Grand Ole Opry House

The Grand Ole Opry House opened on March 16, 1974, in the suburban Opryland complex northeast of downtown Nashville, replacing the Ryman Auditorium as the home of the Grand Ole Opry after a thirty-one-year residency. President Richard Nixon attended the opening night, played "Happy Birthday" on a Steinway piano, spun a yo-yo, and made a remark about wishing he'd been a country music star. Roy Acuff, standing beside him on stage, reportedly told him he could still be president, but he'd never make it as a musician. The new venue seated 4,400, nearly double the Ryman's capacity, and was built to give the Opry a modern home with expansion room that the century-old tabernacle in downtown Nashville could not provide.

The move was controversial from the start. For many, the Ryman was not just where the Opry was held — it was inseparable from what the Opry meant. The new building had none of that accumulated weight. Its builders acknowledged as much with one gesture: a circle of the Ryman's original stage wood was cut out and installed at the centre of the new Opry House stage, so that performers would stand on the same wood where Hank Williams and Patsy Cline had stood. Minnie Pearl wept at the Ryman's closing. Loretta Lynn performed on the Opry House's opening night.

The building was severely damaged by Nashville's historic flood of May 2010, which filled backstage areas with several feet of water. The Opry relocated temporarily to the Ryman and the Bridgestone Arena while repairs were completed; it returned to the Opryland building in November 2010. The Grand Ole Opry has broadcast on WSM every Saturday night without interruption since 1925 — making it the longest-running live radio programme in American history. The Opry House remains its home.