Memphis Skyline From The AirMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River.
The Riverside Condo's
Memphis skyline taken high atop Number Ten Main on Main Street in downtown Memphis, TN.
The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, has a population of 1,260,581. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville.
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium - Memphis, TN University of Memphis Home of the Liberty Bowl
Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's four major cities (traditionally including Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville). A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian and the Memphis region is known as the Mid-South.
Head of Navigation Wolf River
Mud Island From The SouthMud Island is not actually an island but a small peninsula, surrounded by the Mississippi River to the west and the Wolf River Harbor to the east. In 1960, the Wolf River was diverted so that it went north of Mud Island, and Mud Island opened to the public in 1982. It is located within the Memphis city limits, 1.2 miles from the coast of downtown, and houses a museum, restaurants, and an amphitheater. It is accessible by monorail, by foot (via a bridge located on top of the monorail), by ferry, or automobile.
Mud Island River ParkMississippi River Park (2007)The Mississippi River park located on Mud Island includes bike trails, pedal boats, and rafts, as well as a hydraulic scale model of the lower Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to New Orleans.
Major cities and small towns located on the river are marked in the scale model, and markers explain history and facts about the river.
The model empties into a "Gulf of Mexico" replica which was once a waterpark named Bud Boogie Beach. Admission to the park is free.
The Wolf River is a small alluvial stream in West Tennessee and northern Mississippi, whose confluence with the Mississippi River was the site of various Chickasaw, French, Spanish and American communities and forts that eventually became Memphis, Tennessee.
Wolf River HarborThe northern portion of Mud Island ("Harbor Town") features single-family homes and apartment complexes, and caters mostly to an affluent, younger crowd.
This section of the island includes the Mississippi River Trail, a grassy section of park land with running trails and benches overlooking the Mississippi River.
Wolf River Harbor was the lowermost channel of the Wolf River until 1960.
Battle Of MemphisThe First Battle of Memphis was a naval battle fought on the Mississippi River immediately above the city of Memphis on June 6, 1862, during the American Civil War. The engagement was witnessed by many of the citizens of Memphis. It resulted in a crushing defeat for the Rebels, and marked the virtual eradication of a Confederate naval presence on the river. Despite the lopsided outcome, the Union Army failed to grasp its strategic significance. Its primary historical importance is that it was the last time civilians with no prior military experience were permitted to command ships in combat. As such, it is a milestone in the development of professionalism in the United States Navy.
Union Av. Cotton MarketMemphis grew into the world's largest spot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market. Into the 1950's, it was the world's largest mule market.
Edward Hull "Boss" Crump (October 2, 1874 – October 16, 1954) was a Memphis, Tennessee insurance broker, businessman, and political figure in the early 20th century.
A native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, Crump moved to Memphis in 1892 and became a successful businessman, and began to make the political connections that would serve him for the rest of his life. He was a delegate to the Tennessee Democratic State Convention in 1902 and 1904. In 1905 he was named to the municipal Board of Public Works, and Commissioner of Fire and Police in 1907.
Starting in the 1910's Crump began to build a political machine which came to have statewide influence. He was particularly adept in his use of what were at the time essentially two political minority groups in Tennessee, blacks and Republicans. Unlike most Southern Democrats of his era, Crump was not opposed to blacks voting. Blacks were reliable Crump machine voters for the most part and the two developed a symbiotic relationship in which blacks aided the machine and the machine aided them. Crump also skillfully manipulated Republicans, who were numerically very weak in the western two-thirds of the state but dominated politics in East Tennessee. Frequently they found it necessary to ally themselves with Crump in order to accomplish any of their goals, and they often did.
Crump was very influential for nearly half a century. He preferred to work for the most part behind the scenes, serving only three terms of two years each as mayor of Memphis (1910–1916) at the beginning of his career, but essentially naming the next several mayors. His rise to prominence disturbed many of the state political leaders in Nashville; the "Ouster Law", designed to remove officials who refused to enforce state laws, was passed primarily with Crump and his lax enforcement of state Prohibition in mind. He was county treasurer of Shelby County from 1917 to 1923. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention a total of seven times.
The Big Shoe was located on Lamar Ave. in Memphis, TN.
After several years of working behind the scenes, Crump decided to run for Congress in 1930. He was easily elected to the former Tenth District, which was co-extensive with Shelby County. He served two terms, March 4, 1931–January 3, 1935. (During his service the Twentieth Amendment was ratified, redefining the starting dates of Congressional and Presidential terms.) During this time he was also a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. He remained hugely influential in Memphis as well, staying in constant communication with his operatives there and visiting during all Congressional recesses.
In 1936 he was named to the Democratic National Committee, serving on that body until 1945. In 1939 he was elected to a final term as mayor.
WC Handy statue on Beale Street in Memphis, TN.
His statewide influence began to wane in the late 1940s, when two of his opponents were elected to office in 1948, Gordon Browning, a onetime protege who had broken with him returning to become governor again, and Estes Kefauver being elected to the United States Senate. For the remainder of his life, the bulk of his influence was limited to Memphis. The defeat of his longtime associate Kenneth McKellar by Albert Gore, Sr. for United States Senate in 1952 marked another turning point, and the days of his massive influence over Tennessee politics were almost over, his death coming less than two years later. However, a final triumph was the victory of his chosen candidate, Frank G. Clement, over Browning for governor in the same election.
Grave of "Boss" CrumpCrump was interred at Memphis' Elmwood Cemetery.
ElmwoodElmwood Cemetery is the oldest active cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. It was established in 1852 as one of the first rural garden cemeteries in the South.
Elmwood was established as part of the Rural Cemetery Movement of the early to mid 1800's. A classic example of a garden cemetery, it is notable for its park-like setting, sweeping vistas, shady knolls, large stands of ancient trees, and magnificent monuments.
In 1852, a committee of fifty Memphis gentlemen each contributed $500 to purchase land for the Elmwood Cemetery. They envisioned that this would also be a park for the living as well, where family outings, picnics, and social gatherings could occur. It was meant to be a place where beautiful gardens were tended and individual monuments celebrated life and death.
Originally consisting of 40 acres, it was expanded after the Civil War to 80 acres. In the 1870s the original corporation controlling the cemetery was dissolved and it became one of the oldest nonprofits in Tennessee.
Ramses the Great standing guard in front of the Memphis Pyramid arena. This Stature has been moved to the University Of Memphis to make way for the opening of the Pyramid becoming a Bass Pro Shop.
Since then, more than seventy five thousand people have been buried at Elmwood Cemetery, with space still remaining for some twenty thousand more. Beneath the cemetery's ancient elms, oaks, and magnolias lie some of the city's most honored and revered dead. Flowering dogwoods and crepe myrtles are interspersed with Memphis history, those famous and infamous, loved and feared. The cemetery's gardens include the Carlisle S. Page Arboretum. There are veterans of every American war, from the Revolution forward. There are people from every walk of life and culture, including mayors of Memphis, governors of Tennessee, U.S. senators, generals, madams and murderers and, of course, perfectly ordinary citizens.
Civil War Burials
More than 1,000 Confederate soldiers and veterans are buried in Confederate Soldiers Rest, located in the cemetery's Fowler Section. Many other Confederates are buried elsewhere in the cemetery. The first burial in Confederate Soldiers Rest was William (Thomas) Gallagher on June 17, 1861, and the last interment was John Frank Gunter on April 1, 1940. Among the Confederate generals buried there is James Patton Anderson, a former U.S. Congressman who commanded the Army of Tennessee in 1862, and William Henry Carroll, a brigadier-general in the Confederate States of America.
Doughboy in Overton Park
Union soldiers also were buried at Elmwood in the 1860's, but almost all were removed in 1868 and reinterred in Memphis National Cemetery. Two Union generals, William Jay Smith and Milton T. Williamson, remain at Elmwood.
Yellow Fever Burials
Memphis suffered periodic epidemics of yellow fever, a mosquito-borne viral infection, throughout the 19th Century. The worst of the epidemics occurred in the summer of 1878, when 5,150 Memphians died. Some 1,500 of the victims are buried in four public lots at Elmwood. Among them are doctors, ministers, nuns, and even prostitutes who died while tending to the sick.
Visiting Elmwood
Elmwood Cemetery is located at 824 South Dudley Street, 0.4 miles (0.64 km) south of Crump Boulevard. The cemetery grounds are open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST seven days a week.
Robert ChurchThis mausoleum is where Robert Church and his family are entombed. Church founded the Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company and was reported to be the South's first African-American millionaire.
In The RoundBeyond the tombstones at the forefront of this photo, a Memphis couple is buried beneath the circular structure.
Snowden AngelThis angel is keeping watch over the grave next to which she is situated.
Home Sweet HomeSome of Elmwood's residents were so prominent in life, that they were issued addresses in death, as you can see from this photo.
Lorraine MotelThe National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, was built around the former Lorraine Motel at 450 Mulberry Street, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
The Lorraine Motel remained open following King's assassination until it was foreclosed in 1982. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation purchased the property at auction in December of that year. In 1987 construction of the museum started, opening its doors to visitors on September 28, 1991. The exhibits of the museum tell the story of the struggle for African American civil rights from the arrival of the first Africans in the British colonies in 1619 to the assassination of King in 1968.
Tom Lee Park off of Riverside Drive along the Mississippi River.
An expansion project in 2001 added the Young and Morrow Building to the museum, the latter being a former rooming house at 418 South Main Street from which James Earl Ray fired the shots that killed King. The exhibits in the rooming house relate the events of the assassination, the Poor People's Campaign, and the legacy of the civil rights movement. It includes a panel describing the murder of the Reverend James Reeb in Selma, Alabama.
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935–August 16, 1977, middle name sometimes written Aron)a was an American singer, musician and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly referred to as the "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" or "The King".
Gibson Memphis Factory
In 1954, Presley began his career as the first performer of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he has been inducted into four music halls of fame.
Graceland
In the 1960's, Presley made the majority of his thirty-one movies—mainly poorly reviewed, but financially successful, musicals. In 1968, he returned with acclaim to live music in a television special, and thereafter performed across the U.S., notably in Las Vegas. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of popular music. Health problems, drug dependency and other factors led to his premature death at age 42.
Muddy Waters BluesmanMcKinley Morganfield (born April 4, 1913, Issaquena County, Mississippi; died April 30, 1983, Westmont, Illinois), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". He is also the actual father of blues musicians Big Bill Morganfield and Larry 'Muddy Junior' Williams.
Considered one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, Muddy Waters was a huge inspiration for the British beat explosion in the 1960's and considered by many to be one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.
In 2004 Waters was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Robert JohnsonRobert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) is among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend.
Considered by some to be the "Grandfather of Rock 'n' Roll", his vocal phrasing, original songs, and guitar style have influenced a broad range of musicians, including Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Jack White and Eric Clapton, who called Johnson "the most important blues musician who ever lived". He was also ranked fifth in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
He is an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
B.B. KingB. B. King (born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925) is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. Critical acclaim and widespread popularity have cemented his reputation as one of the most respected and successful blues musicians. Rolling Stone magazine named him the third-greatest guitarist of "the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time."
B. B. King arrived in Memphis for the first time in 1946 to work as a musician, but after a few months of hardship he left, going back to Mississippi. There he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit and returned to Memphis two years later. Initially he worked at the local R&B radio channel WDIA as a singer. In 1949, he began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. King was also a disc jockey in Memphis, where he gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "B. B." Before his RPM contract, B. B. had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single "Miss Martha King" (1949), which got a bad review in Billboard magazine and did not chart well. King is often labelled as The King of Blues.
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), better known as Howlin' Wolf or sometimes, The Howlin' Wolf, was an influential blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.
With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." Many songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Back Door Man" and "Spoonful"—have become standards of blues and blues rock.
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American soul and funk singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, composer, and actor. Hayes was one of the main creative forces behind southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served as both an in-house songwriter and producer with partner David Porter during the mid-1960's. In the late 1960's, Hayes became a recording artist, and recorded successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul (1969) and Black Moses (1971) as the Stax label's premier artist.
Memphis Rock n Soul Museum
Alongside his work in popular music, Hayes was a film score composer for motion pictures. His best known work, for the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft, earned Hayes an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first Academy Award received by an African-American in a non-acting category) and two Grammy Awards. He received a third Grammy for the album Black Moses.
STAX Museum
In 1992, in recognition of his humanitarian work, he was crowned an honorary king of Ghana's Ada district. Hayes also acted in motion pictures and television; from 1997 to 2006, he provided the voice for the character "Chef" on the Comedy Central animated TV series South Park.
Memphis Skyline From Hernando-Desoto Bridge
The Mud Island Tram Memphis Skyline From Tom Lee Park.
Memphis In May LogoMemphis in May is a month long festival held in Memphis, Tennessee. The festival itself is split into four main events: The Beale Street Music Festival, the kick-off event which showcases a mix of local and national music acts, International Week, a group of events dedicated to the country that is sponsored that year, The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, one of the most popular barbecue contests in the country, and the Sunset Symphony, a night of classical music. This event marked its 30th anniversary in May 2006.
Beale Street Music Festival LogoThe Beale Street Music Festival is a three day music festival that has both a mix of big-name stars performing side by side with local musical acts. Held during the first weekend of May in the city's Tom Lee Park at the foot of Beale Street, it is considered to be the kick-off event of the entire Memphis in May celebration. It typically hosts 100,000+ people for each of the first two nights of the event, and usually quite large crowds for the ending big-name finales on Sunday night. The festival was added a year after Memphis in May was created. Its history can be traced back to the 1800's, when African-American musicians throughout the South would come to Beale Street and perform.
World Championship Barbecue Contest LogoThe World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest
History
Although the WCBCC had a small start in 1978, with only 20 teams, it rapidly grew. The contest drew 50 teams in 1979, 80 in 1980, and 180 teams from nine states in 1981. It has now grown to be the largest pork barbecue competition in the world. More than 250 teams from 20+ states and several countries compete, and an estimated 90,000 people attend the competition. Media from around the world, including the BBC and The Food Network, come to the city to cover the event.
Rendezvous BBQ located in Alley across from the Peabody Hotel.
Credit for the original idea of a barbecue contest goes to Rodney Baber, chairman of the Memphis In May events committee in 1977, and his co-worker Jack Powell, Tennessee's reigning chili champ at the time.
The Pyramid
The original champion at the first competition was Bessie Louise Cathey, who won $500 for her prize, a sizable return for her $12 entry fee. Today, the prizes for each event range from $300 to $10,000 for the main cooking competition, and from $1,000 to $7,000 for the ancillary contests. Today's entry fees range from $700 to $2,600 just for renting the necessary booth space, and an extra $60 per competition entry. Some teams regularly budget amounts in excess of $15,000 just for the competition and booth.
Sun Studios
Because of this, most teams are regularly sponsored by corporations. In 1984, Schering-Plough HealthCare began sponsoring teams for Tennessee's leading politicians. Al Gore attended the competition several times when he was a senator and once as vice president. Other sponsors include local automotive dealer Gwatney Motors, who has their own regular barbecue team, and the Terex corporation.
Memphis "M" Bridge Hernando Desoto Bridge over the Mississippi River
In 1989, when MIM officials discovered that there was a feast in Honolulu which earned the title of "largest barbecue" in the Guinness Book of Records, they calculated the amount of food prepared at the WCBCC. The total was 55297 pounds of pork, and thus earned the WCBCC a record in the 1990 edition.
FedEx Forum, Home of the Grizzlies and the University Of Memphis Tigers basketball teams.
Beyond the WCBCC, some contests outside of Memphis — such as the barbecue contest in nearby Tunica, Mississippi during its annual Rivergate Festival — are now designated as official preliminary events.
Food Events
The competition has three official meat categories: pork ribs, pork shoulder, and whole hog. There is also the "Patio Porkers" competition, which encourages up to 40 new teams (who have not previously competed in the WCBCC) to enter.
There are ancillary food contests, including:
Anything But - This contest refers to "Anything but Pork" and you are allowed to cook anything you like. There are subcategories to this competition, including: Beef, Poultry, Seafood, and Exotic.
Sauce - One of the most entered ancillary contests, this includes subcategories of Tomato, Vinegar, and Mustard.
Hot Wings - Judged on flavor and "heat".
People's Choice Award - A relatively recent competition, this is more of an event than a contest. People can pay a small fee ($3) and sample five small selections from different competitors. Since normally the competitors booths are invitation only, this allows the general public to try a wide variety of barbecue. Tasters are on-hand to explain how to properly taste and judge the barbecue, and the people can return multiple times to try different foods from different teams. This contest is limited to 50 teams entering, due to the amount of barbecue that is produced and must be handled.
Baked Beans - A simple contest for the best side dish (coleslaw not withstanding).
Only wood and charcoal cooking is allowed at the event, no gas or any other sort of heat system is allowed to be used.
Special Events
Ms. Piggie - Teams dress up contestants as pigs, and then perform songs or skits on stage.
Best Booth - Booths are judged on design, originality and connection with the honored country.
T-Shirt Design - Shirts are judged on design, originality and connection with the honored country.
Cooker Caravan - The Cooker Caravan provides the public a behind the scenes look at competition barbecue by offering guided tours to teams in each championship category.
Tom Lee MemorialTom Lee Park is a city park located to the immediate west of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. Encompassing about 30 acres (0.12 km²) parallel to the Mississippi River for about one mile (1.6 km), it offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River and the shores of Arkansas on the opposite side.
The park is named after Tom Lee, an African-American river worker, who saved the lives of 32 passengers of the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman in 1925.
Luxury homes and condominiums line the top of the bluff overlooking the park and the river.
AutoZone Park
The park hosts events throughout the year, perhaps most notably the major weekend events during Memphis in May.
Memphis Redbirds at Autozone Park
Tom Lee Park is a popular location for walkers, joggers, roller bladers and cyclists.
Sunset Symphony
The Sunset Symphony is usually a free or low-priced event held on a single stage at Tom Lee Park, during the Saturday evening of the last full weekend in May. The concert is the largest annual performance event of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and serves as a closing event for the MIM festivities. The symphony performs a variety of classical works as well as music of the year's honored country.
Memphis Skyline from North of the Hernando-Desoto Bridge
Featured guest performers have been included in recent years, including Stax recording artist Mavis Staples during the thirtieth anniversary event in 2006, The Temptations in 2007, and The Four Tops in 2008. Sponsorship of the concert varies from year to year as well, with past sponsors including SunTrust Banks, Regions Financial Corporation, and Memphis-based Auto Zone.
The Orpheum Theater
Since 2007, additions to the festival finale have included an air show with historic aircraft from the Commemorative Air Force, and a fireworks show sponsored by Back Yard Burgers.
The Peabody Hotel
International Week
Every year the festival sets its theme around a different country. A week of events and publicity, starting the day after the music fest, is dedicated to this country and it showcases the local foods and entertainment of that location. While International Week provides a learning experience for the community at large, the core is a comprehensive educational program for area youth in public and private schools and home-schooled students throughout Memphis and Shelby County. The goal of International Week is for area students, by the time they graduate from high school, to have had the opportunity to experience the customs and cultures of twelve different countries from around the world. Two countries — Japan and The Netherlands — have been featured twice. The most recent Memphis in May celebration, during 2008, featured Turkey, marking the first selection from the Middle East since Israel was honored 25 years earlier.
Ducks at the Fountain in the Lobby of The Peabody Hotel
Chile will be the featured country during the 2009 festivities.
An arts festival, the Cooper-Young Festival, is held annually in September in the Cooper-Young district of Midtown Memphis. The event draws artists from all over North America, and includes art sales, contests, and displays. Fall also brings the Mid-South Fair to the city each year.
The Memphis in May Festival at Tom Lee Park off of Riverside Drive.
Memphis is the home of founders and establishers of various American music genres, including Blues, Gospel, Rock n' Roll, Crunk, and "sharecropper" country music (in contrast to the "rhinestone" country sound of Nashville). Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and B. B. King were all getting their starts in Memphis in the 1950s. They are respectively dubbed the "King" of Country, Rock n' Roll, and Blues.
Graceland
Well-known writers from Memphis include Civil War historian Shelby Foote and playwright Tennessee Williams. Novelist John Grisham grew up in nearby DeSoto County, Mississippi and many of his books are set in Memphis.
National Civil Rights Museum and Park
The city's central location has led to much of its business development. Located on the Mississippi River and intersected by two Interstate highways, Memphis is ideally located for commerce among the transportation and shipping industry. The city is home to the world's busiest cargo airport, which serves as the primary hub for FedEx shipping.
National Civil Rights Museum
Memphis is home to a growing number of nationally and internationally known corporations, including approximately 150 businesses from 22 countries. This includes the corporate headquarters of FedEx Corporation, AutoZone Incorporated and International Paper.
FedEx
Fredrick W. Smith's grandfather was a steamboat captain and his father built a bus system that led to the southern Greyhound Bus system. This gave Smith a seeming history and influence to do something with travel and business. The original funding for FedEx came from an investment of 4 million dollars that he inherited from his father. Venture capitalists gave Smith 80 million dollars to help him purchase his first Dassault Falcon planes. His college professors rejected his initial idea, but the venture capitalists that backed him with the large sums of money seemed to have more faith in him. Smith's company didn't always go as well as planned, however. Postal companies held a monopoly that prevented FedEx from delivering packages, and also airline regulations restricted the size of the planes which they could fly. Smith was so desperate in 1973 that he flew to Las Vegas, won $27,000 at a blackjack table and wired it back to his company.
FedEx Express Truck
FedEx LogoPrevious Events:
1971: Founded as Federal Express by Fred Smith in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1973: Moved to Memphis, Tennessee and Memphis International Airport after lack of support from Little Rock National Airport.
April 17, 1973: Starts operations with 14 Dassault Falcon 20s connecting 25 U.S. cities.
1977: Cargo airline deregulation is enacted and FedEx purchases its first large aircraft: seven Boeing 727's.
1978: Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FDX.
1979: First carrier to start using a computer to route packages.
1981: Begins international service to Canada.
1981: Officially Opens its Super Hub Memphis International Airport.
1983: Becomes the first United States company to reach revenues of $1 billion within 10 years of startup without merger or acquisition
1984: Acquires Gelco Express International and starts service to Asia
1984: Starts a fax service known as Zapmail. Offered fax transmission to customers as a means to expedite delivery of documents. This service would later become a commercial failure and resulted in a $320m write-off.
1986: Introduces tracking to the shipping industry, allowing customers to see where their shipments are.
1989: Acquires Flying Tigers to expand its international service.
1994: Officially adopts the "FedEx" name, until then the abbreviation was unofficial.
The original Federal Express logo designed by Richard Runyan in 1973 used until name change in 1994 Launches FedEx.com allowing customers to track shipments online.
1995: Acquires air routes from Evergreen International and starts service to China.
