Image Source: SFC Art Department
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Situated between Cherokee Lake to the north and Douglass Lake to the South, Morristown is a burgeoning city in Tennessee.
Not only does the city straddling Hamblen and Jefferson Counties attract outdoor enthusiasts looking to enjoy boating, fishing, camping, hiking, biking and disc golf—Morristown is the disc golf capital of Tennessee—its three industrial parks and proximity to I-81, 25E and 11E means Morristown welcomes up to 19,000 people per day, including approximately 55 percent of its workforce coming in from other counties.
Clearly, the city’s visitors love what they’re seeing and experiencing. Since 2020, Morristown’s population has grown 8.25 percent from 30,549 to 32,994 in 2024.
“We took a philosophy of, ‘If all of you are driving here to do all of those things, you ought to just live here,’” Morristown Mayor Gary Chesney said. “It’s helped spur housing growth and our city population.”
As of August, there were 861 residential units under construction in Morristown, with 403 single-family homes and 458 multi-family units in the works, according to local real estate agent Amy Shrader.
Not only is Morristown building new homes to meet this increased demand—with the population estimated to grow by another 3,000 people over the next five years, according to Chesney—but the city is also expanding its public works and utilities to support its new residents. Morristown has built three new firehouses over the past 10 years and continues to update transportation routes to ease traffic flow and expand utility services, such as garbage collection.
Image Credit: Morristown Landing
One of the city’s newer and more significant amenities is Morristown Landing.
Located on Merchants Green Blvd. off 11E, Morristown Landing is a 115,000-square-foot multi-purpose recreation and events center. Featuring a multi-lane swimming pool, family aquatic center, fitness center, four hardwood basketball or six hardwood volleyball courts, climbing walls, childcare, meeting and event spaces, and an outdoor splash pad, Morristown Landing is a recreational Renaissance for the city.
It doesn’t just give nearby residents a reason to visit, but, more importantly, a reason to stay.
Morristown Landing currently has over 8,400 members and has sold 43,075 day passes over the last 12 months. The facility has seen 526,969 people pass through its doors in the past 12 months. Not bad since officially opening on June 17, 2023. The city also owns a “pretty good size” piece of land near Morristown Landing, which it can utilize for further development should it need to add additional amenities and services to meet the demand of current residents and/or new ones.
“Facilities like this are kind of a trend where cities are thinking not just about infrastructure, but quality of life and amenities for towns,” said Andrew Fischer, Morristown Landing Recreation & Events General Manager. “I think this is a great example of that and how people are using our facility. We have great membership numbers, and it’s not just about basketball, swimming, volleyball, or pickleball—it’s really a place for the community to gather.
“It’s kind of that third space where it’s not work and it’s not home, it’s somewhere for people to go and meet other like-minded individuals that are interested in healthy living or being active, and they can all kind of gather around that.”
Another critical community space can be found in Artesia, New Mexico. Located directly between Roswell and Carlsbad, Artesia is less than four hours from Albuquerque and Santa Fe; even Lubbock, Texas, is still nearly three hours away.
With a close-knit community of fewer than 13,000, Artesia not only prides itself on its high school sports success—including 32 state football championships—but also on its amenities for residents and visitors alike.
The Artesia Aquatic Center features a natatorium with two indoor pools, an eight-lane competition pool, and a 60-foot-long, four-lane flexible/training warm-up cool-down pool. The outdoor facility boasts a 4,000-square-foot recreational pool shaped as a bulldog in honor of the high school’s mascot.
The aquatic center is getting a new neighbor in a two-story recreation center. Replacing the town’s 45-year-old rec center, the new facility, slated to open in early 2026, will include space for pickleball courts, basketball courts, a weight room, track, and more.
“It’s about creating a sense of place with the rec center,” said Luke Burns, city of Artesia Communications Coordinator. “You can think about people being active and the benefits that come along with that, but there’s a vision to have it be a community builder. It’s another way of building community and getting to know people around you.”
Certainly a benefit for the local community, the modern amenities may also entice others to relocate to Artesia, just like Burns did from Washington State.
“For a town this small, I think it would be a big surprise to a lot of people who don’t know what Artesia is about to see that caliber of facilities available in town,” he said. “Artesia prides itself on being a good place for families to come in and settle, so offering good facilities like this new rec center and our aquatic center helps with that.
“These are things that add to the quality of life for families.”
Image Credit: Artesia Aquatic Center
In Dublin, Ohio, sports and rec play an integral part in conjunction with accessible housing, premier public education, regional highway access, and a burgeoning economy as major factors in quality of living. So much so that the city located just northwest of Columbus recently ranked No. 1 among small cities in Ohio, according to WalletHub.
And along with accolades from Wallet Hub are investments from big business. Over 20 corporate headquarters call Dublin home, including Cardinal Health, Quantum Health, United Healthcare, the Wendy’s Company, Nestle, and OCLC.
Employees of these companies, along with others in the city of approximately 50,000 residents, are treated to a plethora of activities via Dublin’s 64 parks and 130 miles of paved bike trails. The community is also home to the Dublin Community Recreation Center, which includes basketball courts, a weight room, multi-purpose and leisure pools, fitness studios, bocce courts, and a walking track.
“(Recreation) plays a couple different roles,” said Joshua Bricker, Sports & Leisure Sales Manager for Visit Dublin Ohio. “Dublin is very much a family city and it’s what we pride ourselves on. Obviously a lot of people want to have a nice, active lifestyle and want their kids involved in things as well. The city has always had a priority in making sure it has an abundant amount of recreational programs available to its citizens.”
From Morristown to Artesia to Dublin, each community shows how investing in recreation creates far more than new amenities—it builds belonging. These facilities strengthen local identity, support families, attract new residents, and fuel economic growth. Their stories prove a simple truth: when cities prioritize spaces where people can connect, play, and grow, the whole community moves forward.
