Editing Murfreesboro, Tennessee (section)

===Post-Civil War===
Murfreesboro was first developed as a mainly agricultural community, but by 1853, the area was home to several colleges and academies. Despite the wartime trauma, the town's growth had begun to recover by the early 1900s, in contrast to other areas of the devastated South.

In 1911, the state legislature created Middle Tennessee State Normal School, a two-year institute to train teachers. It soon merged with the Tennessee College for Women. In 1925, the normal school was expanded to a full, four-year curriculum and college. With additional expansion of programs and addition of graduate departments in 1965, it became [[Middle Tennessee State University]].<ref name="urlFacts-MTSU">{{cite web |url=http://www.mtsu.edu/about_facts.shtml |title=Facts |publisher=Middle Tennessee State University |access-date=November 19, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119053321/http://mtsu.edu/about_facts.shtml |archive-date=November 19, 2010}}</ref> MTSU now has the largest undergraduate enrollment in the state, including many international students.

[[World War II]] was an impetus for industrial development, and Murfreesboro diversified into industry, manufacturing, and education. Growth has been steady since that time, creating a stable economy.

Since the last decade of the 20th century, Murfreesboro has enjoyed substantial residential and commercial growth, with its population increasing 123.9% between 1990 and 2010, from 44,922 to 108,755.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.murfreesborotn.gov/default.aspx?ekmenu=160&id=3140 |title=Murfreesboro History |publisher=City of Murfreesboro |date=2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929041016/http://www.murfreesborotn.gov/default.aspx?ekmenu=160&id=3140 |archive-date=September 29, 2010}}</ref> The city has been a destination for many refugee immigrants who have left areas affected by warfare; since 1990, numerous people from [[Somalia]] and [[Kurds]] from [[Iraq]] have settled there.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The city has also attracted numerous international students to the university.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=MTSU services nation's largest Kurdish community
|url=https://www.murfreesboropost.com/news/mtsu-services-nation-s-largest-kurdish-community/article_5492ca10-e902-58f9-a075-c743fcbd03ae.html|work=The Murfreesboro Post|date=August 18, 2010|access-date=June 2, 2020}}</ref>

====Mosque controversy====
{{Main|Islamic Center of Murfreesboro}}
Beginning in 2010, the [[Islamic Center of Murfreesboro]] faced protests related to its plan to build a new {{convert|12000|ft2|adj=on}} mosque. The county planning council had approved the project, but opposition grew in the aftermath, affected by this being a year of elections. Signs on the building site were vandalized, with the first saying "not welcome" sprayed across it and the second being cut in two.<ref name="time20100919">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2011847,00.html |title=In Murfreesboro, Tenn.: Church 'Yes,' Mosque 'No' |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |first=Elizabeth |last=Kauffman |date=August 19, 2010 |access-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811192437/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2011847,00.html |archive-date=August 11, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Construction equipment was also torched by arsonists.<ref name="cbs20100930">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fire-at-tenn-mosque-building-site-ruled-arson/ |title=Fire at Tenn. Mosque Building Site Ruled Arson |work=Associated Press via CBS News |date=August 30, 2010 |access-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813125849/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/28/national/main6814690.shtml |archive-date=August 13, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In August 2011, a Rutherford County judge upheld his previous decision allowing the mosque to be built, noting the US constitutional right to religious freedom and the ICM's observance of needed process.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110831/NEWS01/308310117/Judge-upholds-ruling-Murfreesboro-mosque |title=Judge upholds ruling for Murfreesboro mosque |author=Broden, Scott |date=August 31, 2011 |work=The Tennessean |publisher=Gannett Tennessee |access-date=September 4, 2011}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The center has a permanent membership of around 250 families and a few hundred students from the university.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/WN/murfreesboro-tennessee-mosque-plan-draws-criticism-residents/story?id=10956381 |title=Plan for Mosque in Tennessee Town Draws Criticism from Residents |author=Blackburn, Bradley |date=June 18, 2010 |work=ABC News |access-date=September 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111218194158/http://abcnews.go.com/WN/murfreesboro-tennessee-mosque-plan-draws-criticism-residents/story?id=10956381 |archive-date=December 18, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> The case ultimately attracted national media attention as an issue of religious freedom.

====2023 ordinance on homosexuality====
In June 2023, the city passed an ordinance banning public homosexuality as indecent.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hansford |first=Amelia |date=November 11, 2023 |title=Officials are gunning for LGBTQ+ library books with sinister ordinance banning 'public homosexuality' |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/11/11/tennessee-book-ban-public-ordinance-banning-homosexuality/ |access-date=November 13, 2023 |website=PinkNews }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Reed |first=Erin |title=City Ordinance Banning Public Homosexuality Reaches Rutherford County Libraries |url=https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/city-ordinance-banning-public-homosexuality |access-date=November 13, 2023 |website=www.erininthemorning.com |language=en}}</ref>  In October 2023, the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] <!-- (ACLU) --> filed suit against the city, in response to the ban<ref>{{cite news |title=City of Murfreesboro amends ordinance banning public homosexuality |author=Brianna Hamblin |date=November 18, 2023 |work= WTVF |url=https://www.newschannel5.com/news/city-of-murfreesboro-amends-ordinance-banning-public-homosexuality#:~:text=MURFREESBORO%2C%20Tenn.,against%20the%20city%20in%20response. |accessdate=November 18, 2023}}</ref> and, in December 2023, the ordinance was repealed.<ref>{{Cite tweet | author=Murfreesboro Holler| user=TheBoroHoller |number=1738385882225295378 |title=INBOX: We're told MURFREESBORO @cityofmborotn just quietly repealed their controversial "decency ordinance", which was being used as cover for anti-LGBTQ censorship. }}</ref>