1998: Acquires Caliber System Inc. which included RPS, Inc., Roberts Express and Viking Freight.
1998: Changes name to "FDX Corporation".
1999: Acquires Caribbean Transportation Services.
2000: "FDX Corporation" is renamed "FedEx Corporation" and operating companies are rebranded with the FedEx logo.
A FedEx Express delivery truck, showing the dual branding—both "FedEx" and "Federal Express"—the company used from 1994 to 20002001 Starts providing air transportation for a large amount of United States Postal Service mail.
2001: Acquires American Freightways.
2001: FedEx Freight is established. American Freightways operates as FedEx Freight East while Viking Freight operates as FedEx Freight West.
2003: FedEx Express becomes the first shipping company to use a hybrid-electric truck.
2003: Acquires Kinko's and creates FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Services.
2006: Acquires Watkins Motor Lines which becomes FedEx National LTL within FedEx Freight.
2007: Acquires ANC, a UK shipping company and Flying-Cargo Hungary Kft to boost its European shipping.
AutoZone LogoAutoZone (NYSE: AZO) is a Fortune 500 corporation based in Memphis, Tennessee which is engaged primarily in the business of the retail sale of automotive parts and accessories. It was originally a division of Memphis-based wholesale grocer Malone & Hyde, and went under the name Auto Shack, which was changed after the Radio Shack company objected. After the sale of the grocery operation to the Fleming Companies of Oklahoma City, the name of the company was changed to AutoZone to reflect the new focus. AutoZone holds the naming rights to the downtown Memphis baseball stadium that is the home of the Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League. The company also sponsors the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Memphis Central Station Lobby (Amtrack Train Station)
Duralast and Valucraft are AutoZone's private label brand of automotive batteries (manufactured by Johnson Controls), as well as other parts and accessories.
The bell rang and we answered. In front of the Memphis Fire Museum.
AutoZone is incorporated in the state of Nevada. Its major competitors include Pep Boys, Advance Auto Parts, O'Reilly Auto Parts, and CSK Auto doing business as Schucks, Kragen, Murray's, and Checker Auto Parts, as well as CARQUEST and NAPA.
IP Blue Corp. LogoInternational Paper (NYSE: IP) is an American pulp and paper company, the second largest pulp and paper company in the world. It has approximately 51,500 employees. Its global headquarters are currently in Memphis, Tennessee.
University Of Memphis
Memphis TigersRhodes College is a four-year, private, perennial top-tier liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1848, Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students. About one third of Rhodes students go on to graduate and professional school soon after graduation. The acceptance rates to law and business schools are around 95%, and the acceptance rate to medical school is nearly twice the national average.
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is featured in Loren Pope's, Colleges That Change Lives and is featured on the cover of the 2008 Princeton Review Complete Book of Colleges.
The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system.
Dreamers. Thinkers. Doers.
The University was founded under the auspices of the General Education Bill, enacted by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1909.
Known originally as West Tennessee State Normal School, the institution opened its doors September 10, 1912, with Dr. Seymour A. Mynders as president. A number of minor name changes occurred between 1912 and 1941, with the "West Tennessee State" name remaining at the forefront of each.
The Levitt Shell in Overton Park
In 1941, the name of the university changed, becoming Memphis State College. In 1950, graduate studies were initiated, and in 1954, the school switched from a quarter to a semester system. In 1957, Memphis State College became Memphis State University. In 1959, the university admitted its first black students, and the first doctoral programs began in 1966.
The 1990's were characterized by another name change and another building boom. In 1994, MSU became the University of Memphis, and the Ned R. McWherter Library was completed. Moving into the 21st century, the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management and the FedEx Institute of Technology have made their mark on the University landscape.
University of Memphis
Today, the University of Memphis is one of Tennessee's three comprehensive doctoral-extensive institutions of higher learning. Situated in a park-like setting in east Memphis, it is the flagship university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system. The university awards more than 3,000 degrees annually.
The Brooks Museum of Memphis located in Overton Park
With an enrollment of approximately 21,000 students, the University of Memphis has 25 Chairs of Excellence and five state-approved Centers of Excellence.
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN
The university maintains the Journalism and Public Relations department, Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI), Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Loewenberg School of Nursing, FedEx Institute of Technology and the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. Its mathematics department has more Erdos number 1 mathematicians than any other research institution in the world.
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a four-year, private, perennial top-tier liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1848, Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students. About one third of Rhodes students go on to graduate and professional school soon after graduation. The acceptance rates to law and business schools are around 95%, and the acceptance rate to medical school is nearly twice the national average.
Rhodes College is featured in Loren Pope's, Colleges That Change Lives and is featured on the cover of the 2008 Princeton Review Complete Book of Colleges.
Overton Park Shell
Overton Park also includes the famous Shell Theatre, where Elvis Presley gave his first paid concert.
The Overton Park Shell has been the subject of a large-scale renovation funded by the Levitt Foundation. An active location for local performance art built in the 1930s, the Shell hosted many famed musicians. Despite its central location within Overton Park, the Shell fell into disrepair in the 1980s and 1990's after the site was largely abandoned. Now called the Levitt Shell, this musical venue is being renovated by Memphis firm Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects with state-of-the-art audio and visual design. The project is due to be completed in the fall of 2008, when free concerts will once again be held in the space.
Memphis Brooks Museum Of ArtsMemphis Brooks Museum of Art is an art museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Brooks Museum, which was founded in 1916, is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. The Museum is a privately funded nonprofit institution located in Overton Park in Midtown Memphis.
The original Beaux-arts building, a registered U.S. National Landmark, was donated by Bessie Vance Brooks in memory of her husband, Samuel Hamilton Brooks. The Brooks’ facilities also include the Brooks Museum Store, the acclaimed Brushmark Restaurant, the Holly Court garden, and a grand terrace that overlooks the greens and trees of Memphis's Overton Park.
Historic Elmwood Cemetery
The facility consists of 29 galleries, art classrooms, a print study room with over 4,500 works of art on paper, a research library with over 5,000 volumes, and an auditorium. The collection has over seven thousand works of art, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and examples of the decorative arts. Of particular note are the Samuel H. Kress Collection of Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the Hugo N. Dixon Collection of Impressionist paintings, the Levy Collection of American prints, the Goodman Book Collection, and the Goodheart Collection of Carl Gutherz paintings, drawings, and archival material.
Memphis Zoo EntranceOverton Park zoo (now named the Memphis Zoo) began in 1906, when a resident of Memphis couldn't keep his pet black bear in his backyard. He had it put in a pen in the park, which attracted many people, inspiring the idea to place more animals on display. The Memphis Zoo is now one of the largest in the United States, attracting 1 million visitors per year. The zoo houses two pandas, who are local celebrities, as well as three polar bears, brought in to the Northwest Passage exhibition which opened in March 2006.
Memphis Botanic Garden
The Memphis Zoo is home to more than 3,500 animals representing over 500 different species. The Zoo has been a major tenant of Overton Park for more than 100 years. The city-owned land currently designated to the Zoo was defined by the Overton Park master plan in 1988. The Zoo is set on 76 acres, of which approximately 55 acres are developed.
Buffalo in Shelby Farms Park, Memphis, TN
The Memphis Zoo was recently ranked "#1 Zoo in the U.S." by TripAdvisor.com. The Zoo has completed over $77 million for renovation and expansion since the early 1990s, making it one of the finest zoological parks in the nation. The Zoo's animal inhabitants reside in one-of-a-kind exhibitry, such as Northwest Passage and CHINA - home to giant pandas Ya Ya and Le Le. The Memphis Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA). Memphis Zoo, Ya Ya and Le Le are trademarks of the Memphis Zoo.
Woodruff Fontaine House, located in Downtown Memphis
Memphis College of Art, known before the 1980's as the Memphis Academy of Arts, is a small, private college of art and design located in Memphis, Tennessee's Overton Park, adjacent to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Art in Art Education and Master of Art in Teaching degrees. Some of the majors include graphic design, drawing, painting, printmaking, book arts, computer arts, photography, animation, and illustration. It was founded in 1936, and is now housed in a building with key 1950's architecture.
American Queen Steamboat.
Memphis College of Art averages around 300 students each year, with 285 being undergraduate and 15 being graduate students. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art in Memphis, Tennessee
Small by choice and purpose, Memphis College of Art is the only not-for-profit, independent art college between Atlanta and Kansas City. It extends its programs to the public through gallery exhibitions, continuing education and children's classes and visiting artist lectures. It is more affordable, compared to similar colleges, as per Princeton Review. Housing is on Barksdale St., in a building called Metz Hall, which is based on 1950s architecture as well. The topmost floor of Metz is a studio space shared by all of the residents.
LeMoyne-Owen CollegeLeMoyne-Owen College is a fully-accredited, four-year private historically black college located in Memphis, Tennessee, affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It was founded in 1862 to provide then-recently-freed blacks an educational opportunity. It sponsors athletic teams that participate in the NCAA.
LeMoyne-Owen College was formed through the 1968 merger of LeMoyne College and Owen College, both private, historically black church-related colleges.
Historic Elmwood Cemetary
LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School traces its history to 1862 when the American Missionary Association sent Lucinda Humphrey to open an elementary school at Camp Shiloh for freedmen and escaped slaves soon after the occupation of Memphis by Federal troops during the Civil War. Then known as Lincoln Chapel, the school relocated to Memphis in 1863, but was destroyed in 1866 during race riots that followed the withdrawal of federal troops. The school was rebuilt and in 1867 it reopened with 150 students and six teachers.
Downtown Memphis on Beale Street
Then, in 1870, Francis Julius LeMoyne (1798-1879), a Washington, Pennsylvania doctor, donated $20,000 to the American Missionary Association to build an elementary and secondary school for prospective teachers. LeMoyne, who was a notable abolitionist traveled from his Pennsylvania home to visit the new school, and donated a clock for the school's tower. The Memphis yellow fever epidemics came shortly after and took a toll on many school personnel, but under the leadership of the third principal, Andrew J. Steele, the institution experienced three decades of growth and development.
Downtown Beale Street
The school moved from Orleans Street to its present site on Walker Avenue in 1914. Steele Hall, the first building on the new campus, was erected that same year. LeMoyne became a junior college in 1924 and then a four-year college in 1930. The LeMoyne College was chartered by the State of Tennessee just four years later.
Cannon Center downtown.
Owen College traces its history as a junior college to 1947, when the Tennessee Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention bought property on Vance Avenue. S. A. Owen Junior College opened at that location in 1954.
Christian Brothers University is the oldest collegiate degree-granting institution in the City of Memphis. The university is run by the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic religious order founded by St. John Baptist de la Salle, the patron saint of teachers.
Christian Brothers College was founded November 19, 1871, by members of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. The Brothers came to Memphis at the request of the people and clergy of the city, after more than a decade of efforts to persuade the Brothers to open a college in Memphis.
Christian Brothers University
Christian Brothers University traces its origins to priest and educational innovator, St. John Baptist de la Salle. De la Salle began a system of Christian schools in which teachers assist parents in the educational, ethical, and religious formation of their children. To continue his spiritual and pedagogical vision, de la Salle founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, known today as the De La Salle Christian Brothers.
Cooper-Young District
Today, the spirit and tradition of the Lasallian community thrives in 81 countries and in more than 1,000 educational institutions. Over 4,000 De La Salle Christian Brothers, along with 56,000 Lasallian lay colleagues (such as Lasallian Volunteers), serve over 750,000 students and their families worldwide. In the United States, there are over 100 Lasallian educational institutions.
Authentic Memphis Tours
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in Memphis includes the Colleges of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. Its pediatric residency program is affiliated with Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center. There are also graduate medical education programs in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville, family medicine centers in Knoxville, Jackson and Memphis, and public and continuing education programs across the state. The Health Science Center is part of the statewide, multi-campus University of Tennessee system, a subdivision of the Knoxville-based University of Tennessee.
Union StationMemphis Union Station Company was chartered in Tennessee on September 25, 1909, for the purpose of operating union station. Construction of the facility began in April 1910 and the new station opened for service on April 1, 1912. The architectural design of the station was a source of pride for Memphis, and the main building was the largest stone structure in Memphis.
Memphis Skyline
Station tracks were of a stub-end design, meaning that all trains backed into Union Station. Additional track were available for storage and servicing of passenger cars and a roundhouse and turntable allowed locomotive servicing to be accomplished on site.
Mud Island
As passenger train traffic declined after World War II, studies were performed to assess the feasibility of consolidating all Memphis train operations in either Union Station or Central Station. The various railroads could never agree on consolidation arrangements, and Memphis Union Station continued in operation into the early 1960's.
Memphis Central StationMemphis Central Station, referred to as Grand Central Station prior to 1944, is located at 545 South Main Street, on the corner of Main and Calhoun Streets (now renamed Patterson Boulevard) just south of the downtown business district. The station is currently served by Amtrak's City of New Orleans route as well as Memphis Riverfront and Main Street trolley cars.
Bridges
Four rail and highway bridges cross the Mississippi River at Memphis. They are, in order of their opening year:
Frisco Bridge (1892),
Harahan Bridge (1916) and Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (1949) Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 2-8-2 Mikado #2696 enters Memphis after it exits the East portal of the Harahan Bridge on June 19, 1950. The roadway planks were removed and the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge was opened a year before this picture was taken.
Hernando deSoto Bridge
Hernando de Soto Bridge (1973).
GracelandGraceland is the name of the 13.8 acre estate and large white-columned mansion that once belonged to Elvis Presley, located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located in South Memphis' vast Whitehaven community about twelve miles from Downtown and less than four miles (6 km) north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as a museum. It was opened to the public in 1982, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991 and declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006.
ELVIS PRESLEY: 35TH ANNIVERSARY Sticker - The king's classic rock n' roll songs live on in your heart. Don't forget Elvis Week 2012 begins on August 10th and runs through the 18th.
Graceland was originally owned by S. E. Toof, publisher of the Memphis newspaper, the Memphis Daily Appeal. The grounds were named after Toof's daughter, Grace, who would come to inherit the farm. Soon after, the portion of the land designated as Graceland today was given to a niece, Ruth Moore, who, in 1939 together with her husband Dr. Thomas Moore, had the present American "colonial" style mansion built.
Elvis Week 2012 - 35th Anniversary
Elvis purchased Graceland in early 1957 for approximately $100,000 after vacating an East Memphis house located at 1034 Audubon Drive. He moved because of privacy and security concerns, and the opposition of neighbors to the enthusiastic behavior of the many fans who slowly cruised by his home. Elvis moved into Graceland together with his father Vernon Presley and his mother Gladys. After Gladys died in 1958, and Vernon married Dee Stanley in 1960, the couple lived there for a time. Wife-to-be Priscilla Beaulieu also lived at Graceland for five years before she and Elvis married. After their marriage in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967, Priscilla lived in Graceland five more years until she separated from Elvis in late 1972.
Graceland, located on Elvis Presley Blvd.
On August 16, 1977, Elvis died in his bathroom at Graceland allegedly of a heart attack, according to one medical examiner report at the time. However, there are conflicting reports as to the cause of his death. According to Peter Guralnick, the singer "had thrown up after being stricken, apparently while seated on the toilet. It looked to the medical investigator as if he had 'stumbled or crawled several feet before he died.' " The author adds that "drug use was heavily implicated in this unanticipated death of a middle-aged man with no known history of heart disease...no one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills he had gotten from his dentist."
Memphis - Main Street Trolley
After initially being buried at Forrest Hill Cemetery, and following an attempt to rob his grave, Presley's remains were moved to Graceland. The estate has become a pilgrimage for Elvis fans across the world.
Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, TN---home to a beautiful garden with lovely walkways, statuary, and one of the nicest private gallery collections of French and American Impressionist art in the country
Elvis Presley, who died at the estate on August 16, 1977, his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother, are buried there in what is called the Meditation Gardens.
The mansion is constructed of tan limestone and consists of twenty-three rooms, including eight bedrooms and bathrooms. The entrance way contains several Corinthian columns and two large lions perched on both sides of the portico.
The Pink Palace Museum, home of Clarence Saunders founder of Piggly Wiggly.
After purchasing the property Presley carried out extensive modifications to suit his needs and tastes, including: a fieldstone wall surrounding the grounds, a wrought-iron music styled gate, a swimming pool, a racquetball court, and the famous "Jungle Room" which features an indoor waterfall, among other modifications. In February and October 1976, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio, where Presley recorded the bulk of his final two albums, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee and Moody Blue; these were his final known recordings in a studio setting.
An aerial view looking west from downtown Memphis
One of Presley's better known modifications was the addition of the Meditation Gardens, where he, his parents Gladys and Vernon, and grandmother are buried. The garden was opened to the public in 1978.
Cotton Museum Of Memphis
After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Priscilla Presley served as executor of his estate. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis's and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to $5 million. Priscilla examined other famous house/museums, and hired a CEO to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. She became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises. After Graceland opened to the public in 1982, the enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million. Graceland is now statistically the second most visited private residence in the United States, behind the White House.
Elvis's grave at Graceland.
An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis's grave is held on the anniversary of his death. The largest gathering assembled on the twenty-fifth anniversary in 2002. One estimate was of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain.
Sun Studio
The biggest crowd in Memphis for an Elvis Week is generally regarded as the 20th Anniversary in 1997. At this time several hundred media groups from around the world were present and the event gained its greatest media publicity as an estimated 50,000 fans visited the city.
The Orpheum Theatre in background and Memphis Trollies
The Graceland grounds include a museum containing many Elvis artifacts, like some of his famous Vegas jumpsuits, awards, gold records, the Lisa Marie jetliner, and Elvis's extensive auto collection. Recently Sirius Satellite Radio installed an all-Elvis Presley channel on the grounds. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Presley's music from Graceland around the clock. Two new attractions have been added, Private Presley and the `68 Special Exhibit; these can be found on the plaza.
The Jungle Room, Graceland Tours of the museums at Graceland are available, though no flash photography or video cameras are allowed inside. The tour of the Graceland mansion is an audio tour, and the upper floor is not open to visitors, partially to avoid any improper focus on the bathroom which was the site of his death. The upper floor, which also contains Elvis's bedroom, has been untouched since the day Elvis died. The tour enters through the front door, the living room with adjoining music room are first to be presented. These rooms are then followed with a walk past the grand stair case to Elvis' parents room. Next the tour takes you into the dining room and the kitchen. The tour continues through the basement, where Elvis's media room with its three televisions can be viewed. A bar and billiards room can also be found. The tour continues back upstairs, through the famous Jungle Room. After the Jungle room, you are taken to a small room that served as his father Vernon's office. Through the office there is a small room containing a scale model of the home he grew up in Mississippi. Then outside you are rounded through Elvis' shooting range. Then into his "Trophy Room". Originally this space was just a sidewalk behind the house that Elvis had enclosed to store his many items of appreciation. At the doorway is Elvis' famous gold lamé suit from his early years.
The Living Room, GracelandYou then proceed down a hallway lined with gold records. The tour then winds you through a display of his 68 Comeback, featuring his leather suit and some gowns worn by Priscilla. You are then taken back outside to view his still fully functioning stable of horses. Then into Elvis' racketball court. The court now houses a display of Elvis' trademark sequined "jumpsuits".
Elvis's Lockheed Jetstar on display near Graceland.
Also in this room are all the awards and distinctions posthumously presented to Elvis. Then you are taken into the Meditation Garden. Buried here are Elvis, mother Gladys, father Vernon and grandmother. A separate building houses a car collection and not far away his two planes Lisa Marie (a Convair 880) and Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar) are on display.
Koizumi in GracelandOne of the most impressive displays is the trophy room off the main house, displaying Elvis's huge collection of gold and platinum records and other awards, stage costumes, photographs and more.
Graceland
The Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium in Memphis, Tennessee, serves as the Mid-South's major science and historical museum, and features exhibits ranging from archeology to chemistry. Over 240,000 visitors are counted in the museum each year.
The museum is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, a collection of historic, educational, and technological attractions maintained by the City of Memphis and Memphis Museums, Inc. The Lichterman Nature Center, the first accredited nature center in the United States, is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, as well as the Coon Creek Science Center, an education center which is open to organized groups and features a fossil site.
The Mallory-Neely House and Magevney House are also part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums, but are currently closed due to city budget constraints. The Mallory-Neely House is a three-story Italianate Victorian mansion built in 1852, and features 25 rooms and most of its original furnishings. The Magevney House, an 1830's cottage furnished as it might have been in 1850, is one of the city's oldest remaining residences.
The Sharpe Planetarium features 165-seat theater-in-the-round auditorium and offers public shows that project star fields, visual images, and laser lights on a domed ceiling.
The Crew Training International IMAX Theater opened on January 21, 1995 and features a four-story high movable screen.
The Pink Palace Museum, the Sharpe Planetarium and the Crew Training International IMAX Theater are accredited members of the American Association of Museums.
Piggly Wiggly LogoPiggly Wiggly was founded in 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee, by the American entrepreneur Clarence Saunders. It was the first true self-service grocery store, a concept patented by Saunders in 1917. Because customers could choose their products directly, packaging and brand recognition became very important. Other grocers soon adopted the self-service format. At its peak, the company was operating 2,660 stores and posting sales of $180 million a year. However in the 1920s, the company was taken over and its stores subsequently were divested and sold to various other regional grocery companies. Presently, more than 600 independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores operate in 17 states from Wisconsin to Florida, primarily in smaller cities and towns throughout the region.
Piggly Wiggly was the first true self-service grocery store. It was founded on September 6, 1916, at 79 Jefferson Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders. A replica of the original store has been constructed in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum, a mansion that Saunders initially built as his private residence but was later sold to the city.
Historical marker near the site of the first Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis, Tennessee.
Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for the operation of its stores. The concept of the "self-serving store" was patented by Saunders in 1917. Customers at Piggly Wiggly entered the store through a turnstile and walked through four aisles to view the store’s 605 items sold in packages and organized into departments. The customers selected merchandise as they continued through the maze to the cashier. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers. Without self-service, modern branded packaged goods, as we know them, would not exist.
Memphis Grizzlies
The success of Piggly Wiggly was phenomenal, so much so that other independent and chain grocery stores changed to self-service in the 1920's and 1930's. At its peak, the company operated 2,660 stores and posted annual sales in excess of $180 million. In the 1920's, however Saunders lost control of his company in a famous Wall Street raid, and the company was soon carved up by Merrill Lynch and sold off to regional grocery chains, including Kroger, Safeway, National Tea, and Colonial.
Memphis Music Tiger
After losing control of Piggly Wiggly, Saunders had no further association with the company although he remained interested in the concept of automated shopping until his death in 1953.
Clarence Saunders home, The Pink Palace
The smaller Piggly Wiggly Corporation continued to prosper as franchiser for the hundreds of independently owned grocery stores licensed to do business under the Piggly Wiggly name. During the decades following the 1920s divestment, the company has operated successfully under a variety of owners.
