for the community and the Center began looking for land to build a new mosque on.The Center purchased a 15-acre plot of former farm land on Veals Road in November 2009, located just over a mile from the Middle Tennessee Boulevard mosque. McCoy Architects LLC of Lexington, KY was chosen as the architect for the project, and S&A Constructors of Nashville, TN as the contractor. The construction was planned in phases, with the first phase focusing on a 12,000 sq. ft. multi-use masjid building. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on September 28, 2011 and the mosque was opened in August 2012.The building is steel frame with brick veneer. The exterior is stucco-colored, with a green metal dome topped with a crescent finial above the entrance, and two white minarets on the roof. Clerestory windows run around the top of a 4,500 sq. ft. multi-purpose hall used as the prayer hall that can hold up to 500 people for worship, but also features a movable wall that allows the space to be used for meetings and other purposes. The building also houses a library, offices, a nursery, and kitchen.Future phases of construction are planned to include a gym, swimming pool, sports fields, a playground, two pavilions, a weekend school, and a cemetery, eventually expanding the center to a planned 52,000 sq. ft. complex.Sources:Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. "Murfreesboro Media Information Sheet." Accessed May 13, 2015. http://www.becketfund.org/murfreesboro-media-information-sheet/.Brown, Robbie and Christine Hauser. "After a Struggle, Mosque Opens in Tennessee." The New York Times, August 10, 2012. Accessed May 13, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/11/us/islamic-center-of-murfreesboro-opens-in-tennessee.html?_r=0.Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. "New Project." Last updated November 30, 2010. Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine May 13, 2015. http://web.archive.org/web/20101129224323/http://icmtn.org/cgi-bin/links/page.cgi?g=New_Project;d=1.Jordan, Guy. "The Politics of (Mere) Presence: The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tennessee." Conversations: An Online Journal of the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion (2014). Accessed May 13, 2015. http://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/essays/politics-mere-presence-islamic-center-murfreesboro-tennessee.McCampbell, Candy. "Islamic Group in Tennessee Finds New Contractor for Mosque." Engineering News-Record, October 3, 2011.