Memphis Hernando-Desoto Bridge
Management of the Toyota Corporation were inspired by a visit to a Piggly Wiggly store to develop its Toyota Production System (TPS), a philosophy by which the company organizes its manufacturing and logistics, including its interactions with suppliers and customers.
Beale Street is a street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately 1.8 miles (2.9 km). It is a significant location in African-American history and the history of the blues. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are major tourist attractions in Memphis. Festivals and outdoor concerts periodically bring large crowds to the street and its surrounding areas. As of August 2007, local media reports point to an increase in violent crime on the part of nightclub security guards and clientele at this tourist destination. Panhandling is also seen as a problem at this time. Though given an exemption by the state of Tennessee to keep clubs open until 5 a.m., there is now an effort to scale back the hours of operation to reflect a 3 a.m. closing time
Gibson Factory
Beale Street was created in 1841 by entrepreneur and developer Robertson Topp (1807-1876), who named it for a forgotten military hero. The original name was Beale Avenue. Its western end primarily housed shops of trade merchants, who traded goods with ships along the Mississippi River, while the eastern part developed as an affluent suburb. In the 1860's, many black traveling musicians began performing on Beale. The first of these to call Beale Street home were the Young Men's Brass Band, who were formed by Sam Thomas in 1867.
Harts Bakery on Summer (closed)
In the 1870's the population of Memphis was decimated by a series of Yellow Fever epidemics, leading the city to forfeit its charter in 1879. During this time Robert Church purchased land around Beale Street that would eventually lead to his becoming the first black millionaire from the south. In 1890, Beale Street underwent renovation with the addition of the Grand Opera House, later known as the Orpheum. In 1899, Robert Church paid the city to create Church Park at the corner of 4th and Beale. It became a recreational and cultural center, where blues musicians could gather. A major attraction of the park was an auditorium that could seat 2,000 people. Some of the famous speakers in the Church Park Auditorium were Woodrow Wilson, Booker T. Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Mud Island Riverpark
In the early 1900's, Beale Street was filled with clubs, restaurants and s'hops, many of them owned by African-Americans. In 1889, NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells was a co-owner and editor of an anti-segregationist paper called Free Speech based on Beale. Beale Street Baptist Church, Tennessee's oldest surviving African American Church edifice built in 1864, was also important in the early civil rights movement in Memphis.
In 1905 Mayor Thornton was looking for a music teacher for his Knights of Pythias Band, and called Tuskeegee Institute to talk to his friend, Booker T. Washington, who recommended a trumpet player in Clarksdale, Mississippi, named W.C. Handy. Mayor Thornton contacted Mr. Handy, and Memphis became the home of the famous musician who created the "Blues on Beale Street". Mayor Thornton and his three sons also played in Handy's band.
In 1909, W.C. Handy wrote "Mr. Crump" as a campaign song for political machine leader E. H. Crump. The song was later renamed "The Memphis Blues". Handy also wrote a song called "Beale Street Blues" in 1916 which influenced the change of the street's name from Beale Avenue to Beale Street. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Memphis Minnie, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Rosco Gordon and other blues and jazz legends played on Beale Street and helped develop the style known as Memphis Blues.
Blue City Cafe - Memphis, TN
In 1938 Lewis O. Swingler, editor of the Memphis World Newspaper, a Negro newspaper, in an effort to increase circulation, conceived the idea of a "Mayor of Beale St.", having readers vote for the person of their choice. Matthew Thornton, Sr., a well-known community leader, active in political, civic and social affairs and one of the charter members of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP, won the contest against nine opponents and received 12,000 of the 33,000 votes cast. Mr. Thornton was the original "Mayor of Beale St." an honorary position that he retained until he died in 1963 at the age of 90.
Beale Street in 1974In the 1960's, Beale became run down and many stores closed, although on May 23, 1966, the section of the street from Main to 4th was declared a National Historic Landmark. On December 15, 1977, Beale Street was officially declared as the "Home of the Blues" by an act of Congress. Despite this national recognition of its historic significance, it was not until the 1980's that Beale Street received attention from local lawmakers, which led to an economic revitalization, with many new clubs and attractions opening. The street is now home to a chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
The Children's Museum of Memphis
During the first weekend of May (sometimes including late April), the Beale Street Music Festival brings major music acts from a variety of musical genres to Tom Lee Park at the end of Beale Street on the Mississippi River. The festival is the kickoff event of a month of festivities citywide known as Memphis in May.
A. SchwabsA. Schwab's dry goods store is the only remaining original business on Beale Street. A family owned store, their motto is "If you can't find it at A. Schwab's, you're probably better off without it!"
Established in 1876 by Abraham Joseph Schwab, the store is a local tourist attraction with two floors of shopping and, between the first and second floors, a small balcony which houses the Beale Street Museum, a collection of Beale Street memorabilia along with several items and records of the Schwab family, which has run the store throughout its lifetime. Among other things, products include various voodoo items, assorted dry goods, and tourist memorabilia.
The Historical Daisy, sometimes known as The Old Daisy, is located at 329 Beale Street in the Beale Street Historic District, the #1 tourist attraction in the State of Tennessee. Built in 1902, the Daisy is a prime surviving example of nickelodeon architecture from the early cinema era. The Historical Daisy features a beautiful half dome entrance, upstairs and downstairs bar, half-moon full stage, stage lighting, and dance floor. A Sound Tech is available for an additional fee. Catering is available through "Catering For You" or you may choose your own Outside Caterer. Newly renovated, the Daisy is now being used as a facility for Weddings/Receptions, parties, banquets, concerts and events. Enjoy the aray of pictures and artifacts of Beale Streets past.
National Ornamental Metal Museum
Book The Historical Daisy on Beale Street, in Memphis, Tennessee, for all your special event and catering service needs. Our historical theater seats 400 and is the ideal all-in-one solution for all your special events. Call us today for scheduling information and enrich your next event with a touch of history.
Hard Rock Cafe was founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, and their first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London, in a former Rolls Royce car dealerships showroom close to Hyde Park, where in 1979 they began to cover the walls with rock 'n' roll ephemera. The current owner is the Seminole Tribe in the United States.
Wrought-Iron Gate Detail - National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, Tennessee
There are more than 143 Hard Rock Cafes in over 36 countries at present, with several more in the works. Hard Rock was most popular in the 1980's when some people engaged in the hobby of visiting as many locations as possible and collecting a Hard Rock T-shirt bearing the Cafe logo and the location name.
Goyer Lee HomeVictorian Village, Memphis is an area of Memphis, Tennessee.
19th Century
During Memphis' early period of growth in the mid 1800's, a few wealthy Memphians built grand, Victorian-style homes in what was then the outskirts of the city. Edward C. Jones, one of Memphis's most significant Victorian-era architects, and his partner, Matthias Harvey Baldwin, built the Woodruff-Fontaine House (1870) and renovated the Harsson-Goyer-Lee House (1871).
Present
Some of these three and four-story mansions now stand near the city's downtown along Adams Avenue. While most of the original homes are now gone, several remain as museums: the Magevney House (198 Adams), the Mallory-Neely House (652 Adams) and the Woodruff-Fontaine House (680 Adams). The Harsson-Goyer-Lee House (photograph) was once the home of riverboat owner James Lee. This striking eclectic-style Victorian had been unused for years, but with the assistance of corporate and community donations it was refurbished in 2004. The Magevney House and the Mallory-Neely House are currently closed to the public.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
The Victorian Village Neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Cotton Museum, located in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., is a museum that opened in March 2006 on the old trading floor of the Memphis Cotton Exchange at 65 Union Avenue in downtown Memphis.
The mission of the Cotton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange is to share the story of the cotton industry and its many influences on the daily life, arts, and the development of this region. The museum highlights artifacts through interpretive exhibits, educational programs, and research archives that help tell the story of cotton and cotton trading, from crop to becoming fabric.
The Cotton Museum preserves the history of the cotton business and its impact on economics, history, society and culture, and science and technology. The museum's exhibits are appropriate for field trips for middle schoolers and older, and provide visitors context for other attractions in the city.
The museum is open to the public.
The Memphis Cotton Exchange is located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on the corner of Front Street and Union Avenue. It was founded in 1874 as a result of the growing cotton market in Memphis. Cotton merchants of the time became aware of the need for a trade organization to regulate cotton marketing in the city. They were also aware of the many benefits reaped by the New York Cotton Exchange and the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. Once established, the exchange produced rules and regulation on cotton trading and set standards for buying and pricing cotton in Memphis and the Mid-South.
Cotton trading was done on the first floor and only members of the exchange were allowed to trade there. In 1978 the trading floor was closed in favor of computer trading. The historic floor has since then been remodeled and is now home to The Cotton Museum and is used to educate the public about the industry and agriculture of cotton that helped build the city of Memphis in its early years.
The Memphis Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located at 750 Cherry Road, Memphis, Tennessee, covering 96 acres (0.39 km²).
The gardens have gradually been established in Audubon Park from 1953 onwards, including creation of an arboretum (1957) and magnolia garden (1958), as well as movement of an existing rose garden to the area (1958).
The Goldsmith Civic Garden Center, housing the Garden's administrative offices, an auditorium and the Water Garden Room, was dedicated in 1964. The gardens were formally named the Memphis Botanic Garden in 1966.
The gardens are open to the public daily, an admission fee is charged. Tuesday afternoons are free. In addition, the garden offers a range of educational programs for youth and adults. Several plant sales are held each year at the garden to benefit its educational and horticultural programs.
Shelby Farms is one of the largest urban parks in the United States, located in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. At a size of 4,500 acres (18 km²), it covers more than five times the area of Central Park in New York City with 843 acres (3.4 km²).
The land that forms Shelby Farms park was derived from property that had been privately owned in the late 19th century. From 1929 until 1964 Shelby Farms was used as a penal farm associated with the Shelby County jail.
Shelby Farms was opened for recreational purposes in the 1970's. In 2007, a public and private non-profit partnership was established to provide for the daily operation of the park and to plan for its future use.
Young Avenue Deli
Lakes, natural forests, and wetlands provide natural habitats for many smaller species close to an urban metropolitan area. Wildlife can be observed in their natural environment from the many trails in the park. Shelby Farms park is home to a bison herd.
Memphis National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the Nutbush neighborhood of the city of Memphis, in Shelby County, Tennessee.
It encompasses 44.2 acres (0.18 km2), and as of the end of 2005, had 41,873 interments.
Union Avenue Midtown MemphisMidtown is one of the 5 defined districts of Memphis, Tennessee, USA containing different individual areas loosely defined as Danny Thomas on the West, North Parkway and Summer to the North, Highland to the East and Lamar and Park to the South.
Jimmy Payne Volkswagen Dealership on Summer Av. (Closed)
Architecturally, Midtown is marked with residential vintage housing, specialty stores, and high-rise buildings, often all located on the same avenue. This is partly due to the fact that much of Midtown was constructed prior to the enactment of Euclidean zoning laws, and it is not uncommon to see an apartment complex nestled inside of a neighborhood.
Midtown Is Memphis
Culturally, Midtown has a very diverse population, having an evenly distributed black and white population, as well as a notable Asian population. This diversity has gotten Midtown Memphis noted in several magazines for having "the best Memphis has to offer right at your doorstep." This slogan eventually inspired a bumper sticker that can be seen throughout the city, which proclaims "Midtown is Memphis."
Memphis Ice Cream Mobiles with Ice Creams and Popsicles For Sale to the kids.
The slogan and bumper sticker "Midtown Is Memphis" were created in 1993 by Midtowners John Branston and Tom Foster as part of a promotional campaign.
Otherlands in Midtown, Memphis
The exact boundaries of Midtown are often disputed. Generally, it is the area between the Medical District to the west and East Memphis to the east. Some will say the eastern boundary line is East Parkway, others the CN RR line just past East Parkway, others as far east as Highland Street. The northern boundary is just as difficult to find agreement on. Some will say North Parkway, others the abandoned L&N RR line that runs NE, still others put it as far north as Jackson and even Vollintine. The southern line to Midtown is roughly the Union Pacific/CSX RR line east to McLean, south down McLean to Norfolk Southern RR line and east the eastern boundary, be it East Parkway, CN RR, or Highland. The least disputed boundary of Midtown is the western border, which is commonly regarded as the Midtown section of Interstate 240.
The Memphis Zoo
Midtown is bisected by three primary east-west avenues:
Union Avenue, which since World War II has served as the area's main commercial artery; Poplar, which is largely fronted by 1920's apartment buildings;
Imperial Bowling Lanes on Summer (closed)
Madison Avenue, which served as pre-war Memphis' main east-west corridor. Madison Avenue was once the location of the "Dummy Line", the main east-west streetcar line that went from downtown to the Fairgrounds (east along Madison, south down Cooper, and east along Young), and many commercial and residential structures along the avenue date to the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of this stretch of Madison contains its original granite curbs, and in a few locations the original brick pavers can be seen in the gutters.
Liberty Bowl StadiumLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is a football stadium located at the Mid-South Fairgrounds in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The stadium is the site of the annual Liberty Bowl, and is the home field of the University of Memphis Tigers football team. It has also been the host of several attempts at professional sports in the city, as well as other local football games and other gatherings.
The stadium was originally built as Memphis Memorial Stadium in 1965 for $3 million, as a part of the Mid-South Fairgrounds, one of the South’s most popular fairs. The fairgrounds also include the Mid-South Coliseum (formerly the city’s major indoor venue) as well as the now closed Libertyland amusement park. It was dedicated to the citizens of Memphis who had served in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.
It was built partially as a way to bring the AutoZone Liberty Bowl to a permanent home in Memphis. (The game had started in Philadelphia, but because of poor attendance for a northern bowl, it left the city, playing one year in Atlantic City before settling in Memphis.) The game was such a success for Memphis that the stadium was soon renamed Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. As originally built, the stadium was lopsided, with the southwest side being taller than the northeast. A 1987 expansion brought it to its current, balanced size. Its design is similar to that of Tampa Stadium, with the endzone grandstands being much shorter than the sidelines. The field, which had been natural grass since its inception, was replaced with a FieldTurf surface before the 2005 season.
Crosstown Theatre and Rexall Drug Store
The stadium is designed in such a way that all of its seats have a relatively good view of most of the playing surface. This is due primarily to two design factors. The stands are relatively steep for a one-tier, true bowl stadium. Also, there is little space between the side and end lines of the playing surface and the stands.
In December 1983, the field was renamed for Rex Dockery, a former Memphis football coach who died in a plane crash.
The Pyramid Arena is a 20,142-seat arena located in downtown Memphis at the banks of the Mississippi River. The facility was built in 1991 and is owned and operated jointly by the city of Memphis and Shelby County. Its unique structure plays on the city's namesake in Egypt, known for its ancient pyramids. It is 321 feet (98m, about 32 stories) tall and has base sides of 591 ft; it is the third largest pyramid in the world behind the Great Pyramid of Giza (456 ft) and Luxor Hotel (348 ft). It is also slightly (about 16 feet) taller than the Statue of Liberty. This building has been sold to Bass Pro Shops and they are going to have a museum and a Bass Pro Shop at this location.
It was the home court for the University of Memphis men's basketball program, and later for the National Basketball Association's Memphis Grizzlies. However, both teams left The Pyramid in November 2004 to move into the newly built FedExForum.
The arena hosted the 1993 Great Midwest Conference Men's and Women's basketball tournaments, the 1994 and 1997 Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament, the 1996 and 2000 Conference USA men's basketball tournament, and the 2003 Conference USA women's basketball tournament. It also held the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament in 1995, 1997, and 2001.
The Pyramid was the site of the WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view, in 1999. It was used for the 2002 concert commemorating the 25th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. It also hosted the mega-fight between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson in 2002, which Lewis won by a knockout in the eighth round.
Filmmaker Craig Brewer used the building as a sound stage for his film Black Snake Moan in late 2005.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band performed what is reputed to be the last concert ever in the Pyramid on February 3, 2007.
FedEx ForumFedExForum is one of the National Basketball Association's most distinctive arenas. It officially opened in September 2004 after much debate and also an Alberta clipper wind storm in July 22, 2003, that nearly brought the cranes that were building it down on famed Beale Street. It is in the southern part of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, at 191 Beale Street and Third Street. It is the home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA and the National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball program of the University of Memphis (the Tigers). They both previously played home games at the Pyramid Arena. The arena was built at a cost of $250 million and is owned by the City of Memphis; naming rights were purchased by Memphis' most well-known business, FedEx for $92 million. FedExForum was financed using $250 million of public bonds, which were issued by the Memphis Public Building Authority (PBA) The venue also has the capability of hosting ice hockey games, concerts, and family shows.
FedExForum was designed by architectural firm Ellerbe Becket. The arena is 805,850 ft² (75,000 m²) in size, covering 14 acres (57,000 m²). The Arena is round, with a dome. The playing floor is lower than ground level. It is capable of seating 18,119[1] for basketball and has 1,000 premiere courtside seats. There are 26 courtside suites, 33 club suites, 4 party suites, and 80 club boxes. It also contains a full-sized practice basketball court, visible from the huge lobby. The plans called for a mass transit bus depot, which brought a federal grant of $6 million; somehow the depot was changed to a premium parking garage, and Memphis had to return the money.
FedExForum's interior was designed to pay tribute to Memphis' musical heritage, with paintings and murals depicting some of the city's most famous artists. Most of the Arena's restaurants are named in conjunction with FedExForum's overall theme of music with Opus Restaurant and the Blue Note Lounge. The two other restaurants are sponsor-driven with the Lexus Lounge just off the Arena Floor and Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 in the Grand Lobby of the Arena.
FedExForum was the first arena to utilize new "see-through" shot clock units which allow spectators seated behind the basket to see the action without having the clocks interfere with their view. The idea came when a fan of the NBA's New Jersey Nets who sits behind the basket at Continental Airlines Arena sent an e-mail to NBA Commissioner David Stern, asking for technology to improve his view, and Daktronics obliged with the innovation at FedExForum in 2004.
The NBA approved the unit a year later for full use and has seen the new units installed at the Wachovia Center, Time Warner Cable Arena, TD Banknorth Garden, Rose Garden, and the Philips Arena after the approval.
The facility has hosted the Conference USA men's basketball tournament since 2005. It will be the site of the one of the four Regional finals in the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, and one of the four Regional finals in the 2010 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament.
FedExForum has also hosted two major professional wrestling events: World Wrestling Entertainment's Unforgiven on September 16, 2007 and the PMG Clash of Legends independent show on April 27 of that year. The main event on the latter card was Hulk Hogan versus Paul Wight.
The Memphis Grizzlies are a professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995 in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the Toronto Raptors, as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada. The Grizzlies relocated to Memphis in 2001. The team's majority owner is Michael Heisley, who controls a 95% share of the franchise; the remaining 5% is controlled by several local owners, including AutoZone founder J.R. ("Pitt") Hyde, equity manager Staley Cates, and former NBA player and University of Memphis point guard Elliot Perry.
The Memphis Queen III is a beautiful paddlewheeler on the Mississippi at Memphis.
Capt. Tom Meanley designed and built this boat inthe backyard of his little farm in southwest Shelby County, the Memphis Queen Shipyard, in 1976 - 1979. The boat had to be moved over 12 miles of dry land. The Memphis Belle III was christened on May 8, 1979. She has a capacity of 400 passengers. She is 99.8 feet long and 27 feet wide. Her true paddlewheel is powered by a diesel engine with additional twin screws.
University Of Memphis Tigers
The Memphis Queen III and her sisters, the sternwheeler Memphis Queen II built in 1955, the barge Memphis Showboat built in 1964, the sternwheeler Island Queen built in 1983 and the barge City of Memphis built in 2000, offer sightseeing, dinner and charter cruises.
The Memphis Redbirds are the class AAA minor league baseball affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They play their home games at AutoZone Park in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. They entered the Pacific Coast League as an expansion team in 1998, and are owned as a non-profit community entity.
The Memphis Redbirds Foundation is a non-profit program that uses its funds to enable children to participate in sports across the Memphis area. The RBI (Returning Baseball to the Inner-City) program is an instructionals baseball and softball summer program for boys and girls ages 6-15. The STRIPES (Sports Teams Returning In The Public Education System) program runs during the school year, and helps fund baseball and softball teams for middle and junior high schools in the Memphis City School System
Memphis River KingsThe Mississippi RiverKings are a professional minor league ice hockey team. The RiverKings are a member of the Central Hockey League, playing their first fifteen seasons from the 1992–93 season to the 2006–07 season as the Memphis RiverKings.
For their first eight seasons, the team played their home games in the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 2000, their home has been the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi.
The RiverKings are the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in the Mid-South. They will be starting their 17th year of operation in June 2008.
Jerry Lawler (born November 29, 1949) is an American musician, film actor, politician, professional wrestler and wrestling commentator, known throughout the wrestling world as Jerry "The King" Lawler. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), working and wrestling on its Raw brand as the color commentator. He also wrestles and occasionally commentates for the Memphis Wrestling promotion.
Lawler has won a total of 129 titles in his career, including one reign as American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Champion and 30 reigns as American Wrestling Association Southern Heavyweight Champion. Lawler held the latter championship another 13 times when the National Wrestling Alliance controlled it. He is also a 3 time World Class Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Champion (United States Wrestling Association Unified World Heavyweight Champion in the third case). He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.
Memphis Motorsports Park is a race track located in just across the Loosahatchie River from Memphis, Tennessee, approximately ten miles south of Millington, Tennessee. It is owned by Dover Motorsports, which also controls Dover International Speedway, Gateway International Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway. It is a short track which is currently the site of a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, a Craftsman Truck Series race and also has a 4,400-foot (1,340 m) drag strip to host an NHRA event among others.
Famous Memphians
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an Academy Award-winning American theatrical, film and television actress, and a stage and television director.
Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Bertye Kathleen (née Talbot), a homemaker, and Langdon Doyle Bates, a mechanical engineer. Her great-great-grandfather was an immigrant from Ireland to New Orleans and served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor. She has two older sisters, Mary and Patricia. Bates graduated from White Station High School in Memphis. She attended Southern Methodist University, majoring in theatre and was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and graduated in 1969. She moved to New York City in 1970 to pursue an acting career.
Dixie Virginia Carter (born May 25, 1939, in McLemoresville, Tennessee) is an American Emmy Award-nominated actress.
Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee, and spent many of her early years in Memphis. She attended college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). She is a graduate of Memphis State (now University of Memphis) with a degree in English.
At school, she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1959, Carter competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up to Mickie Weyland.
Career
In 1960, Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of Carousel. She moved to New York City in 1963 and got a part in a production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
After an eight-year hiatus from acting, she returned to the craft in 1974, when she filled in for actress Nancy Pinkerton as Dorian Cramer Lord on One Life to Live, while Pinkerton was on maternity leave. She subsequently was cast in the role of Assistant D.A. Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson on the soap opera The Edge of Night, on which she appeared from 1974 - 1976. (She went along with the show when it switched from CBS to ABC.) Carter took the role even though some advised her that doing a daytime soap might negatively affect her career. However, it was with this role that Carter was first noticed, and after exiting The Edge of Night in 1976, Carter pursued prime time television roles.
John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959, in Moon Township (a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a former professional and current college basketball coach. Since 2000, he has been the head coach of the University of Memphis men's basketball team. Calipari lettered two years at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring to Clarion State, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing. He played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage. Calipari and his wife, Ellen, have two daughters, Erin Sue and Megan Rae, and a son, Bradley Vincent.
From 1982-85, he was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown. From 1985-88, he was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Paul Evans. From 1988-96, he was head coach at the University of Massachusetts. From 1996-99, he was head coach and Executive VP of basketball operations for the NBA's New Jersey Nets. During the 1999-2000 season, he was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under coach Larry Brown, before moving on to his current position at the University of Memphis. He was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Judge Joe Brown (born July 5, 1947 in Washington, DC) is a judge and host of a court show which shares his name, and proudly declares to all viewers, "It's Joe time!" Raised in Los Angeles, California, Brown earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at UCLA, before moving to Memphis, Tennessee in 1974.
Brown became the first African American prosecutor in the City of Memphis. He would later open his own law practice before becoming a judge on the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee.
Brown was thrust into the national spotlight while presiding over James Earl Ray's last appeal for Ray's conviction for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and caught the attention of the producers of Judge Judy. The syndicated Judge Joe Brown court show premiered in 1998. The series is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution, and it may be found on network television stations in the United States during daytime programming.
Kellye Cash from Memphis, Tennessee, was Miss America 1987.
Since her year as Miss America, Kellye has appeared nationally on The David Letterman Show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, the Trinity Broadcasting Network and more.
She has performed with numerous musical artists including Vince Gill, Lee Greenwood, and Billy Joel, and has performed in many regional theatrical productions; she was recently chosen for the lead part of country music legend Patsy Cline, in Always...Patsy Cline.
In addition to making approximately 100 appearances each year at charitable, community and political events, Kellye is actively pursuing her Christian music career, having recently released her 3rd CD entitled Real Life.
An advocate for conservative political candidates and issues, Kellye has twice been publicly elected to the State Executive Committee of the Tennessee Republican Party.
John Patrick Daly (born April 28, 1966) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour.
Daly is known primarily for his "zero to hero" victory in the 1991 PGA Championship, his driving distance off the tee (earning him the nickname "Long John"), his non-country club appearance and attitude, and his rough-and-tumble personal life. Daly remains one of the most popular and intriguing figures on the Tour, despite his recent lack of success.
Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She is known to her fans as the "Queen of Soul" and is also affectionately called "Sister Ree". She is renowned for her soul recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera. She is widely acclaimed for her passionate, soulful vocal style, which is aided by a massive and powerful vocal range.
Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history (after Alison Krauss). She has won twenty Grammy Awards, which includes the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Aretha won eight consecutive awards between 1968 and 1975, during which time the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was nicknamed "The Aretha Award".
Franklin has had a total of twenty number-one singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. Two of them became #1 hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as well, "Respect" in the 1960s and her 1980s duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)".
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, film director and narrator. Noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice, Freeman has become one of Hollywood's most popular and respected actors.
Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere), a cleaner, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis. He was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi, Gary, Indiana, and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at age eight, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Greenwood High School in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Greenwood High, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Greenwood High, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.
Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960's and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, he also lived in New York City, working as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair, and in San Francisco, where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman acted in a touring company version of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and also appeared as an extra in the 1965 film The Pawnbroker. He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967, opposite Viveca Lindfors in The Nigger Lovers (about the civil rights era "Freedom Riders"), before debuting on Broadway in 1968's all-black version of Hello, Dolly!, which also starred Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.
Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway (born July 18, 1971, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), specializing as a small forward and shooting guard. Injuries have plagued his career and reduced his effectiveness over a decade of NBA service. His most productive years came in his days as a member of the Orlando Magic as well as the early portion of his stint with the Phoenix Suns. He last played for the Miami Heat, who released him December 12, 2007. On August 21, 2008, it was announced that Hardaway had donated one million dollars to the University of Memphis.
Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[1] In 2003, they listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology #242 on their list of "500 greatest albums of all time".
Lewis was born to the poor family of Elmo and Mamie Lewis in Ferriday in Concordia Parish in eastern Louisiana, and began playing piano in his youth with his two cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy, the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks, Haney's Big House, Lewis developed his own style mixing rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, gospel, and country music, as well as ideas from established "country boogie" pianists like recording artists Moon Mullican and Merrill Moore. Soon he was playing professionally.
His mother enrolled him in Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas, secure in the knowledge that her son would now be exclusively singing his songs to the Lord. But Lewis daringly played a boogie woogie rendition of "My God Is Real" at a church assembly that sent him packing the same night. Pearry Green, then president of the student body, related how during a talent show Jerry played some "worldly" music. The next morning, the dean of the school called both Jerry and Pearry into his office to expel them both. Jerry then said that Pearry shouldn't be expelled because "he didn't know what I was going to do." Years later Pearry asked Jerry "Are you still playing the devil's music?" Jerry replied "Yes, I am. But you know it's strange, the same music that they kicked me out of school for is the same kind of music they play in their churches today. The difference is, I know I am playing for the devil and they don't."
Leaving religious music behind so far as performing, he paid dues at clubs in and around Ferriday and Natchez, Mississippi. He became a part of the burgeoning new rock and roll sound, cutting his first demo recording in 1954. He made a trip to Nashville around 1955 where he played clubs and attempted to drum up interest, but was turned down by the Grand Ole Opry as he had been at the Louisiana Hayride country stage and radio show in Shreveport. Recording executives in Nashville suggested he switch to playing a guitar. Lewis, even then confrontational, once recalled suggesting to one Nashville producer, "You can take your guitar and ram it up your as#!"
Lewis travelled to Memphis, Tennessee in November 1956, to audition for Sun Records. Label owner Sam Phillips was away on a trip to Florida, but producer and engineer Jack Clement recorded Lewis' rendition of Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" and his own composition "End of The Road". During December 1956, Lewis began recording prolifically, both as a solo artist and as a session musician for other Sun artists, such as Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. His distinctive piano playing can be heard on many tracks recorded at Sun during late 1956 and early 1957, including Carl Perkins' "Matchbox" and "Get Your Cat Clothes On", and Billy Lee Riley's "Flyin' Saucers Rock'n'Roll". Until this time, rockabilly had rarely featured piano, but it proved a highly influential addition and rockabilly artists on other labels soon also started working with pianists.
On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips to pay a social visit while Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks with Lewis backing him on piano. The three started an impromptu jam session, and Phillips left the tape running. He later telephoned Johnny Cash and brought him in to join the others. These recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived, and have been released on CD under the title Million Dollar Quartet. Tracks also include Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", Pat Boone's "Don't Forbid Me" and Presley doing an impersonation of Jackie Wilson (who was then with Billy Ward and the Dominoes) singing "Don't Be Cruel".
Lewis's own singles (billed as Jerry Lee Lewis and his Pumping Piano) advanced his career as a soloist during 1957, with hits such as "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire", his biggest hit, bringing him to national and international fame, despite criticism for the songs' overtly sexual undertones which prompted some radio stations to boycot them. In 2005, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
According to several first hand sources, including Johnny Cash, Lewis himself, who was devoutly Christian, was also troubled by the sinful nature of his own material, which he firmly believed was leading himself and his audience to hell. This aspect of Lewis' character was depicted in Waylon Payne's portrayal of Lewis in the 2005 film Walk the Line, based on Cash's autobiographies.
Lewis, though not the first pianist in the boogie-woogie style, was a pioneer of piano rock, not only through his sound but also through his dynamic performance. He would often kick the piano bench out of the way to play standing, rake his hands up and down the keyboard for dramatic accent, sit down on the keyboard, and even stand on top of the instrument. His first TV appearance, in which he demonstrated some of these moves, was on The Steve Allen Show July 28, 1957, where he played the song "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On". He is also reputed to have set a piano on fire at the end of a live performance, in protest at being billed below Chuck Berry.
His frenetic performance style can be seen in films such as High School Confidential (he sang the title song from the back of a flatbed truck), and Jamboree. He has been called "rock & roll's first great wild man" and also "rock & roll's first great eclectic." These performance techniques have been adopted by later piano rock artists, such as admirers Elton John, Billy Joel, and Ben Folds.
Abe Plough 1892-1984
Within a year of his birth in 1892 in Tupelo, Mississippi, Abe Plough moved with his family to Memphis, where his father Moses operated a clothing and furnishings store. Abe Plough attended Market Street School where a teacher taught him to calculate figures without pencil or paper. He said this "mental arithmetic" served him well in his business career since he never needed a pencil to calculate his acquisition of thirty companies for the Schering-Plough Corporation at a cost of over $1 billion.
Plough received his only other formal education at St. Paul Street Grammar School, from which he graduated. After school and on weekends he worked at the George V. Francis drug store without pay because he wanted to learn the drug business, determined that it would be his future. Moses Plough lent his son $125 to start his own business, Plough Chemical Company, in 1908. At age sixteen Abe Plough was owner, manager, and only employee of the new business, located in one small room above his father's store. Using dishpans for mixing the chemicals, his first formula was for Plough's Antiseptic Healing Oil, a "sure cure for any ill of man or beast." On days when he was not bottling his healing oil, Plough set out in his father's horse-drawn buggy to sell his product to drug stores and country merchants.
Success came almost immediately for the new enterprise. Within two years it doubled in size, entered the patent drug business, and branched out into cosmetics. Adding aspirin to his line of products in 1920, Plough bought the St. Joseph Company, a step he called his "first on the road to the big time."
Despite the worldwide depression in 1929, Plough raised his employees' salaries and added one hundred others to his drug store and factory labor forces. Plough, Incorporated, moved in 1951 to 3022 Jackson Avenue, a $2 million plant encompassing 250,000 square feet on six acres of land. The business reported net sales of $254.5 million by 1954, a figure that doubled by 1962. It merged in 1971 with Schering Corporation, primarily a manufacturer of prescription pharmaceuticals. Plough was Chairman of both Plough, Incorporated, and Schering-Plough.
Plough retired from business in 1976 to devote his talents and energies to his other chief interest, philanthropy. His generosity to the community is legendary. His many gifts were often made as "challenge grants," his stated goal "to help the greatest number of people in order to do the most good." His legacy lives on not only in the business he created, which bears his name, but also in his deeds of generosity and leadership. The Plough Foundation continues to be devoted to the welfare of the community and is administered in his name by his heirs.
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born 18 February 1950) is a Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, singer and former fashion model.
Shepherd was born in Memphis, Tennessee to William Jennings Shepherd and Patty Shobe. Named after her grandfather Cy and her father Bill, Shepherd won the 1966 "Miss Teenage Memphis" contest at age 16, and the 1968 "Model of the Year" contest at age 18, making her a fashion icon of the 1960s, resulting in fashion modeling work through high school and after.
Career
She quickly made a name for herself as a curvy 'real woman', which was a departure from the trend at the time of Twiggy-type waifs. This led to regular work as a magazine cover girl, and according to Shepherd's autobiography, it was a 1970 Glamour magazine cover that caught the eye of film director Peter Bogdanovich. His then-wife Polly Platt, however claimed, that it was she who upon seeing the cover in a check-out line in a Ralphs grocery store in southern California, said "That's Jacy", referring to the role Bogdanovich was casting - and ultimately offered to Shepherd - in The Last Picture Show (1971). Shepherd's role as the sexual ingenue would prove to be one of the most explosive and promising debuts of any film actress.
Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan in Cybill, as Betsy in Taxi Driver and as Phyllis Kroll in The L Word.
Frederick Wallace Smith (born August 11, 1944), or Fred Smith, is the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx, originally known as Federal Express, the first overnight express delivery company in the world, and the largest in the United States. The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Smith was born on August 11, 1944 in Marks, Mississippi, the son of Frederick C. Smith, the founder of the Dixie Greyhound Bus Lines and Toddle House restaurant chain. Frederick C. Smith died when Smith was only 4, and the boy was raised by his mother and uncles.
Smith had a great interest in flying, and became an amateur pilot as a teen. He attended high school at Memphis University School.
In 1962, Smith entered Yale University. While attending Yale, he wrote a paper for an economics class, outlining overnight delivery service in a computer information age. Folklore suggests he received a C for this paper although in a later interview he claims that when asked he told a reporter "I dont know what grade, probably made my usual C". The paper became the idea of FedEx (for years, the sample package displayed in the company's print advertisements featured a return address at Yale). Smith became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and Skull and Bones. He received his Bachelor's degree in economics in 1966. In his college years, he was a friend of George W. Bush. Smith was also friends with John Kerry and shared an enthusiasm for aviation with Kerry and was a flying partner with him.
After graduation, Smith joined in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving for four years, from 1966 to 1969, as a Platoon Leader and a Forward Air Controler [FAC], flying in the back seat of the OV-10. Much mythology exists about this part of his life; Smith was a Marine Corps "Ground Officer" for his entire service. He was specially trained to fly with pilots and observe and 'control' ground action. He never went through Navy flight training, was not a "Naval Aviator" or "pilot" in the military. The proof of this is in the fact that individuals who completed Navy flight training and became a "Designated Naval Aviator" (pilot) were obligated to serve six years at the time.
As a Marine, he had the opportunity to observe the military's logistics system first hand. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, flying with pilots on over 200 combat missions. He was honorably discharged in 1969 with the rank of Captain, having received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts. While in the military, Smith carefully observed the procurement and delivery procedures, fine-tuning his dream for an overnight delivery service.
Smith also served with and became personal friends with legendary Special Forces-Intelligence hero Marine Lt. Col. William V. "Bill" Cowan during his Vietnam service. Cowan's wvc3 group is famous for daring hostage rescues, and assisted Smith in FedEx's expansion into the Middle East.
In 1970, Smith purchased the controlling interest in an aircraft maintenance company, Ark Aviation Sales, and by 1971 turned its focus to trading used jets. On June 18, 1971, Smith founded Federal Express with his $4 million inheritance, and raised $91 million in venture capital. In 1973, the company began offering service to 25 cities, and it began with small packages and documents and a fleet of 14 Falcon 20 (DA-20) jets. His focus was on developing an integrated air-ground system, which had never been done before. Smith developed FedEx on the business idea of a shipment version of a bank clearing house where one bank clearing house was located in the middle of the representative banks and all their representatives would be sent to the central location to exchange materials.
Smith has served on the boards of several large public companies, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Mayo Foundation Boards. He was formerly chairman of the Board of Governors for the International Air Transport Association and the U.S. Air Transport Association. Smith is chair of the Business Roundtable’s Security Task Force, and a member of the Business Council and the CATO Institute. He served as chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council and is the current chairman of the French-American Business Council. In addition, Smith was named 2006 Person of the Year by the French-American Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Aviation Hall of Fame. Smith was approached by Senator Bob Dole, who asked Smith for support in opening corporate doors for a new World War II memorial. Smith was appointed to co-chairman of the U.S. World War II Memorial Project. Smith was named as Chief Executive magazine’s 2004 "CEO of the Year".
Danny Thomas
Thomas was born Amos Alphonsus Muzyad Yaqoob in Deerfield, Michigan, on January 6, 1912, to Charles and Margaret Jacobs. He was of Lebanese descent. He first performed under his Anglicized birth name, Amos Jacobs, before settling on the stage name, Danny Thomas, which were the first names of two of his brothers. He lived in various cities as a child, including Toledo, Ohio, and Rochester New York.
On the big screen, he starred in The Jazz Singer, a 1952 remake of the 1927 original and played songwriter Gus Kahn opposite Doris Day in the 1951 film biography I'll See You in My Dreams. After Make Room for Daddy, which was later known as the Danny Thomas Show, he became a successful television producer, working on many popular shows including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Mod Squad. Thomas also produced two series for Walter Brennan: The Tycoon and The Guns of Will Sonnett, both on ABC during the 1960's.
Known as a generous philanthropist, Thomas founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962. The hospital has treated thousands of children for childhood cancers. In 1996, Peter Doherty, Ph.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was corecipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work related to how the immune system kills virus-infected cells. As a "starving actor", Thomas made a vow - if he found success, he would open a hospital dedicated to St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes.
He was one of the original owners of the Miami Dolphins, along with Joe Robbie, although he sold his share soon after purchase. Thomas was also an avid golfer. He claimed a ten golf handicap and once competed with Sam Snead in a charity event.
His children are also performers, the most famous being his daughter, Marlo, who is married to Phil Donahue. His son, Tony Thomas, is a television producer, and another daughter, Terre Thomas, is a former actress.
Thomas died on February 6, 1991, of a punctured lung at the age of seventy-nine. He had completed filming a commercial for St. Jude's Hospital a few days before his death and this final commercial aired as a tribute to him.
Danny Thomas and his wife (who died in 2000) are interred in a crypt in a mausoleum on the grounds of the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. He was a posthumous recipient of the 2004 Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
St. Jude Research Hospital Logo
St. Jude was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas on the premise that "no child should die in the dawn of life." Thomas named the hospital for Saint Jude Thaddeus, the Catholic patron saint of hospitals, desperate cases and lost causes. Thomas was a struggling young entertainer when he knelt in a Detroit church before a statue of St. Jude Thaddeus and asked the saint to “show me my way in life and I will build you a shrine.” Thomas's prayer was answered, and he soon moved his family to Chicago to pursue career offers. In 1957, Thomas founded the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), which helped him realize his dream. ALSAC is the fundraising organization of St. Jude. Since St. Jude opened its doors in 1962, ALSAC has had the responsibility of raising the necessary funds to keep the hospital open.
Rufus Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was a rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian from Memphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the 1950's and on Stax Records in the 1960's and 1970's. He was the father of soul singer Carla Thomas and keyboard player Marvell Thomas. A third child, Vaneese, a former French teacher, has a recording studio in upstate New York and sings for television commercials.
Born a sharecropper's son in the rural community of Cayce, Mississippi, Thomas moved to Memphis with his family at age 2. His mother was “a church woman.” Thomas made his artistic debut at the age of 6 playing a frog in a school theatrical production. Much later in life, he would impersonate all kinds of animals: screeching cats, funky chickens and penguins, and mournful dogs. By age 10, he was a tap dancer, performing in amateur productions at Memphis' Booker T. Washington High School.
Thomas attended one semester at Tennessee A&I University, but due to economic conditions left to pursue a career as a professional entertainer, joining up in 1936 with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, an all-black revue that toured the South. He then worked for twenty-two years at a textile plant and didn't leave that job until about 1963, around the time of his “Dog” hits. He started at WDIA in 1951 (despite biographies placing his start a year earlier). At WDIA, he hosted an afternoon show called Hoot and Holler. WDIA, featuring an African-American format, was known as "the mother station of the Negroes" and became an important source of blues and R&B music for a generation, its audience consisting of white as well as black listeners. Thomas's mentor was Nat D. Williams, a pioneer black deejay at WDIA as well as Thomas's high school history teacher, columnist for black newspapers, and host of an amateur show at Memphis's Palace Theater. For years Thomas himself took hosting duties for the amateur show and, in that capacity, is credited with the discovery of B.B. King.
Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American pop singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. He has won six Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award.
Justin Timberlake came to fame as one of the lead singers of pop boy band 'N Sync, whose launch was financed by Lou Pearlman. In 2002, he released his debut solo album, Justified, which sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. Timberlake's second solo release, FutureSex/LoveSounds, was released in 2006 with the U.S. number-one hit singles "SexyBack", "My Love", and "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around". The album also spawned three additional U.S. top twenty hits ("Summer Love", "LoveStoned", and "Until the End of Time"). As of January 2008, FutureSex/LoveSounds has sold more than 8.6 million copies. With his first two albums, Timberlake has sold more than 18 million records worldwide alone, as well as more than 50 million copies as one of the two lead singers in 'N Sync. His other ventures include record label Tennman Records, fashion label William Rast, and the restaurants Destino and Southern Hospitality.
Timberlake was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lynn Harless (née Bomar) and Randall Timberlake. He has English ancestry, although he has also claimed some American Indian ancestry, probably through unconfirmed descent from Henry Timberlake. His paternal grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, husband of Bobbye Joice, was a Baptist minister, and Timberlake was raised in the Baptist religion; he considers himself more "spiritual than religious", though still a Christian. His parents divorced about 1985 and both have remarried; his mother, who now runs an entertainment company called Just-in Time Entertainment, remarried to Paul Harless, a banker, when Justin was aged five; while his father, a choir director at a Baptist church, has two children, Jonathan (born c. 1993) and Stephen (born c. 1998), from his second marriage to Lisa. A half-sister, Laura Chwieseni, died shortly after birth in 1997 and is mentioned on one of Timberlake's record acknowledgments as "My Angel in Heaven". Timberlake grew up in Shelby Forest, a small community between Memphis and Millington. His first attempts at a singing career saw him singing country music songs on Star Search as "Justin Randall".
In 1993, he joined the cast of The Mickey Mouse Club. His castmates included future girlfriend and pop superstar Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, and future bandmate JC Chasez. When the show ended in 1995, Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in an all-male singing group organized by boy band manager Lou Pearlman; that group would become 'N Sync. Timberlake made his acting debut in the 1999 Disney Channel movie Model Behavior, in which he plays Jason Sharpe, a model who falls in love with a waitress after mistaking her for another model.
Kemmons Wilson (January 5, 1913 – February 12, 2003) was the founder of the Holiday Inn chain of hotels.
He was born Charles Kemmons Wilson in Osceola, Arkansas, a son of Kemmons and Ruby "Doll" Wilson. His father was an insurance salesman who died when Kemmons was nine months old. Shortly thereafter, his mother, Doll, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where she raised him.
He opened the first Holiday Inn motel in Memphis in 1952, and quickly added others to create an entire hotel chain. Holiday Inn went international in 1960.
Wilson was married to Dorothy Lee.
His autobiography, Half Luck and Half Brains, tells the story of the Holiday Inn.
Kemmons Wilson died in Memphis and is interred in Forest Hill Cemetery - Midtown in Memphis, Tennessee.
Location of First Holiday InnThe original Holiday Inn chain of hotels was founded in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, by homebuilder Kemmons Wilson to provide inexpensive family accommodation for travelers within the USA. Wilson opened the first Holiday Inn in September 1952 at 4941 Summer Avenue in the Berclair district of Memphis on the main road to and from Nashville. Though the actual hotel does not exist anymore, a historical sign marks where it once stood. In 1954, Wilson incorporated the chain with Wallace E. Johnson.
Wilson initially came up with the idea after a family road trip to Washington, DC, during which he was disappointed by the quality and consistency provided by the roadside motels of that era. The name Holiday Inn was given to the original hotel by his architect Eddie Bluestein as a joke, in reference to the Bing Crosby movie.
In 1957, Wilson franchised the chain as Holiday Inn of America, and it grew dramatically, following Wilson's original tenet that the properties should be standardized, clean, predictable, family-friendly, and readily accessible to road travellers. By 1958 there were 50 Inns across the country, 100 by 1959, 500 by 1964, and the 1000th Holiday Inn opened in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968. The chain dominated the motel market, leveraged its innovative Holidex reservation system, put considerable financial pressure on traditional hotels, and set the standard for its competitors like Ramada Inns, Quality Inn, Howard Johnson's, and Best Western. By June 1972, when Wilson was featured on the cover of Time magazine, there were over 1,400 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide. Innovations like the company's Holidome indoor pools turned many hotels into roadside resorts.
Holiday Inn LogoThe company later branched into other related enterprises, including Medi-Center nursing homes, Continental Trailways, Delta Queen, and various related enterprises. Wilson also later developed the Orange Lake Resort and Country Club near Orlando and a chain called Wilson World Hotels. The family of founder Kemmons Wilson still operates hotels as part of the Kemmons Wilson Companies of Memphis.
Wilson retired from Holiday Inn in 1979.
Sterick BuildingNeighborhoods:
Midtown
Midtown is undisputedly the most ecclectic part of the city. Where else can you visit an art gallery, shop for vintage clothes, and have lunch at a vegetarian restaurant -- all on the same block? Midtown is also one of the most historic parts of Memphis, a fact made evident by its many impressive Victorian, Italianate, and Craftsman style homes.
Just one of many of Central Gardens' magnificent homes
Central Gardens:
The Central Gardens National Historic District is a beautiful neighborhood in Midtown Memphis. The district got its name because it “centers” on Central Avenue and due to its resemblance to New Orleans’s Garden District. Well known for its elegant homes, many of which that date back to the early 1900's, Central Gardens holds an annual home and garden tour to allow visitors a close-up view of some of its spectacular residences. The neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Boundaries
North: Eastmoreland Avenue
South: York Avenue
East: South Rembert Street
South Main Street Historic District
South Main District:
Tucked away on the southern end of downtown Memphis is a quiet yet colorful community with a flavor all its own. Welcome to the South Main Historic District. In the early 1900's this area was bustling with activity. Every day fifty trains could be heard rumbling through Central Station. Passengers on those trains could eat at any one of the neighborhood’s eight restaurants or stay in one of its eleven hotels. Merchants ran their shops while their families lived upstairs and even manufactures and warehousers had their place in the district.
The Depression took its toll on the businesses in the area and then later, in the 1950's, the declining railroad industry caused many of the neighborhood’s buisnesses to fail. Through the 1960's and 70's, the southern end of downtown Memphis sat idle and virtually abandoned. It wasn’t until the 1980's that the South Main District began to see life again. Now, more than twenty years since the first present-day business opened up on South Main Street, there are dozens of shops, restaurants, galleries, and nightspots which keep the district vibrant. On this walking tour, we will visit some of the highlights of this historic neighborhood.
ZanibarYou might want to plan your tour at lunchtime because Zanzibar, an eclectic little café that features local art, live music, and international cuisine, is right next door at 412 South Main. Zanzibar offers a variety of taste-tempting menu items such as Pacific Prawn Ceviche (spicy shrimp with avocados) and Jamaican ribeye strips with caramelized red onions. They are open Tuesdays and Wednesdays 11:00-9:00, Thursday through Saturday 11:00-10:00 and for brunch on Sundays from 10:00-2:00.
Art Village Gallery
We will start at the corner of South Main and Vance and proceed southward. Our first stop is the Art Village Gallery at 410 South Main, the district’s oldest international gallery. Inside, you’ll find the colorful and eclectic work of artist Ephraim Urevbu, a fifteen year resident of Memphis, but originally from Nigeria. The gallery is open Tuesday - Saturday 11:00-5:00.
The Arcade Restaurant
After visiting the National Civil Rights Museum, go back to South Main and continue walking southward. If you skipped lunch at Zanzibar, you are in luck because the Arcade Restaurant is our next stop at 540 South Main. Established in 1919, the Arcade has the distinction of being Memphis’ oldest restaurant. As is fitting with its 50's diner-style decor, the Arcade boasts wonderful burgers and shakes. It also offers an interesting array of pizzas, sandwiches, and breakfast items. Even if you already ate, go into the Arcade and have a soda if for no other reason than to enjoy the ambience. Their hours are 7:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. daily and Friday evenings for dinner.
The Bottom Line
Established in 1919, the Arcade is Memphis' oldest restaurant. It is a fun and inexpensive place for a quick meal in a historic location.
Pros
Charming 50's style diner decor
Friendly service
Food is made from scratch
Cons
Dining area is small which means wait times can be long
Lacking a wide variety of menu items
Description
The Arcade has the feel of a retro diner.
The walls are decked out with local artwork and photography.
There is a National Register of Historic Places plaque outside the front door.
Guide Review - The Arcade Restaurant
At 11:00 a.m. on a Saturday, the Arcade was already packed. Though there wasn't a table available, there was bar space enough to accomodate my party of two. I recommend eating at the bar anyway -- it was nice to converse with some of the restaurant's other patrons.
We were attended to immediately by a friendly and efficient server. All of the restaurant's staff seemed equally on task, bustling about as they cooked and served the food, refilled soft drinks, and cleaned tables as they were vacated.
The menu offered basically four choices: breakfast, sandwiches, salads, and pizza. While the breakfast fare seemed pretty basic (eggs, pancakes, grits, etc.), there were other more imaginative choices such as the Downtowner Pizza with garlic, ricotta, tomatoes, pesto, arichoke hearts, onions, and calamata olives; or the South Main Sandwich with smoked ham, brie, sliced pear, creole mustard, and pesto aioli. Additionally, you can order hand-dipped shakes and sundaes, as is fitting for a diner of its type.
In spite of its apparent lack of imagination, I ordered a breakfast combo that came with pancakes, bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. As ordinary as it may sound, it was actually wonderful. The pancakes tasted like the ones Mom used to make (seriously!) and the eggs were cooked to perfection.
If you're downtown anyway, consider a trip to the Arcade. The food is decent, the atmosphere is fun, and the price is right.
D'Edge Art
Right next door to the Arcade is D’Edge Art at 550 South Main, D’Edge Art features two floors of contemporary folk art and treasures by regional and internationally known artists and is open Wednesday thru Saturday 11:00a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Sundays.
Earnestine and Hazel's
Cross the street from D’Edge Art to the southwest corner of South Main and G.E. Patterson where you’ll find Ernestine and Hazel’s, a little bar with a big history at 531 South Main. Unless you are touring at night, you probably won’t get to go into Ernestine and Hazel’s which opens at 5:00 p.m. But don’t leave it out of your tour. This little bar that boasts one of the city’s best burgers, was originally a dry goods store with a brothel upstairs!
Gestures
From Ernestine and Hazel’s head back north on South Main. You’re looking for Gestures, the stand alone building trimmed in bright blue. Open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Gestures is a one-of-a-kind gift and flower shop where you will be inspired and encouraged to discover your artistic side and create your own floral arrangements.
Cooper-Young:
The Trestle Art Gateway over Cooper Street
From the late 1800's to the early 1900's, the Cooper-Young District was a thriving residential neighborhood. By the 1970's, however, many of the once beautiful homes were in a dismal state of disrepair and most of the area businesses stood empty. In 1976, the Cooper-Young Community Association was formed. This group began efforts to revitalize the neighborhood by reducing crime, restoring homes, and attracting businesses. Thanks to these efforts, Cooper-Young is now a thriving community known for its historical significance and diverse culture.
Boundaries
North: Central Avenue
South: Southern Avenue
East: East Parkway
West: McLean Boulevard
East Memphis
The term "East Memphis" is used to describe a large section of the city that roughly lies east of Hollywood Street, south of Raleigh/Bartlett, north of Winchester Road, and west of Germantown. Much of this area is residential and is therefore home to many neighborhoods.
Berclair:
Street sign for Berclair Road, the street for which the neighborhood is named.
Berclair is a neighborhood in East Memphis. It was developed in the late 1940's with many two and three bedroom homes intended to be ideal for young soldiers who were returning home from World War II. Though primarily residential, the area has a strong business presence, as well.
Boundaries
North: Macon Road
South: Summer Avenue
East: Mendenhall Road
West: Graham Street
Chickasaw Gardens:
Beautiful homes along a tree-lined street in Chickasaw Gardens
Chickasaw Gardens is a neighborhood just west of the University of Memphis. It is an upscale community with homes ranging in price from $400,000 to well over one million dollars. Though not a gated community, Chickasaw Gardens is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city and is patrolled by 24 hour security. There is a small lake in the Gardens which provides a beautiful view to many residents. Do you remember the house that Tom Cruise's character lived in in The Firm? That home is located in Chickasaw Gardens.
Boundaries
North: Poplar Avenue
South: Central Avenue
East: Lafayette Street
West: Cherokee Drive
Highpoint Terrace:
An example of the post-World War II homes that are prominent in High Point Terrace
High Point Terrace is neighborhood southeast of Highland Heights. The neighborhood's development began in 1919 but early development was slow. Fewer than 200 homes were built in the initial phase of development and many of those homes were demolished to make room for Sam Cooper Boulevard. Most of the High Point Terrace homes standing today were built in the Minimal Traditional style between 1940 and 1950. These modest homes are still well-maintained and typically fetch top-dollar for their size.
Boundaries
North: Summer Avenue
South: Walnut Grove Road
East: Graham Street or Waring Road, depending upon who you ask
West: Highland Street
Belle Meade:
Belle Meade is an upscale neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee.
Belle Meade is bordered by Goodlett Street in the west, Walnut Grove Road at the north, Poplar Avenue at the south, and roughly East Cherry Circle on the east.
Community
Forbes named Belle Meade as one of the top 50 neighborhoods in the United States. Three other Memphis neighborhoods, Galloway Golf Course/Red Acres, Chickasaw Gardens, and Central Gardens), were also recognized. The homes in the area vary in age and size, with West Cherry Circle containing some of the largest homes with the largest yards.
Movies
The 1993 film The Firm used a house in this neighborhood as the main home in the film.
Douglas:
Douglass is a community on the North side of Memphis, Tennessee where majority of its residence are elderly individuals with birth dates as far back as the late 1800. Douglass was named after Freddrick Douglass who was admired by the late Reverend William Rush-Plummer, the prior owner of the land (approximately 40 acres) where the Douglass neighborhood currently stands.
Reverend William Rush-Plummer was the child of a slave from Africa and her white slave master named, William Rush. When the wife of William Rush learned of the birth of William Rush-Plummer, she demanded that the boy not be given their family last name of Rush. William Rush then assigned the last name of Plummer to his son and he came to be known as William Rush-Plummer. The father, William Rush gave William Rush-Plummer the land, now known as the Douglass Community when his family was released from slavery. (40 acres and a mule). Young William Rush-Plummer who had a strong resemblance and similar speech pattern with a heavy southern dialect - to his caucasaian father William Rush, grew up to become a Reverend and began opening many churches on his land.
From the very beginning, religion has played a vital role in the lives of individuals in the Douglass Community due to William Rush-Plummer's vision. In 1900, Reverend William Rush Plummer and his associates had a vision that a church was needed for the community. Under a bush arbor in Douglass Park, the first church known as "Need More" was established. Reverend Plummer, known as “Father Plummer” deliberately gave the church this name because he felt it needed more of everything: shelter, chairs, and people.
The Douglass Community is one of the oldest communities in the City of Memphis. A life long resident of the Douglass Community, the late Agnes Johnson-Lamar was 107 at the time of her death. She lived on Pope Street in the middle of the Douglass Community for approximately 100 years. In her youth, along with two of her sisters, the late Carrie Fluker and Elizabeth (Sees) Christmas; Agnes Lamar lived on Pope Street when the name of the street was, Caradine Street. Agnes Lamar was older than the street itself. Efforts were made unsuccessfully to rename Pope Street, "Agnes Lamar Street" years before she died, by her great niece, Pastor Maggie-Judith Fluker-Campbell, (Daughter of the late Evelyn Fluker-Williams (who worked for the Memphis Park Commission for many years prior to her death in 1993), youngest sister of Douglass Community Center Director, Terry E. Fluker, Sr. and the Brown, Johnson and Fluker Family Historian). Agnes Lamar holds the record to this day as the oldest person to have lived in the Douglass Community.
Evergreen Historic District:
Evergreen MemphisEvergreen Historic District is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee.
The most understood borders are Poplar Avenue (and just below) to the south, McLean Boulevard to the east, North Parkway to the north, and Watkins Street to the west. Evergreen is located in the area of Memphis known as Midtown. This area of the city includes Overton Park, which is one of the largest urban parks in the nation; it also includes the Memphis Zoo.
Evergreen is unique to Midtown because there is a mix of old and new homes, due to the attempt to split the neighborhood, and Overton Park, in half to make way for an Interstate highway. The neighborhood was able to fight the interstate, and the case eventually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the neighborhood. Many of the homes were demolished, but in the early 1990's, bids started and builders repatched the holes in Evergreen. Today, the neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is probably the best value for the Midtown area. Evergreen is sometimes referred to as Stonewall, after the street which has some of the neighborhood's nicest homes.
Frayser:
Frayser is a neighborhood in north Memphis, Tennessee.
Frayser developed in the mid twentieth century as an industrial, working class suburb due to its proximity to the industrial area of Memphis, including the closed International Harvester plant.
Demographics
As factories in the area began to close, the population of Frayser began to markedly dwindle in the 1970's and 80's, and it stands at 51,068 today. With a large minority of its residents earning incomes below the poverty line, only 6% holding college degrees, and a continued lack of business and industrial investment, the neighborhood is now one of the most economically depressed & highest crime-rated areas of Memphis.
Harbour Town:
Harbor Town is an upscale, new urbanism style neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee.
Harbor Town is located just northwest of downtown Memphis, Tennessee on the Mississippi River.
Businesses
It recently has added an upscale, European-style boutique hotel called the River Inn, along with a four-star restaurant, Currents, as well as a more moderate, casual restaurant named Tugs. Also on the island is an upscale, pantry style grocery store, Miss Cordelia's, which is similar to a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, but on a smaller scale.
Hickory Hill:
Hickory Hill is a middle-class, predominantly African-American neighborhood in the Southeast region of Memphis, Tennessee.
The neighborhood is bounded on the north by Nonconnah Parkway, on the east by the City boundary, on the south by Holmes Road and Shelby Drive, and on the west by Mendenhall Road.
Hollywood:
The central point of Hollywood is North Hollywood Street and Chelsea Avenue in the northside of Memphis. It is typically bound by North McLean Boulevard to the west and Warford Street to the east. Hollywood borders another neighborhood called Douglass. The Douglass Community and the Hollywood Community were divided by the Southern Pacific Railroad.
In the early 1900's Hollywood was the place to go, if you lived in the communities of Douglass and Jackson - near Greg Junior High School. Young men and women would dress up and head out on foot to go to nice restaurants in Hollywood rather than travel an hour on the number 8 bus to go downtown or to transfer one or more buses to Beale Street or Mid-town. The Hollywood Community had movie theaters, an outdoor shopping mall, the community center and many large grocery and shopping stores.
Through the years, the Hollywood Community began to change. The high school was closed and its students were bused to Douglass High School in the Douglass Community. The movie theater began to play re-runs daily of old Bruce Lee movies. Many of the families moved out of the community despite the newly built clinic just off the main street of Chelsea in the approximate year of 1980. Soon, all the major stores except Piggly Wiggly were closed as well.
Hyde Park:
Hyde Park (also known as Pocket Town) is an impoverished, predominately black neighborhood in the Hollywood community of Memphis, Tennessee.
Hyde Park is located on the north side of Memphis, Tennessee, starting around the intersection of Chelsea Avenue and Hollywood Street. Hyde Park lies within the Hollywood community and borders another North Memphis neighborhood known as Douglass.
Hyde Park is known for its long strip down Hollywood Street that is often a lively meeting place. Almost all commercial businesses in the area are located on Hollywood Street or Chelsea Avenue. Hyde Park has a reputation within the city of Memphis due to prostitution and gang-related activity, dominated by the Folk Nation predominantly the Gangster Disciples (H.P.G) with the exception of several small Black Disciples and New Breeds sets as well.
Lenox:
Lennox is bounded by Central Avenue on the south, Union Avenue on the north, Cooper Street on the west and East Parkway South on the east.
Once its own incorporated municipality, it was annexed by the City of Memphis in 1909. Perhaps one of the most architecturally significant landmarks in Lenox is Lenox School, an 1909 edifice built as an elementary school and converted into condominiums in 1981. In late 2005, one of its larger units was on the market for $329,000.
Medical District:
The Memphis Medical District is an area which was created to provide a central location for medical care, serving both Memphis and the Mid-South.
Relatively small in area, the district is located between downtown and midtown. The Medical District overlaps some of the area known as Crosstown.
Anchored by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the district is home to major hospitals, emergency rooms, physicians' offices, medical supply manufacturers and distributors, and medical laboratories. It will soon house the headquarters of BioMedical Works. Some of the Hospitals and Health Services in this district include LeBonheur Children's Medical Center, Regional Medical Center (The Med), Methodist University, Memphis Behavioral Health Center, and the VA Memphis. The Baptist School of Health Science, Methodist School of Nursing, University of Tennessee Health Sciences School, and Southwest TN Community College Health Sciences School (Which has Shelby County's Only Paramedic Program) are also based in this area.
Normal Station:
Normal Station is a neighborhood in East Memphis, Tennessee, anchored by the University of Memphis, formerly Memphis State University, and originally called West Tennessee State Normal School.
Earlier in the twentieth century, there was a train station for the Southern Railroad near what is now the intersection of Highland Street and Southern Avenue. By 1956, the train station in present-day Normal Station did not exist.
As was common in the outlying areas around Memphis, neighborhoods and small towns got their names from land owners, landmarks and railway stations. The custom is also seen today in areas such as Buntyn Station, White Station, and Bray Station, among many others.
Nutbush:
National and NutbushNutbush is a long-standing neighborhood in northeastern Memphis, Tennessee.
Even though Nutbush has expanded it remains a relatively small area with modestly sized houses.
It is bordered by the CSX railroad to the north; Graham Street to the east; Bayliss Street to the south, and New Highland Street to the west. Nutbush is adjacent to the city's Berclair neighborhood.
The Memphis National Cemetery is located in Nutbush, Memphis. On 44.2 acres (0.18 km2), the cemetery had 41,873 interments at the end of 2005.
Many of the dead from the steamboat Sultana explosion on April 26, 1865 were buried in Memphis National Cemetery
Orange Mound:
Orange Mound is a neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee and was the first African-American neighborhood in the United States to be built by African-Americans.
Built on the grounds of the former Deaderick plantation, the Orange Mound subdivision was developed as a neighborhood for African-Americans in the 1890's with affordable land and residences for the less wealthy.
Drugs and crime infected the neighborhood in the 1980s and 1990's. In the 2000's, revitalization efforts were started and show positive effects.
The neighborhood has a population of approximately 14,800, of which 11,700 are of African-American heritage.
History
Deaderick plantation - 1800's
Orange Mound stands on the site of the former John Deaderick plantation. Between 1825 and 1830, Deaderick (whose family donated the land in Nashville on which the Tennessee State Capitol was built) purchased 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and built a stately house there (at what is now the east side of Airways, between Carnes and Spottswood). In 1890, a developer named Elzey Eugene Meachem purchased land from the Deaderick family and began developing a subdivision for African-Americans, selling lots for less than $100. In the 1890's, a typical Orange Mound house was a small, narrow "shotgun"-style house.
Raleigh:
Raleigh is a neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee that borders the suburb of Bartlett and the semi-rural neighborhood of Frayser.
Situated along a high bluff on the Wolf River, Raleigh is one of the highest points in the Memphis area.
Mary Winslow Chapman published I Remember Raleigh, a highly personalized history and memoir about Raleigh and her family's historic home there, Goodwinslow. The book includes these vivid descriptions of the Wolf River in its natural state (pre-channelization):
To form any picture of [the river's environs] we must forget what we now see and imagine the Wolf as it was then, a clear, spring-fed stream slipping silently along through the endless forest, where the unbroken shade shielded it from the fierce Southern sunshine and kept it flowing fresh and cool all summer long....
The water was fresh and sweet, flowing out of the uncontaminated woods, but gradually this condition changed. As more and more land upstream was cultivated, more silt was washed into the river. After each rain it took longer for the stream to clear, and finally, with the establishment of the Penal Farm [today’s Shelby Farms] with all its disagreeable effluvia, swimming became impossible....
Gone now forever from this spot are the cane brake and the horses; the tall timber and the mysterious river, where hard by, on Austin Peay Bridge auto traffic streams triumphant, night and day in one unceasing roar, all oblivious of the life and history buried down below.
M. Winslow Chapman, I Remember Raleigh, 1977, Riverside Press, Memphis. Excerpts are displayed here with permission of the author's estate.
Formerly a separate city, Raleigh was the seat of Shelby County from 1827 to 1867, when Memphis regained that status. It was named in respect to Joseph Graham, the first circuit clerk of the county, who was from the Raleigh, North Carolina, area. Raleigh Cemetery in the heart of old Raleigh is home to many of the area's namesakes, such as Coleman, Burrow, Isaac Rawlings, the second mayor of Memphis, Isaac Shelby's relatives, the county's namesake, and Wilson Sanderlin. This cemetery has been in existence since the 1840's.
Today most commerce in the southern section of Raleigh comes from Covington Pike, a road which is almost exclusively designated for car dealerships, motorcycle dealerships, car garages, chop shops, and car modification shops. Northern Raleigh's commerce comes in large part from the Methodist Memorial Hospital, the Raleigh Springs Mall, Mike's Autoplex,and surrounding shopping centers.
Riverside:
Riverside, South Memphis is one of the oldest portions of South Memphis, Tennessee.
Sherwood Forest:
Sherwood Forest is a neighborhood in East Memphis, Memphis. It is located south of Normal Station, Memphis and east of Orange Mound. It's boundaries are: Park Ave. (North), Rhodes Ave. (South), Getwell Rd. (East), S. Highland St., Radford Rd., and S. Prescott St. (West)
Uptown Memphis:
Uptown Memphis is a neighborhood located near downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Pinch District are located in the general vicinity.
19th Century
Uptown was established in the 1840’s by the Greenlaw Brothers. Partners in the establishing of Uptown were Robert Looney, John and Isaac Saffarans and E.T. Keel. Streets were paved with cobblestone with granite curbs, and were lined with sycamore trees.
Prominent Memphis families built large stately homes in the area. By 1865, blue collar workers began to build smaller homes alongside these homes creating an economically diverse community. Ethnic diversity was the norm. Immigrants from Germany and Ireland moved into the area, as did Jewish immigrants from Europe. Because of this, the area now-know as Greenlaw attracted mostly Northeastern and Mid-Western families, giving the area its own distinctive culture.
In 1870, Greenlaw and Chelsea annexed into Memphis.
20th century:
The Mississippi River floods Greenlaw in 1912 and stops construction of big homes for the affluent.
In the 1920’s, Political power players begin to move out. Greenlaw begins to lose political muscle. The Government begins to bulldoze older mansions and in many cases leaves empty lots in the 1930's.
Phillip Belz begins industrial development in N. Memphis in the 1940's. The neighborhood begins to attract blue collar workers and African Americans. Bars, liquor stores and juke joints tarnish the family friendly atmospheres.
In an effort to attract more white residents, MHA builds an all white housing development called Hurt Village in the 1950's.
Racial tensions are at a high in the 1960's due to the sanitation strike and assassination of MLK. Most whites who live in Hurt Village leave the area. Since then, most businesses have closed as well as industries. Non-profit groups seek ways to assist the mainly African American residents left in the area.
21st century:
In 2000, Memphis is awarded the Hope VI grant for demolition of Hurt Village. Uptown is currently becoming a mixed community that is rich in culture and people.
Notable residents:
At one time, Elvis Presley lived in a small government housing project in this area which has since been renovated into a nicer apartment complex.
Whitehaven:
Whitehaven is a predominantly African-American community on the southwest side of Memphis, Tennessee, first organized in the late 19th century. Its current population is about 50,000.
Whitehaven is located on the southern part of Memphis, Tennessee. It is located in Shelby County and is roughly bounded by Brooks Road on the north and the Mississippi state line on the south, with the Canadian National railroad on the west and Airways Boulevard on the east.
The major traffic artery of the community is Highway 51, later known as Elvis Presley Boulevard. This roadway began as a toll "Plank Road" built between Memphis and Hernando, Mississippi, in 1852.
The community takes its name from a Colonel Francis White who was an early settler and major property owner. White was influential in getting a rail line to come through what was first called White's Station, later White Haven and then Whitehaven. (In East Memphis, there is another community historically called White's Station, along the Memphis & Charleston -- now Norfolk Southern -- Railroad. Currently, it is called White Station.) This "Tennessee and Mississippi Railroad" was chartered in 1853, and the first trains ran in 1856. The first "White Haven" post office was opened in 1871. The roads and train tracks connected the cotton farms of the delta to Memphis markets, establishing strong commercial links.
Some of the other founding family names are Raines, Hale, McCorkle, and Harbin. E. W. Hale moved to the area in the 1880's and opened a store near what is now Whitehaven High School on Highway 51. Hale's Store was a landmark for many decades.
In 1926, WREC radio began operations there, and in 1928 Whitehaven's Hoyt B. Wooten was one of the first six television licensees in America.
Much of the later residential and commercial development was done by Carrington Jones and Lacy Mosby in the mid 20th century to provide housing for "baby boom" families who moved from Memphis to a pleasant environment in the old community. This gradually transformed plantation tracts to neighborhoods in the late 40's and 50's.
Originally a farm community, Whitehaven was developed as a whites-only residential suburb of Memphis in the 1950s and early 1960's and annexed by the city of Memphis in 1969. Whitehaven was integrated in the late 1960s and white flight happened over next couple of decades.
Graceland:
Graceland Graceland Mansion Whitehaven's major tourist attractions are still Graceland mansion and the annual Elvis Week, attracting many thousands there annually to remember "The King" on the anniversary of his death on August 16, 1977.
During the two decades he lived in Whitehaven, Elvis spent as much time as possible at his home and was a beloved "neighbor" to residents there.
Elvis Presley bought his famous home, Graceland, in 1957; soon afterward the farmland surrounding the estate was subdivided into homesites.
Southland Mall:
For the next decade there was rapid development, with Whitehaven Plaza shopping center becoming the area's commercial center.
One of the first enclosed shopping malls in the country opened near Shelby Drive and Elvis Presley Blvd in 1966. Southland Mall was a destination for shoppers from all over the region, and the area prospered.
Wolfchase:
Wolfchase is a Memphis metropolitan area neighborhood located in Cordova. Its name is derived from its proximity to the Wolf River.
It is home to the largest shopping mall in the Memphis region, the Wolfchase Galleria, and huge shopping areas, as well as many restaurants.
Wolfchase Galleria is a regional shopping mall in east Memphis, Tennessee owned by Simon Malls. Also known as 'Wolfchase' and 'The Wolfchase Mall', it is located only a few blocks from the city limits of Bartlett, Tennessee at the intersection of Germantown Parkway and Interstate 40, and the mall's Macy's store has a Bartlett address. Wolfchase hosts dozens of fine retailers, a food court, carousel and a Malco theatre.
University District:
Map of the University District
The University District is an area east of Midtown Memphis that encompasses and includes The University of Memphis. Many faculty, staff, and even students of the University reside in this area. The district is comprised of several neighborhoods including the Normal Station Historic Neighborhood, the East Buntyn Historic Neighborhood, the Joffre Area Civic Neighborhood, and the Red Acres Neighborhood. Many of the homes in the University District were built in the early to mid 1900's and typically retain high monetary values.
Boundaries
The boundaries of the University District are so jagged that there is not a single street to the north, south, east, or west, that forms a border. For that reason, the districts boundaries are outlined in red in the image above.
Shelby County:
Shelby County is not just home to Memphis. On the contrary, there are quite a few neighborhoods, towns, and suburbs that sit outside the city limits.
Bartlett, TN:
Bartlett is well-kept town in the heart of Shelby County. Its numerous families and quality public schools make it a great place to raise a family.
Statistics:
Population: 42,500
Location:
Bartlett is located northeast of Memphis in the center of Shelby County. The city limits extend east to Lakeland, north to Pleasant Ridge Road, and northwest to Singleton Parkway.
Government:
Bartlett is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen system of government.
Schools:
Public schools in Bartlett are in the Shelby County School System. These schools include Altruria Elementary, Bartlett Elementary, Bon Lin Elementary, Ellendale Elementary, Kate Bond Elementary, Oak Elementary, Rivercrest Elementary, Appling Middle School, Elmore Park Middle School, Shadowlawn Middle School, Bartlett High School, and Bolton High School.
Places of Interest:
Side Porch Steak House 5689 Stage Road
Bartlett's oldest steakhouse, consistently voted best steak restaurant in town.
Gotten House 2969 Court Street
Home of the Bartlett Historical Society and Museum.
Freeman Park 2629 Bartlett Boulevard
100 acre park in the heart of Bartlett with tennis courts, ball fields, playground, and walking track.
History:
Originally called Union Depot, the city was incorporated in 1866 and renamed after Major Gabriel M. Bartlett, a planter whose home was located at the present location of Bartlett Station Plaza. In 1866, Bartlett had a population of 100. Since then, the town has experienced steady growth and development, even into the new millenium.
Collierville, TN:
Collierville is a charming little town southeast of Memphis. Its upscale shops and neatly manicured lawns reflect the pride of its residents. In addition, its rich history and welcoming southern hospitality make it a nice place to spend the afternoon.
Statistics:
Population: 43,022
Location:
Collierville is located in the southeast corner of Shelby County, approximately 30 miles from downtown Memphis. Collierville is 29 square miles in size with its current boundaries and 50 square miles including the reserve areas.
Government:
Collierville is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen system of government.
Schools:
Public schools in Collierville are part of the Shelby County School System. These schools include Bailey Station Elementary, Collierville Elementary, Crosswind Elementary, Sycamore Elementary, Tara Oaks Elementary, Collierville Middle School, Schilling Farms Middle School, Collierville High School, and Houston High School.
Places of Interest:
The Avenue Carriage Crossing 4674 Merchants Park Circle
A modern open-air mall featuring department stores, restaurants, and boutiques.
Biblical Resource Center and Museum 140 East Mulberry Street
A hands-on museum dedicated to illustrating the historical significance of the Bible.
History:
Originally, the settlement that would become Collierville was located on the present day Poplar Pike. In 1836, the town was founded by Jesse R. Collier when he sold lots on tracts of his land and dubbed it, "The Town of Collier."
Though Collierville was incorporated in 1850, the town was destroyed in Shelby County's worst battle of the Civil War. The town was burned to the ground, almost in its entirety.
In 1867, Harrison Irby and Virginus Leake bought approximately ninety acres of land which they divided and sold in lots. In 1870, Collierville was once again incorporated. It has continued to grow ever since.
Germantown, TN:
Germantown is an upscale community southeast of Memphis. It boasts the lowest crime rate of any city its size in the state and the highest per capita income in Shelby County.
Statistics:
Population: 40,203
Location:
Located in southeast Shelby County, Germantown is one of six suburban municipalities adjacent to Memphis. The distance from the Germantown Municipal Center to downtown Memphis is approximately 17 miles. Germantown is also part of the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area which contains more than one million people in five counties: Crittenden County, Arkansas; DeSoto County, Mississippi, and Fayette, Shelby and Tipton Counties in Tennessee.
System of Government:
Germantown is governed by a Mayor and Council form of government, and has elected to have a part-time mayor.
Schools:
Public Schools in Germantown are part of the Shelby County School System and include Dogwood Elementary, Farmington Elementary, Germantown Elementary, Riverdale Elementary, Germantown Middle School, Houston Middle School, Germantown High School, and Houston High School.
Places of Interest:
Wolf River Nature Area
The Wolf River Nature Area offers picnic areas, meadows, aquatic plant and animal displays, butterfly gardens, and more. It can be accessed from the Chick-Fil-A parking lot on Germantown Rd. and from two access points on Wolf River Blvd.
Fort Germantown
At Fort Germantown, cannon replicas mark the spot where Union troops built a fort guarding the Memphis and Charleston Railroad during the Civil War. The fort is located on Honey Tree Dr., off of Poplar Pike.
History:
Germantown was founded by settlers in 1825. By 1833, the growing community was known as Pea Ridge. The name was changed to Germantown in 1836, however, due to the town's growing German population. In 1841, the town was incorporated. From 1950 to 1999, Germantown's population grew from 400 to 40,000.
Millington, TN:
Millington is a military town located north of Memphis. It retains much of the charm and pace of a small town, but with the conveniences of being close to a larger city.
Statistics:
Population: 10,433
Location:
Millington is located approximately 17 miles from downtown Memphis in northern Shelby County. It is just south of the Tipton County border.
System of Government:
Millington is governed by a Mayor and Aldermen system of government.
Schools:
Public schools in Millington are in the Shelby County School System. These schools include E.A. Harrold Elementary, Jeter Elementary, Lucy Elementary, Millington East Elementary, Millington Middle, Woodstock Middle, and Millington Central High.
Places of Interest:
USA Stadium 4351 Babe Howard Boulevard
Former USA Olympic Baseball Training Site
Memphis Motorsports Park 5500 Victory Lane
Home of the NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series
History:
In 1878, Mr. and Mrs. George Millington donated a large area of land to a group of settlers for the purpose of starting a town. The town, named after the couple, was incorporated in 1903. In 1941, Millington became home of the world's largest inland Navy base.
AutoZone ParkAutoZone Park is a minor league baseball stadium located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee and the home of the Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League, the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. It cost over $80 million, by far the most ever spent on a structure dedicated to minor league baseball. It has a seating capacity of 12,512, and has been aptly described as "one-third" of a major league baseball park. It was built to "big-league" standards, the primary difference being the absence of outfield seats or seats far down the foul lines, and could perhaps be better described as a "major league stadium with only the 'good' seats". It opened in 2000 and replaced Tim McCarver Stadium. The stadium also hosts some games for the University of Memphis baseball team, most notably, the annual game with Ole Miss. Naming rights are held by the auto parts chain AutoZone, which is based in Memphis.
Unlike other cities, Memphis does not have to worry about its team threatening to move elsewhere. The Redbirds, in a situation almost unique in American pro sports, are owned by a non-profit community foundation, titled the Memphis Redbirds Foundation. The Green Bay Packers of the NFL have a similar ownership structure.
A panoramic view of the field and stands inside AutoZone Park
In October of 2005, AutoZone Park became the first venue outside of New Orleans to host the Voodoo Music Experience. One day of this music festival was moved to Memphis due to Hurricane Katrina.
On December 4, 2006, at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, MLB announced that an exhibition game to be called the Civil Rights Game would be held annually at AutoZone Park, with the first game on March 31, 2007. The game featured the Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians, with the Cardinals winning 5-1. The second game was played on March 29, 2008, between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets. The Mets Defeated the White Sox 3-2.
The Burkle Estate is a historic home at 826 North Second Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It is also known as the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum or the Slavehaven/Burkle Estate. The house was constructed in 1849 by a German immigrant by the name of Jacob Burkle and is believed to have served as a way station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves.
Publicly, Mr. Burkle was a livestock trader and a baker. However, privately he was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Many believe his home was the last stop in a series of Memphis homes connected by underground tunnels. The house included a small cellar entered through a trap door where slaves apparently waited to escape. The cellar connected to a tunnel leading to the Mississippi River. Slaves could then get on boats to take them upriver to other way stations in the free states north of the Ohio River.
Although the role of the home as a part of the underground railroad is still subject to debate, the house opened as a museum in 1997 and tours of the one-story, white clapboard house are available. The house is decorated with 19th-century furnishings and artifacts and served as part of the overall civil rights heritage of Memphis.
Davies Manor SketchDavies Manor is the oldest home in Shelby County, Tennessee and possibly West Tennessee. It is a two-story, log and chink home made using white oak logs that is on what was once a plantation.
The original maker of the Davies Manor is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Native American Between 1831 and 1837, Joel W. Royster expanded the house from one room to two stories. A locater's deed shows the purchase of land by William E. Davies, but the 1850 census lists Davies living with his family in Fayette County. What most likely happened is that his sons, Logan Early Davies (age 14) and James Baxter Davies (age 12) came to and from Fayette County on Stage Road (now part of Highway 64) to oversee the plantation. In 1851, Logan and James bought the land with the house on it from Royster and adjoined the land so Davies Plantations was approximately 2,000 acres (8.1 km²)
William Early Davies was the father of Logan and James Davies. He was a Methodist minister and grist mill operator. On November 11, 1824, Logan was born in Maury County, Tennessee. James was then born on June 9, 1826.
In 1854, James Baxter Davies (age 28) was married to Penelope Almeda Little (age 21). One year later in 1855 Julius Augustus Davies was born and then in 1857, William Little Davies was born. In 1859, Penelope died at the age of 26 and after five years of marriage. Logan Early Davies (age 36) married Frances Ina Davies (age 19) in 1860. A year later, Gillie Mertis Davies was born December 25, 1861. Two years after that, In 1863, Linnie Lee Davies was born. In 1865, Frances Ina Davies died at the age of 24 after five years of marriage.
James Davies served in the 38th Tennessee Infantry from March 5, 1862 to May 1865. He then married Pauline Leake. They divorced after two years. On June 17, 1904 James Baxter Davies died; leaving 596 acres (2.41 km²), including Davies Manor, to his sons, Dr. Julius Augustus and Dr. William Little Davies (both bachelors).
Twenty years later, on December 21, 1924, Dr. Julius Augustus Davies died, leaving one-half undivided interest in Davies Manor to his brother, Dr. William Little Davies. Seven years after that Dr. William Little Davies died; leaving 596 acres (2.41 km²), including Davies Manor, to his cousin, Ellen Davies-Rodgers who donated the house to the Davies Manor Association in 1976
Accolades
* 1975 - The Manor house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
* 1976 - A Century Farm Certificate was awarded by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, recognizing that the same family owned and operated the land as a farm for one hundred years or more.
* 1998 - Davies Manor received a Certificate of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission for "having made significant contributions to the preservation of the historical and architectural history of Tennessee."
* May 1998 - Davies Manor was certified by the National Wildlife Federation. The Plantation area is an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat "providing the four basic habitat elements needed for wildlife to thrive: food, water, cover, and places to raise young."
* Davies Manor has received the Memphis Heritage Anna Stoner Award for preservation of a rural environment in an urban setting.
With the signing of the Chickasaw Treaty on October 19, 1818, West Tennessee was opened to white settlers. The Tennessee General Assembly created Shelby County on November 24, 1819.
September 5, 1821, Thomas Henderson was granted 640 acres for his service in the American Revolution (Military Warrant #767).
August 14, 1830, Thomas Henderson sold the eastern half of his land (320 acres) to Emmanuel Young.
Emmanuel Young defaulted on his taxes, therefore Joel Royster, a tax collector, purchased the land on January 6, 1831.
The first mention of the Davies family in the Shelby County area is in 1838; a locator’s deed showing the purchase of land by William E. Davies. However, the 1850 census of lists William E. Davies as living with his family in Fayette County. His sons, Logan Early (age 14)and James Baxter (age 12) Davies, probably came back and forth on the Stage Road to oversee this farm, but lived with their father in Fayette County. In 1851, Logan and James bought the acreage with the log house from Joel W. Royster (who was moving his family into a plank house). Adjoining acreage was purchased in the following years and Davies Plantation eventually totaled approximately 2,000 acres.
Home Photo's
Kitchen
Living Room
Bedroom
Dogtrot
Davies Manor PlantationLocated at Brunswick, Davies Manor is recognized as the oldest extant dwelling in Shelby County and perhaps West Tennessee. The west section of the two-story, white oak log, central hall plan house dates to circa 1807 and has been attributed to an unknown Native American owner and builder. A mound probably dating to the Middle Woodland Period is directly adjacent to the dwelling.
In 1831 Joel W. Royster enlarged the house into a fashionable two-story, three-bay farmhouse. The house became known as Davies Manor sometime after its acquisition by Logan E. Davies in 1851. Logan and his brother James B. Davies eventually operated a plantation of two thousand acres which was especially noted for its production of Berkshire swine.
Davies Manor is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was included in the 1976 and 1986 surveys of Tennessee Century Farms. In 1976 Ellen Davies-Rogers donated the house to the Davies Manor Association, which operates it as a historic house museum of antebellum life in Shelby County.
Memphis TrolleyThe MATA Trolley is a heritage railroad streetcar system operating in Memphis in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It has operated since April 29, 1993.
As of 2008, the system consists of three lines: the Main Street Trolley, the Madison Avenue Loop and the Riverfront Loop. These lines are operated by the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), and were put into operation over fifty years after Memphis’ original streetcar network was dismantled in the 1940's.
Originally proposed as a 4.9 mile line stretching along the Mississippi River, in January 1990 the Memphis City Council voted 9-4 to build the 2.5 miles (4.0 km), $33 million Main Street route. After multiple delays, construction of the line would commence in February 1991 and be complete by December 1992. However, due to the restoration of the cars taking longer than anticipated, the opening of the line would be pushed back to Spring 1993. After delay, the first of the restored cars began its testing on March 10, 1993, and open to the public on April 29.
Memphis TrolleyThe trolleys used are almost all rehabilitated, vintage streetcars. The original three cars that were in operation on opening day were all formally used in Porto, Portugal, and are Car 187, circa 1927; Car 194, circa 1935; and Car 204, circa 1940. These cars are each 30 feet 6 inches (9.3 m) long, 7 feet 10 inches (2.4 m) wide and weigh 25,820 pounds (11.71 MT) without passengers. Each were restored by Kerns-Wilcheck Associates of Memphis. There is also one replica Birney Safety Car manufactured by Gomaco Trolley Corp. These are the same cars seen in the TECO line streetcar system in Tampa, FL.
An additional seven cars originally from Porto were restored and placed into service along with another three from Melbourne,Australia (reconditioned by Gomaco Trolley, Corp.)by the mid-1990's. With the Melbourne cars running in 2004.
The Memphis Suspension RailwayThe Memphis Suspension Railway or Mud Island Monorail is a suspended monorail that connects the city center of Memphis with the entertainment park on Mud Island. Celebrating its grand opening on July 3, 1982, it is located beneath a footbridge over the Wolf River Lagoon connecting to the southern tip of Mud Island.
The system consists of two suspended cars constructed in Switzerland, delivered in summer 1981. The 1,700 ft (518 m) long bridge opened to pedestrians on June 29, 1981; however, the suspended monorail would not be operational until July 1982. The cars are driven by a 3,500 ft (1,067 m) long, external cable instead of by internal motors. The two cars simultaneously shuttle back and forth on parallel tracks between the Front Street Terminal on the downtown side and the Mud Island Terminal. Each car has a maximum capacity of 180 passengers and travels at a speed of 7 mph (11.3 km/h).
At the time of its construction, both the U.S. Coast Guard stated that the proposed bridge would have to have the same clearance as the Hernando de Soto Bridge, as it was deemed it was spanning a commercially used public waterway. This resulted in the bridge being constructed at its current elevation.
Libertyland EntranceLibertyland was Memphis, Tennessee's only amusement park. Opened on July 4, 1976, it was located at 940 Early Maxwell Blvd. It was structured under the nonprofit 501(c)4 US tax code. The park closed due to financial reasons in 2005. This park has been closed and everything that was part of the park has been removed. The Zippin Pippin was sold and moved to Ohio.
The RevolutionLibertyland opened as an amusement park on the Mid-South Fairgrounds on July 4, 1976. Before then, the fair had operated on the land, including the Zippin Pippin and the carousel. The city of Memphis decided it was time for an amusement park for the city. The park opened in 1976 with several rides, including the pre-existing rides that had operated in that place before. The Zippin Pippin was widely popular as it was Elvis' favorite wooden roller coaster. The Denztel Carousel was also a classic and was widely appreciated. The park gradually drew in decent crowds over the years, but never made a great profit. The park continued to add attractions, such as a steel coaster called the Revolution, and others. During the late 1990's, the park added a topsin ride, dubbed "Tidal Wave". The ride was removed later, and in April 2002, the drop tower Rebellion was added. The ride featured a 90 foot drop and drew larger crowds to the park.
Zippin PippinThe Zippin Pippin, formerly called the Pippin, is one of the oldest existing wooden roller coasters in the United States. It was initially constructed in the former East End Park in Memphis, Tennessee in 1912 by John A. Miller and Harry Baker of National Amusement Devices. The construction material was pine wood. As the park declined in popularity, the coaster was dismantled and relocated adjacent to the horsetrack in Montgomery Park, now known as the Mid-South Fairgrounds.
According to a 4/27/1993 Commercial Appeal(CA) article, the Zippin Pippin was built in 1912 in East End Park but, a 1/8/33 CA article claims that East End, "had charge of the 'Figure Eight,' predecessor of the Fairgrounds, 'Pippin.'" A 4/17/1966 CA article claims the coaster was built in 1915 and another, (CA 12/26/1974) dates construction in 1917. The Zippin Pippin is recorded to have been rebuilt once, "higher and longer," after severe damage from a tornado in April of 1928 (CA 4/27/1928). The reconstruction was completed by July of the same year at a cost of $45,000 (CA 7/3/2003).
In the 1970's, the city of Memphis made plans to build a theme park around the Pippin and the Grand Carousel, also on the grounds. Called Libertyland, the park opened in 1976. Renamed the Zippin Pippin, the coaster was billed as the most prominent and historic ride at Libertyland, and was reportedly Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster. Elvis would rent the entire park on occasion just to ride it without constant fan interference. Just a week before his death, Elvis rented the park from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. to entertain a small number of guests and he rode the Zippin Pippin for hours without stopping. On October 29, 2005, citing persistent loss of money, Libertyland closed its gates for good.
David Troedson at the Zippin PippenThe Zippin Pippin currently stands without operating in the Libertyland Amusement Park at the Mid-South Fairgrounds (a 125-acre (0.51 km2) tract of land purchased in 1912 and "Dedicated to the Citizens of Memphis for recreation, athletic fields, fairs." This public land is slowly being sold off to private developers because the Memphis Parks Commission has no interest in managing the parks of Memphis.)(The Zippin Pippin was sold by the City Of Memphis to a park in Ohio when Liberty Land was closed.
Elvis Presley riding the Zippin Pippin July 11,1960The Libertyland website stated: "One of the oldest operating wooden roller coasters in North America, the Zippin Pippin is as popular today as it was in the early 20th century. It is 2,865 feet (873 m) long, travels 20.8 mph (33.5 km/h), increasing to 40 mph (64 km/h) at the maximum drop of 70 feet (21 m). Ride duration is 90 seconds. Great care is taken to replace its wood regularly to preserve its structure. Manufacturer is Amusement Device Co."
Lichterman Nature CenterLichterman Nature Center is a certified arboretum located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 5992 Qunice Road. The nature center contains a wide variety of attractions including a wide variety of plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. The nature center places an emphasis on nature related education, including hands-on explorations, microscopic discoveries, a forest boardwalk three stories high, and an underwater viewing area.
Have you visited Lichterman Nature Center? Located in the heart of metropolitan Memphis, the Center features exciting new exhibits, lush gardens featuring native wildflowers and trees, and a tradition of excellence in environmental education set in the midst of 65 acres of lake, meadow, and forest. Home to a wide variety of plants, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, Lichterman is an urban nature center, easily accessible to the people who need it the most, the people who live in the city.
A certified arboretum, Lichterman has the convenience of extensive handicap accessible indoor and outdoor facilities for use during all types of weather. The Backyard Wildlife Center features live animals, hands-on explorations, microscopic discoveries, a forest boardwalk three stories high, underwater viewing area and much more! The Visitor Center provides visitors with exhibits focusing on the theme of metamorphosis and change as revealed by the site's main three habitats (lake, meadow and forest). Three miles of accessible trails wind and loop through representative Midsouth habitats punctuated by conveniently located rest stops.
Visitors can enjoy nature walks, wildlife programs, plant sales, festivals and many other entertaining activities designed to expose and build connections between the participants and the natural world.
Meeman-Shelby Park, Scenic ViewMeeman-Shelby Forest State Park is a state park in Shelby County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The park borders the Mississippi River and contains two lakes— Poplar Tree Lake and Lake Piersol. The Meeman Museum and Nature Center— named for conservationist Edward J. Meeman— is located on the park's grounds.
The unincorporated community, Sheby Forest, is adjacent to the park.
Bordering on the mighty Mississippi River, two-thirds of this 13,467-acre park are bottomland hardwood forests of large oak, cypress and tupelo. The park also contains two lakes and many miles of hiking trails. The Meeman Museum and Nature Center is named for Edward J. Meeman, courageous conservation editor of Scripps-Howard newspapers who helped establish this park and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park maintains a boat ramp on the Mississippi River. Deer, turkey, beaver and some 200 species of birds are abundant.
Biking
There is a 5-mile paved bicycle trail at the park. Many cyclists use the park roads for extended riding.
Boating
There are two fishing lakes on the park, Poplar Tree Lake and Piersol Lake. Year-round fishing is available on 125-acre Poplar Tree Lake. Some outstanding largemouth bass have been taken from this picturesque lake. Other species include bream and catfish. Rental jonboats are available at the park boat dock, but many enjoy fishing from the pier or bank. Personally owned boats with electric motors are allowed on the lake for a small launch fee, but no gasoline motors are allowed.
Special fishing permit required-can be obtained from park office
Free launch ramp available on Mississippi River
A park fishing permit is required for anglers between the ages of 16 and 62.
Tennessee Boating Regulations (exit TDEC)
Cabins
Meeman Shelby has six two-bedroom vacation cabins situated along the shore of Poplar Tree Lake in a heavily wooded section of the park. These cabins are completely equipped for housekeeping and food preparation. Linens are provided. They are ideal for family vacations or fishing parties and sleep up to six people in each. Reservations should be made in advance through the visitor center.
Cabins can accommodate six people, and are equipped with a VCR, television and linens. Kitchens are fully equipped, there is a fireplace and wood is furnished during the winter months. There is a double bed and two twin beds in each cabin along with two roll-out beds.
Cabins can be reserved up to one year in advance and are usually booked up to three weeks in advance. Cabin is available to accommodate pets for an additional charge. Contact the park for details. To make reservations: 800-471-5293
Cabins available that are accessible to persons with a disability
Camping
The park campground provides 49 campsites equipped with table, grill, electrical and water hookups. A modern bathhouse provides hot showers. There is a dump station for self-contained trailer rigs. Sites are available on a first-come, first served basis, however reservations may be made well in advance through the visitor center. Maximum stay limit is two weeks.
Reservations may be made for campsites and are recommended during major holidays Call to reserve: 1-901-876-5215
Events
2008 Calendar of Programs and Events
Fishing
There are two fishing lakes on the park, Poplar Tree Lake and Piersol Lake. Year-round fishing is available on 125-acre Poplar Tree Lake. Some outstanding largemouth bass have been taken from this picturesque lake. Other species include bream and catfish. Rental jonboats are available at the park boat dock, but many enjoy fishing from the pier or bank. Personally owned boats with electric motors are allowed on the lake for a small launch fee, but no gasoline motors are allowed.
Special fishing permit required-can be obtained from park office.
Free launch ramp available on Mississippi River
A park fishing permit is required for anglers between the ages of 16 and 62.
Tennessee Fishing Regulations (exit TDEC)
Tennessee State Parks fishing policies
Group Camping
There are two group camps at Meeman Shelby. The groups camps are available to youth groups and can accommodate up to 140 (Piersol Group Camp) and 100 (Mississippi River Group Camp) persons. They consist of a large dining hall fully equipped for food preparation and serving, clusters of group cabins, bathhouses and one with a swimming pool. Campers need only provide linens, food, medical and sanitary supplies and staff. At Piersol Group Camp, bathroom facilities are attached to the bunkhouse and there are 4 showers. At the Mississippi River Group Camp, there are separate showers and restrooms.
Group camps are available from April through October, the camps are rented by the week only during the summer months, and on week-ends at other times. Reservations should be made well in advance through the visitor center.
Reservations may be made for campsites and are recommended during major holidays
Hiking
Trails open year round
More than 20 miles of hiking trails meander throughout the park. Some are located in the Mississippi River bottoms and are off limits during managed hunts. Bicycle trail accessible to persons with a disability
Picnic Facilities
There are 300 picnic tables and grills scattered throughout the park. Each is conveniently located near restrooms, water fountains and playgrounds. Several picnic shelters are available for rent for large family and other group gatherings. 7 picnic pavilions available
The recreation lodge facility is an air conditioned building with chairs and tables that can accommodate up to 100 people.
Swimming
The pool opens Memorial Day weekend and closes mid-August. Contact the park for exact closing dates as they vary season to season.
Nature Center
Nature Center Hours:
March-May: Saturday & Sunday 1pm-5pm
May-October: Friday, Saturday, & Sunday 1pm-5pm
October-March: Sunday 1pm-5pm
Exhibits include live snakes, fish aquarium, stuffed animal exhibit, a touch table and a Native American exhibit.
Special programs at the center include live birds of prey and reptile programs, making bird feeders, homemade ice cream, nature videos, deep swamp canoe trips and pontoon boat rides.
Tour buses are welcome.
Crystal Shrine GrottoMemorial Park Cemetery was founded in 1924 by E. Clovis Hinds on initial 54 acres (.22 km2). It is located at 5668 Poplar Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee
Different species of trees of different ages, as well as bushes, can be found throughout the cemetery, enhancing the atmoshere of a park-like setting.
The cemetery is noted for its Crystal Shrine Grotto, a hand-built cave depicting Biblical scenes built by artist Dionicio Rodriguez.
Crystal Shrine Grotto PondIn 1935 Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriguez was hired to beautify the park with sculptures. Annie Laurie’s Wishing Chair, Broken Tree Bench, Abrahams Oak, Pool of Hebron and Cave of Machpelah are some of the most important sculptures that can be found in different locations throughout the cemetery.
In 1938 construction of the Crystal Shrine Grotto begins. The grotto is a 60 ft (18.3 m) deep, hand-built cave in a hillside near the center of the cemetery, filled with 5 tons (4.5 t) of quartz crystal, hence the name Crystal Shrine Grotto. The grotto was completed after Rodriguez' death in 1955. The shrines in the grotto illustrate the stages of "Christ's Journey on the Earth from Birth to Resurrection".
Since 1991, the Crystal Shrine Grotto is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for Tennessee.
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The Memphis Cotton ExchangeThe Memphis Cotton Exchange is located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on the corner of Front Street and Union Avenue. It was founded in 1874 as a result of the growing cotton market in Memphis. Cotton merchants of the time became aware of the need for a trade organization to regulate cotton marketing in the city. They were also aware of the many benefits reaped by the New York Cotton Exchange and the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. Once established, the exchange produced rules and regulation on cotton trading and set standards for buying and pricing cotton in Memphis and the Mid-South.
Cotton trading was done on the first floor and only members of the exchange were allowed to trade there. In 1978 the trading floor was closed in favor of computer trading. The historic floor has since then been remodeled and is now home to The Cotton Museum and is used to educate the public about the industry and agriculture of cotton that helped build the city of Memphis in its early years.
Memphis International AirportMemphis International Airport (IATA: MEM, ICAO: KMEM, FAA LID: MEM) is a public airport located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Memphis, a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is owned and operated by the Memphis - Shelby County Airport Authority.
Memphis International Airport is home to FedEx Express's global "SuperHub," which processes a significant portion of the freight carrier's packages. Nonstop FedEx destinations from Memphis include scores of cities across the continental U.S., plus Anchorage and Honolulu, as well as numerous Canadian, Mexican, and Caribbean cities. Intercontinental nonstops include Paris, London, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo.
Concourse BBecause of FedEx's hub, as well as the presence of United Parcel Service's third-largest sorting facility, Memphis since 1993 has had the largest cargo operations by volume of any airport worldwide.
Northwest Airlines operates its third-largest passenger hub in Memphis, with routes to destinations throughout North America, as well as a daily nonstop flight to Amsterdam.
Memphis Airport 1962
The Mighty Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of 2,340 miles (3,770 km) from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. The longest river, a Mississippi tributary, is the Missouri River measuring 2,540 miles (4,090 km).
The Mississippi River is part of the Jefferson-Missouri-Mississippi river system, which is the largest river system in North America and among the largest in the world: by length (3,900 miles (6,300 km)), it is the fourth longest, and by its average discharge of 572,000 cu ft/s (16,200 m³/s), it is the tenth largest river.
The name Mississippi is derived from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi ("Great River") or gichi-ziibi ("Big River") at its headwaters.
The Missouri River flows from the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin to the Mississippi River. Taken together, the Jefferson, the Missouri, and the Mississippi form the longest river system in North America. If measured from the source of the Jefferson at Brower's Spring, to the Gulf of Mexico, the length of the Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson combination is approximately 3,900 miles (6,300 km), making the combination the 4th longest river in the world. The uppermost 207 miles (333 km) of this combined river are called the Jefferson, the lowest 1,352 miles (2,176 km) are part of the Mississippi, and the intervening 2,341 miles (3,767 km) are called the Missouri.
The Arkansas River is the second longest tributary of the Mississippi River. Measured by water volume, the largest of all Mississippi tributaries is the Ohio River.
The widest point of the Mississippi River is Lake Winnibigoshish, near Grand Rapids, Minnesota at over 7 miles (11 km) across. Also of note is Lake Onalaska, near La Crosse, Wisconsin, where the river is over 4 miles (6.4 km) wide (created by Lock and Dam No. 7) and Lake Pepin at more than two miles (3 km) wide. However, these areas are lakes or reservoirs rather than free flowing water. In areas where the Mississippi is a flowing river, it exceeds one mile (1.6 km) in width in several places in its lower course.
The Mississippi River runs through 10 states and was used to define portions of these states' borders. The middle of the riverbed at the time the borders were established was the line to define the borders between states. The river has since shifted, but the state borders of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi have not changed; they still follow the former bed of the Mississippi River as of their establishment.
The river is divided into the upper Mississippi, from its source south to the Ohio River, and the lower Mississippi, from the Ohio to its mouth near New Orleans, Louisiana.
The National Ornamental Metal MuseumThe National Ornamental Metal Museum is a museum in Memphis, Tennessee for the collection, preservation, and exhibition of historical and contemporary metalwork. The museum is housed in a 1930's brick building on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River that was formerly used as a U.S. Marine Hospital.
The museum has over 3000 items in its permanent collection, and also hosts travelling exhibitions. There is also a working smithy and foundry on site. In addition to displaying metalwork inside the museum they also offer hands-on classes in the museums workshops.
Memphis Orpheum HistoricThe Orpheum in Memphis, Tennessee, built in 1928, is one of the few remaining "movie palaces" of the 1920's. The theatre presents a variety of events from Broadway shows and concerts to films. A $4.7 million dollar renovation in the 1980's included refurbishing of ornamental plasterwork, crystal chandeliers and original furnishings plus remodeling of backstage and technical areas. It seats 2,500.
The Orpheum Theatre has survived several financial bankruptcies, a devastating fire, the decay of downtown Memphis and the threat of demolition for the construction of an office complex. However, the Orpheum, called the "South's Finest Theatre" rose above all this and now is a premiere performing arts center for the Mid-South.
In 1890 The Grand Opera House was built on the corner of Main and Beale Street. The Grand was billed as the classiest theatre outside of New York City. Vaudeville was the main source of entertainment at the time. The Grand became part of the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit in 1907, and was renamed the Orpheum Theatre.
Vaudeville at the Orpheum was successful for almost two decades. Then in 1923 a fire broke out during a show that featured a strip-tease artist by the name of Blossom Seeley and burned the theatre to the ground.
Building a new Orpheum
In 1928, at a cost of $1.6 million, a new Orpheum was built on the original site of The Grand, but it was a different theater. The new Orpheum is twice as large as her predecessor and is beautifully decorated. A few decorations include lavish tasseled brocade draperies, enormous crystal chandeliers, gilded moldings and a large Wurlitzer pipe organ. The Orpheum was purchased by the Malco movie theater chain in 1940 and presented first run movies.
The Haunted Theater
Shortly after the Orpheum reopened, people claimed to see the ghost of a young girl, who has been named "Mary". She supposedly died in an automobile accident near the theater in 1921. People claim to have spotted her in seat C-5, and claim to have heard her giggling, playing the organ, opening and closing doors, and engaging in other mischief.There was also reported blood found in the seat.
Renovation
In 1976, Malco decided to sell the building, and there was talk of demolishing the old theater to build an office complex. However, in 1977 the Memphis Development Foundation purchased The Orpheum and began bringing Broadway productions and concerts back to the theatre.
After 54 years, The Orpheum was closed on Christmas in 1982 to begin a $5 million renovation to restore The Theatre to its 1928 opulence. A grand reopening celebration was held in January of 1984, and it signaled the rebirth of entertainment in downtown Memphis.
The Orpheum, which is managed by the Memphis Development Foundation, presents two seasons of Broadway tours. In fact, on an average annual basis, The Orpheum has presented more Broadway touring productions than any other theater in the country.
In addition to bringing the finest Broadway Productions to the area, a wide array of entertainers have graced the Orpheum's stage, including actor Cary Grant, musicians Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Kenny G, Patti LaBelle, figure skater Dorothy Hamill and the Vienna Choir Boys.
Two of Memphis' local arts groups, Ballet Memphis and Opera Memphis, also call The Orpheum home.
The Orpheum Theatre, a non-profit organization, continues to flourish because of the generous support of the community.
1925 The Peabody Hotel The Peabody Hotel is a famous hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
The original Peabody Hotel was built by Robert Campbell Brinkley in 1869. Before it opened, Brinkley found out about the death of George Peabody. Out of respect for Peabody, who contributed much to the South, he named his new hotel "The Peabody".
This incarnation of the Peabody Hotel, located at the corner of Main and Monroe streets, was highly successful, but eventually closed in 1923. The current Peabody Hotel building, on Union Avenue, was built in 1925 to replace the original. Designed by Chicago architect Walter W. Ahlschlager, the Italian Renaissance building holds historical and cultural significance; it has been said that the Mississippi Delta "begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel (in Memphis) and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg".
Prior to the mid-1960's, alcoholic beverages were sold in Tennessee only as sealed bottles in licensed liquor stores. The Hotel Peabody had a bar, The Creel, for its patrons on those days. Patrons would bring a bottle, acquired elsewhere, into The Creel, and the bartender would tag the bottle for later retrieval. The bartender would then mix drinks from the patron's bottle on request.
The Peabody again closed in the early 1970's, generally a era of urban blight for many American cities. The Jack Belz family purchased the hotel from the county in 1975 for $400,000 and spent the next several years and $25,000,000 renovating the landmark structure. The grand reopening in 1981 is widely considered in Memphis as a major stimulus and inspiration for the downtown revitalization that followed and still continues.
Similar Peabody Hotels are operated by the Peabody Hotel Group in Little Rock, Arkansas and Orlando, Florida. The Peabody Hotel Group Brand Management Division owns and operates properties under different brand names in Massachusetts, Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas.
The Peabody Hotel in Memphis is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Peabody Ducks
Inside the Peabody
The Peabody is probably best known around the world for a custom dating back to the 1930's. The General Manager of the time, Frank Schutt, had just returned from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. He and his friends found it amusing to leave their live decoy ducks in the hotel fountain. The guests loved the idea, and since then, ducks have played in the fountain every day.
In 1940, a Bellman by the name of Edward Pembroke volunteered to care for the ducks. Pembroke was given the position of "Duckmaster" and served in that position until 1991. As a former circus animal trainer, he taught the ducks to march into the hotel lobby, which started the famous Peabody Duck March. Every day at 11:00 a.m., the Peabody Ducks are escorted from their penthouse home, on the Plantation Roof, to the lobby via elevator. The ducks, accompanied by the King Cotton March by John Phillip Sousa, then proceed across a red carpet to the hotel fountain, made of a solid block of Italian travertine marble. The ducks are then ceremoniously led back to their penthouse at 5:00 p.m.
Over the years, The Peabody Ducks have gained celebrity status with television appearances (along with their Duckmaster) on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Sesame Street, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. They have also appeared in People magazine.
The position of "Duckmaster" at the Peabody Memphis is one of only three such positions in the world, the other two being the Duckmasters in the Orlando and Little Rock Peabody Hotels. Celebrities have also assumed the role of Assistant Duckmaster from time to time, including Paula Deen, Joan Collins, Molly Ringwald, Kevin Bacon, Emeril Lagasse, Patrick Swayze, Queen Noor of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and Gayle King.
Design features
The Peabody Hotel's most recognizable features are large red neon "The Peabody" signs atop the Skyway Ballroom and the central elevator shaft.
The top floor, the Skyway, contains a lounge/bar area, ballroom, and Plantation Roof, which offers stunning views of the surrounding Memphis skyscrapers. The rooftop is often used as a space for bands and other musical acts, especially during the Thursday night "Rooftop Parties" in the summer months.
In the elevators, to access the top floor, one must press "S". If this floor was numbered, one would press "13" to reach it, but due to superstitions regarding the number thirteen, management decided to call the top floor "the Skyway."
The Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of The Peabody Hotel and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg. The Peabody is the Paris Ritz, the Cairo Shepherd's, the London Savoy of this section. If you stand near its fountain in the middle of the lobby... ultimately you will see everybody who is anybody in the Delta..."
-- Author/Historian David Cohn, 1935.
The Peabody Hotel is a Mid-South institution, its name considered synonymous with Southern hospitality and Delta style. The 13-story hotel is an excellent example of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture and is Memphis' only historic hotel.
The original Peabody was built by Colonel Robert C. Brinkley in 1869. Just prior to its opening, Brinkley received news of the death of his good friend, philanthropist George Peabody. As a sign of respect for Peabody, who endowed George Peabody College in Nashville and contributed much to the disadvantaged South, the new hotel was named The Peabody.
1925 The Continental Ballroom
1925 LobbyThe original hotel was built at the corner of Main and Monroe in downtown Memphis and was considered one of the finest in the South. It had 75 rooms with private baths, a ballroom, saloon and lobby. It cost $3 to $4 a day for a room and meals, extra for a fire or gas light.
Colonel Brinkley gave The Peabody to his daughter, Anne Overton Brinkley, as a wedding gift when she married Robert Bogardus Snowden near the end of 1869. For 96 years, the Snowden heirs would be connected directly or indirectly with the affairs of the hotel.
Lavish balls were held at The Peabody. It was the place to see and be seen. The original Peabody was host to such notables as Presidents Andrew Johnson and William McKinley and Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jubal Early. Plantation owners, professional gamblers and movie stars frequented The Peabody.
The Peabody continued to enjoy success until it closed in 1923. In 1925, a $5 million Peabody, designed by architect Walter Ahlschlager, opened at its present downtown Memphis location on Union Avenue. At this point, ownership had passed into the hands of the Memphis Hotel Company, controlled by R. Brinkley Snowden, great-grandson of the original builder.
In the 1930's, General Manager Frank Schutt began a Peabody tradition that continues today. Returning from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas, Schutt and his friends thought it would be humorous to leave some of their live duck decoys, which were legal at the time, in the beautiful Peabody fountain. Three small English call ducks were placed in the fountain, to the delight of hotel guests. Since then, ducks have been in the fountain every day. In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, formerly a circus animal trainer, volunteered to care for the ducks and taught them to march into the Lobby – initiating the famous Peabody Duck March. The late Mr. Pembroke was named Duckmaster and served in that position until 1991. The Peabody Duck March has become a tradition that has made the hotel famous.
The Peabody played a role in the musical history of Memphis as well. Blues musicians like Furry Lewis, Frank Stokes and Tommy Johnson all made their first recordings in rooms at the Peabody in the late '20's and early '30's, playing for talent scouts from big record labels like Vocalion and Paramount. One of just three national live radio broadcast sites during the 1930s and 40's, the Skyway and adjoining Plantation Roof of The Peabody were the undisputed attractions for big band dancers. Entertainers such as Tommy Dorsey, Paul Whiteman, Harry James and Smith Ballew appeared regularly in the Skyway.
The Peabody became the hub of Mid-South social and business activities. In addition to guest rooms and apartments, the hotel offered space for 40 shops and offices, including the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Civilian Clubs. Cotton was "King," and Memphians were in high spirits.
In the 1970's, downtown Memphis, like many urban areas, experienced a social and economic decline. Businesses, shoppers and retailers soon left the area, causing all of downtown to suffer. After several fires and changes in ownership, The Peabody closed
On August 1, 1975, The Peabody was purchased by Belz Enterprises, spearheading downtown redevelopment. After a six-year, $25 million renovation, The Peabody reopened on September 1, 1981. Its restoration and reopening were greeted with enthusiasm, quickly restoring The Peabody to its rightful place in Memphis society.
The Peabody remains the hub for downtown activity, both business and social. It retains its status as the most popular place in Memphis for weddings, debutante balls, proms, bar mitzvahs, charitable events and annual celebrations including the Cotton Carnival and Memphis in May. Many important business deals have been sealed over lunch or breakfast in the hotel’s restaurants. And all summer long, Memphians enjoy amazing views of the Mississippi River at the Peabody Rooftop Parties and socialize in the Grand Lobby Bar, which Esquire magazine named "One of the Ten Best Watering Holes in America.” Even celebrities continue to seek The Peabody as their place to stay during a Memphis visit.
Today guest rooms at The Peabody number 464 and are still held at a premium. Fifteen suites have recently been renovated and a complete renovation of all guestrooms was completed on December 1, 2005. In addition, corridor refurbishments, digital elevators, a new custom Lobby Bar and the complete redecoration of the Peabody Grand Lobby have all taken place in the last few years.
Mezzinine East 
Double Guest RoomTimeline
1869 The original Peabody Hotel is built by Colonel Robert C. Brinkley at the corner of Main and Monroe in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, at a cost of $60,000. It is named for the late philanthropist George Peabody.
1923 The original hotel closes.
1925 On September 1, a new $5 million Peabody Hotel opens at its present location on Union Avenue, offering 625 guest rooms and space for 40 shops and offices.
1930's General Manager Frank Schutt initiates the first phase of the famous Peabody Duck March by placing live hunting decoys in the Lobby fountain.
1930's-40's The Peabody Hotel becomes the site of one of three national live radio broadcasts, which made the Skyway and adjoining Plantation Roof undisputed attractions for big band dancers.
1940 Edward Pembroke, originally hired as a bellman, volunteers to care for the Peabody Ducks and is eventually appointed as the official Duckmaster. Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, teaches the ducks the famous Peabody Duck March.
1968 Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, marking the beginning of downtown social and economic decline.
1975 The Peabody is purchased by Belz Enterprises.
1981 The Peabody Hotel reopens on September 1, marking the beginning of a downtown renaissance for Memphis.
1984 The Peabody is awarded the Mobil Four-Star rating. The Peabody is also inducted into the prestigious Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Association.
1993 Paramount Pictures releases “The Firm” starring Tom Cruise and based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham. The Peabody served as the setting for several scenes in both the book and the movie.
1994 Edward Pembroke dies. Pembroke served as hotel Duckmaster for more than 50 years. A hotel suite is named in his honor and his portrait is hung in the Grand Lobby.
Skyway Ballroom1995 The newly refurbished Skyway Ballroom, on the roof of The Peabody, reopens.
1997 The Peabody receives Restaurants & Institutions’ Ivy Award for food service excellence. In addition, Chez Philippe, the hotel’s signature gourmet restaurant, is refurbished.
1999 Chez Philippe receives AAA Four Diamond Award for the tenth year in a row.
The Lobby2001 The Peabody Memphis is named among the “Top 100 Hotels in North America” in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards.
Capriccio Grill2002 Capriccio Grill, The Corner Bar and Peabody Deli & Desserts open at The Peabody Memphis, replacing the former Dux, Mallard’s and Café Expresso restaurants.
Chez Philippe2002 Chez Philippe is recognized as one of the “Top 50 Hotel Restaurants” by Food & Wine magazine.
Guest Rooms
Double Guest Room
The Lobby Fountain
The Lobby
The Swimming Pool2005 The Peabody Memphis completes a multi-million dollar, three-year restoration project that includes renovation and redecoration of all 464 guestrooms and suites and the restoration of historic meeting rooms and public spaces like the famous Grand Lobby and rooftop Skyway.
The Stax Museum is located in South Memphis at 926 McLemore Avenue is a replica of the Stax studio (torn down in 1989) built on the same site where many historic recording sessions took place.
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is a museum located in the South Memphis section of Memphis, Tennessee at 926 McLemore Avenue at the former location of Stax Records. It is operated by Soulsville USA which also operates the adjacent Stax Music Academy.
After Stax Records went bankrupt and closed in 1976, the Stax studio was sold by the Union Planters Bank to Southside Church of God in Christ, located nearby on McLemore Avenue. Except for a brief time when it was used as a soup kitchen, it was allowed to deteriorate so it was torn down in 1989. The neighborhood had deteriorated badly and by 1998, a group of concerned people and anonymous philanthropists spearheaded a nonprofit revitalization effort for the area which was dubbed Soulsville after the slogan "Soulsville U.S.A." which Stax called its studio on its former theater marquee as a counterpoint to Motown Records' Hitsville U.S.A.
Construction began on the Stax Museum and adjacent Stax Music Academy on April 2001 and the museum opened in May 2003. The Stax Museum is a replica of the Stax recording studio, the former Capitol Theatre, down to the sloping floor of studio A. It is a 17,000 square-foot museum with more than 2,000 videos, films, photographs, original instruments used to record Stax hits, stage costumes, interactive exhibits, and other items of memorabilia. Some of the standout exhibits include an authentic 101-year-old Mississippi Delta church to help show the gospel roots of soul music; the Soul Train dance floor, Isaac Hayes' restored 1972 gold-trimmed, peacock-blue El Dorado Cadillac; and a changing gallery where special exhibits change five times each year.
Because the Stax Museum is one of only a handful of museums in the world dedicated to soul music (the Motown Museum in Detroit is another), it not only celebrates the legacy of Stax Records and its artists such as Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, the Staple Singers, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Booker T. & the MGs, Rufus and Carla Thomas and others, but also features other soul music labels such as Motown, Hi Records, Atlantic Records, and Muscle Shoals, and visitors are treated to vintage video footage of non-Stax artists such as Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Ann Peebles, The Jackson Five, Patti LaBelle, Parliament-Funkadelic, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ike & Tina Turner, and others.
The Stax Music Academy is a state-of-the-art facility where primarily at-risk youth are mentored through music education and unique performance opportunities they would otherwise likely never experience. The building also houses The Soulsville Charter School, an academically rigorous, musically rich school where students study math, language arts, science, social studies, and orchestra. Their Soulsville Symphony Orchestra has played for the likes of Stevie Wonder, John Legend, and Isaac Hayes.
Sun StudioSun Studio was opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s.
The front office of the Sun Studio, where office manager Marion Keisker worked and greeted many artists on their first visit to the studio, including a young Elvis Presley.
Rock-and-roll, country music, and rockabilly artists, including unknowns recording demos and others like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis, signed to the Sun Records label recorded there throughout the latter 1950s until the studio outgrew its Union Avenue location. Sam Phillips opened the larger Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio, better known as Phillips Recording, in 1959 to take the place of the older facility. In 1969, Sam Phillips sold the label to Shelby Singleton, and there was no recording-related or label-related activity again in the building until the September 1985 Class of '55 recording sessions with Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, produced by Chips Moman.
In 1957, Bill Justis recorded his Grammy Hall of Fame song "Raunchy" for Sam Phillips and worked as a musical director at Sun Records.
In 1987, the original building housing the Sun Records label and Memphis Recording Service was reopened as "Sun Studio", a recording business and tourism attraction that has attracted many notable artists including U2, who recorded tracks for Rattle and Hum there on newer equipment Sun had purchased from producer Terry Manning.
ChucalissaT.O. Fuller State Park is a state park in the city of Memphis in West Tennessee. It contains the Chucalissa Site, an archeological site with two mounds, and Chucalissa Village, a reconstructed Indian village. Chucalissa is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
The park is one of the few locations for wildlife in Memphis, It consists of 1,138 acres (4.6 km²) of mostly forest located in South Memphis on Mitchell Road. It is the only state park within the city limits.
The park is named in honor of Dr. Thomas O. Fuller, who spent his life empowering and educating African Americans. The park facilities were originally built for the use of African Americans in the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Hunt-Phalen House:
Perhaps the oldest structure in Memphis, the Hunt-Phalen home was owned,until very recently by a single family. Though it is rumored to have hosted some seven Presidents and a freedman’s school (maybe one, and not likely) the house and its intact contents were auctioned and separated in 2003. Now a super-posh restaurant and the anchor for several condos (starting from the 240's!) the Hunt-Phalen home represents Memphis’ contemporary development strategy.
Church Park:
Opened by Robert Church, Sr., this was the only city park open to African Americans in the Jim Crow era.
Theodore Roosevelt became the first President to address a Black crown here in 1903. Examine the signs at the buildings around this park – they represent some of the finest achievements of people and places on Beale Street.
Arcade Diner:
A favorite scene for films shot in Memphis, the Arcade has been in continuous operation for decades. When the train station across the street was at its height in the 1930's through the 50's, the Arcade never shut its doors to the in the 1930's through the 50's, the Arcade never shut its doors to the hundreds of sailors and tramps moving countinuously through Memphis.
With somewhat limited hours today, the Arcade remains a Memphis favorite and a reliable anchor in the redevelopment of the South Main arts district.
Powerhouse Gallery:
Originally the coal burning power generator for the train depot (and the many electric trolley lines that served Memphis) this building now houses gallery spaces for the many artists Delta Axis brings to town every year.
Martyrs Park:
Though Memphis had seen its fair share of Yellow Fever epidemics, the one that struck in 1878 was particularly devastating. While most people of any means fled the city, those who remained saw the devastating affects of the disease. The disproportionate mortality of white citizens does not reflect an immunity on the part of African Americans, rather it reflects that they were survivors of the previous epidemics. Though most people moved back to Memphis the following winter (only to leave again during a brief panic the next year) the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878 resulted in a demographic
shift in which Memphis has remained at least 50% African American for 125 years.
Post Office:
The oldest federally funded building in Memphis, the Post Office (soon to be the site of the University of Memphis law school) was the premier site for the Civil War’s battle of Memphis. In June of 1862 8 Union battleships met the entire Confederate River Navy at Dawn on the river just north of here. In 90 minutes the entire Confederate Navy was destroyed and Union forces dispatched a 6 man party to plant a flag on the top of the Post Office. The citizens of Memphis, who had been watching the battle, gathered at the post office and locked the Union soldiers on the roof. An insurance salesman named Crook (honest to god) opened fire on the soldiers. The Union Admiral demanded their release or he would shell the city and the Mayor of Memphis agreed, signing an order of surrender and seeing the Union flag raised above City Hall.
Jefferson Davis Park:
Featuring WW2 artillery that replaced the Spanish Imperial artillery and Civil War artillery that was melted down during the recycling drives of WW2 and Memphis’ own statue to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy.
Auction Square:
Auction square was the northernmost of the four public squares originally designed in Memphis. This was very near the sites of two forts that would establish early European presences here on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff. Despite the contentions of the large stone in the middle of this square and its apparent name, Auction square was never used for auctions, much less those of enslaved individuals. While Memphis was a center for slave-auctions (the largest outside Charleston just before the war), those activities took place in private halls or at Market Square.
Court Square:
When Memphis was originally surveyed, the original owners and investors allowed for the creation of four squares that, along with the Memphis river front, would become common property for perpetual use and enjoyment by the people of Memphis. This is the southern most of the four squares (auction, exchange, and market). The gazebo here is a modern one, but one has stood in that spot for nearly 150 years.
Pinch Neighborhood:
Pinch is the northernmost part of the original downtown grid developed in 1820. Development here was slow and did not really begin until after the Civil War. At that point, the neighborhood was largely settled by Irish-Catholic immigrants, whose poverty denied them food to the point where they had to pinch up their pants with a bit of rope.
Hunt-Phelan Home:
Hunt-Phelan HomeThis beautiful antebellum home has been in the same family for over 160 years! Today it is fully restored and filled with the family's original antique furniture. An entertaining audio tour details the history of the home. Hunt-Phelan will be of special interest to antique lovers, Civil War buffs, and garden enthusiasts! Open January - Memorial Day and September -December. Thursday - Monday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sundays 12 - 4. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. June - August, Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and New Years Day. Adults $10, students and seniors $9, children 5-12 $6, and under five free. Group rates available for 15 or more. Special arrangements can be made for class field trips, private parties and group tours.
Built mostly by slave labor in 1828, the Hunt-Phelan Home displays a rich and elegant past. Several hundred slaves were taught English by members of the Freedmen's Bureau at an on-ite school house.
Dinning Room
Bedroom
Bathroom
Setting Room
Bedroom
Entrance, Night View
Entry Way
Fountain
Historic Photos of Memphis is a well thought out and beautifully illustrated journey through Memphis history. Each chapter takes readers through an era of days gone by with an informative introduction followed by a collection of photographs depicting life in those times.
The photographs begin with a look at the steamboats along the Mississippi River in the year 1860. They end with a snapshot of the 1980 Memphis in May International Festival. These carefully chosen photos give readers a sense of what life was like over the span of those one hundred and twenty years. They show a city in triumph and in tragedy and they show its people at work and at play.
In addition to the superbness of its content, the quality of the book itself is also high. Its pages are printed on heavy art paper and its large size and bold cover photo make it an ideal coffee-table book.
Anyone with a penchant for history or with ties to Memphis, is sure to enjoy this beautiful book.
Scene from the 1912 Mississippi River flood. Memphis was relatively safe from high water, but some low-lying areas in the city became susceptible to rising back water as flood levels worsened at the beginning of the 20th century.
The "Georgia Lee" and the "Desoto," which was formerly called the "James Lee," were two of the vessels destroyed when the Mississippi River froze in January 1918.
Mayor David "Pappy" Hadden supposedly created the Hadden's Horn as a way to ensure people could not cheat when throwing dice.
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company made its first tire on January 19, 1937. The eighty-five acre North Memphis facility operated until 1983.
W.C. Handy wrote some of his most memorable songs while in Memphis. A park on Beale Street was named in his honor, as well as a theater in the Orange Mound neighborhood.
The Streets of Memphis
The Famous Memphians for Whom Streets Were Named:
From Bill Morris to Sam Cooper, Memphis has many streets that honor its citizens past and present. Here is a look at some of the people that received such a distinction.
Paul Barret Parkway
Paul Barret was a prominent Shelby County politician in the 1940's. Barretville, where he was from, was also named for him.
Kate Bond Road
Kate Bond was born in 1886 in Bartlett, Tennessee. Her father, Squire William Bond, named the road on which their home was situated, Kate Bond Road, in honor of his youngest daughter. Kate lived until her death in her home at the present day corner of Kate Bond and Stage Roads.
Sam Cooper Boulevard
Sam Cooper was the president of Humko, a cotton seed refinery. He was generous with his success and used his wealth to help fund St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
E.H. Crump Boulevard
Edward Hull (E.H.) Crump was the mayor of Memphis from 1910-1916 and again in 1940-1942 and a Tennessee congressman from 1931-1935.
McLemore Avenue
John C. McLemore was one of Memphis' first fifty citizens and became a proprietor after purchasing Andrew Jackson's interest in the city.
Bill Morris Parkway
Bill Morris was the mayor of Shelby County for 16 years. He was succeeded by Mayor Jim Rout.
Austin Peay Highway
Austin Peay IV was governor of Tennessee from 1923 until his death in 1927. He was the only Tennessee governor to die while still in office.
Danny Thomas Boulevard
Danny Thomas was a comedian and actor. In 1962, he founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital here in Memphis.
Customs House and Post Office Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1906
Overton Park Photo 2 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1900-1910
Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
Overton Park Photo 1 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1900-1910
Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
Overton Park Photo 3 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1900-1910
Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
View of Main Street Photo 2 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1906 Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
View of Main Street Photo 1 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1906 Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
View of Union Avenue Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1906
Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
Court Square Photo 1 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1906
Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
Court Square Photo 2 Memphis Tennessee Circa: 1906
Originally published: Detroit Publishing
Photo Courtesy Library of Congress Archives Memphis Tennessee Collection
Historic Memphis Tennessee Photographs Circa 1900-1910
1st Methodist Church Memphis Tennessee
The Bear Pit Memphis Tennessee
Confederate Park Memphis Tennessee
Cossitt Library Memphis Tennesse
Elks Club Building Memphis Tennessee
Gayoso Hotel Memphis Tennessee
Kansas City & Memphis Railroad Bridge
Memphis Levee Photo 1 Memphis Tennessee
Memphis Levee Photo 2 Memphis Tennessee
View of Madison Ave. Memphis Tennessee
Downtown Photo 1 Memphis Tennessee
Downtown Photo 2 Memphis Tennessee
Downtown Photo 3 Memphis Tennessee
Downtown Photo 4 Memphis Tennessee
Downtown Photo 5 Memphis Tennessee
Downtown Photo 6 Memphis Tennessee
River Boat at Levee Memphis Tennessee
Memphis Courthouse Memphis Tennessee
St. Peters Cathedral Memphis Tennessee
Tennessee Club Memphis Tennessee
Union Station Memphis Tennessee.
YMCA Building Memphis Tennessee
When you cross the Hernando De Soto Bridge into Memphis, you can't help but notice the beauty of the Memphis skyline. Its historical architecture combined with modern elements make it a scene to behold.
Scattered throughout this skyline are some of the city's tallest buildings. Read about these buildings, their impressive sizes, and their significance to the city of Memphis.
One BealeOne Beale is set to be Memphis' newest and tallest skyscraper. This 30 story proposed building will consist of two towers that will house a Hyatt Regency Hotel, condominum’s, office space, and restaurants. Its tallest tower will stand 435 feet high, just a little higher than Memphis' reigning tallest building, 100 North Main. Construction of One Beale is expected to be complete in 2010.
At 430 feet, 100 North Main is currently Memphis' tallest skyscraper. The 37 story building was completed in 1965. For years, many people knew this high rise as the "UP" or "Union Planters" building as it was topped with a giant Union Planters Bank sign. This sign was removed in 2006.
Morgan Keegan TowerMorgan Keegan Tower (pictured far left) is located at 50 North Front Street in downtown Memphis. Although the building only has 21 stories, it is Memphis' second highest building, standing at a height of 403 feet. This height includes the spire that crowns the building. Construction of the Morgan Keegan Tower was completed in 1985 at the site of the demolished Hotel King Cotton.
Clark TowerUnlike many of Memphis' other skyscrapers that are located downtown, Clark Tower looms over East Memphis at 5100 Poplar Avenue. This 34 story building stands 400 feet tall, giving it the distinction of Memphis' third tallest building. Clark Tower consists primarily of office space, but also houses the Tower Room restaurant on the 33rd floor of the building.
Unlike many of Memphis' other skyscrapers that are located downtown, Clark Tower looms over East Memphis at 5100 Poplar Avenue. This 34 story building stands 400 feet tall, giving it the distinction of Memphis' third tallest building. Clark Tower consists primarily of office space, but also houses the Tower Room restaurant on the 33rd floor of the building.
The Tower Room American Grille is a great destination for a romantic dinner.
Pros
The view from the top floor of the Clark Tower is beautiful.
The food is well prepared and well presented.
The servers are attentive without being intrusive.
Cons
Meals can be a bit pricey, though no more so than other fine dining restaurants.
Description
The Tower Room also has a lounge with the same sky-high view of the city.
The restaurant hosts a monthly wine dinner.
The Tower Room is located at:
5100 Poplar Avenue on the 33rd Floor (901) 767-8776
Guide Review - Tower Room American Grille
The Tower Room American Grille has to be one of Memphis' better-kept secrets. It sits on the top floor of Clark Tower on Poplar Avenue in East Memphis. I visited the Tower Room for the first time when my husband wanted to take me someplace special for dinner. He made reservations and told me to "dress up." The restaurant's official dress code is business casual, but we found that most of the patrons were dressed in business wear (suits, suited skirts, etc.).
Upon our arrival, we were seated at a table next to a window, giving us a stunning view of the city below. Our waiter soon greeted us and was attentive and polite. He answered our questions and accommodated our requests while still managing to stay out of sight while we dined and talked.
For an appetizer, we ordered the Twin Shrimp and Crab Cakes for $10.95* which were heavy laden with crab meat and quite delicious. I ordered the Veal Picatta for $25.95 which consisted of two veal cutlets lightly breaded and topped with a lemon caper sauce. The veal was accompanied by a side of risotto, a creamy rice dish. The portions were so generous that I was only able to eat one of the veal cutlets and part of the risotto. This did not stop us from ordering dessert, however. I chose the creme brulee, topped with a single strawberry, for $6.25. The caramelized crust was slightly overdone, but otherwise, it was a delicious dessert. In the end, our entire bill (before gratuity) came to nearly $100. Considering the elegance of the restaurant, the beauty of the view, and the generous portions of the food, we felt it was worth the money.
Memphis' fourth tallest building is One Commerce Square (pictured in the background above). Though it was once thought of as the NBC (bank) Building, people now are more likely to call it the Suntrust Building as it is crowned by a huge Suntrust Bank sign. Located near the southeast corner of Union Avenue and Second Street, One Commerce Square has 31 stories and stands 396 feet tall. Construction of the building was completed in 1973.
Sterick BuildingThe Sterick Building is a beautiful, but vacant, skyscraper at 8 North 3rd Street in downtown Memphis. The city's fifth tallest building, it stands 365 feet tall with 29 stories. Construction of the Sterick Building was completed in 1930 and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. This impressive tower that was Memphis' tallest building from 1930 to 1965 has stood empty since 1980.
There is one more impressively tall structure that stands in downtown Memphis. The First Tennessee Bank Building is located at 165 Madison Avenue. The office building stands 332 feet high with 25 floors making it Memphis' sixth tallest skyscraper. Construction of the building was completed in 1964. Currently, First Tennessee Bank occupies approximately half of the building.
Source: Internet