Theodore Roosevelt addressed the Deep Water Convention at Memphis.  It was one of his stops on a memorable three-week journey through a large part of the middle West and South.  His purpose was to address the need for adequate improvement to the inland waterways from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico.    He noted, “The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all the others.”  There's probably enough info and photos available for a page.  We're looking for a volunteer guest-writer to write the text to cover the President's visit and the convention at Memphis?

Roosevelt at Convention

Memphis Decorations

Edw Hunter came to Memphis in 1878 and was a clerk in various retail houses.  In 1885 he went into the Dry Goods Business and quickly became one of the best-known department stores in Western Tennessee.  His large six-story building at the corner of Main and Court handled everything in the way of wearing apparel and house-furnishing goods.  He employed over 200 people and his annual business was $1,000,000.  In 1904, he sold "everything" to Lowenstein's.  Better quality photos (and more) are needed as well as additional information for a major page on the H-M website..

The location of Memphis on the high bluff above the Mississippi has generally kept the floods away and made the city the major evacuation center of the mid-south.  The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States.  Other major floors occurred in 1912, 1913 and 1937.  There are enough vintage photos of the various floods available at the library or on the internet to have a major page on flooding.  A volunteer  guest-writer is needed to write the text and coordinate it with the photos.

Photographer Walter Gray settled in Memphis and built a prominent studio in a residential section of the city at 395 Poplar at Manassas, rather than the traditional "downtown" location.  He also planned an elaborate announcement of the studio's opening and mailed them to a select clientele.   We know his work from vintage postcards of the old Memphis High School and the Exchange Building.  We know he was in business for at least 23 years but other than that, we've uncovered very little about this photographer.

1901 Gray's Studio

Gray Photos

Gov. McMillan

The Wolf River Greenway runs over 5 miles along the south side of the Wolf River through the Wolf River Nature Area in the City of Germantown.  The trail provides access to picnic facilities, restrooms, and wildflower meadows.  . You'll also find interpretive stops, aquatic plant displays, tree identification, rest areas with benches, butterfly gardens, bat houses and more. The Shelby Farms Greenline Trail runs nearly 7 miles between Tillman Street in Binghampton and Farm Road in Shelby Farms.  It's built upon the bed of a former CSX Railroad line, abandoned in 2001.

Route sign

One remembers the wonderful aromas around the Hart's Bakery.   And one might remember the little window out front, where you could give the baker a quarter, and he’d reach over to one of the ovens and hand you a fresh-baked loaf of bread, wrapped in aluminum foil to keep it warm while you took it home.  But mainly, one remembers the Massive Hart's sign, which must rank as one of the best in Memphis.  That huge loaf of bread rotated with bright red flashing lights in sequence on the heart, which made the heart seem to beat.  The bakery closed in the 1980s.  Surprisingly, very little history information about  Hart's Bread is available on the internet and photos are extremely scarce.  Anyone?

The Hemphill Diesel Schools were located In New York, Memphis, and Los Angeles.  They were considered the best diesel training available in the US.  The Memphis location was 311 S. Main, and they were in operation from around 1936 into the 1950s.  While more school photos are available at the Memphis Library, almost no historical information is currently available.

Hodges Field is on its way to become one of the completely "Forgotten Memphis" landmarks.  The field saw lots of football action in the early 1900s.  Both Teacher's College and Southwestern played there.  And Clarence Saunders (Piggly Wiggly) formed his own professional football team in the late 1920s and they played at Hodges Field. Later it was used for high school football - especially the teams from Humes and Tech.  Eventually the growing medical center needed the space, so the old field was demolished.  Currently historical information about Hodges Field is available on the internet, but photos are extremely rare.  Anyone have photos to share?

Hodges Field

We have not been able to locate any information about this Memphis Company.  We only know that it was located at 382 S. Main Street, Circa 1900, and that they bottled or manufactured liquor.  We have located over 12 "high quality" labels in pristine condition.  If these labels  have survived, there has to be some information "somewhere" about the Hubbard Co and possibly some photos.  Anyone?

Cordial

During the Summer of 1864 both Federal and Confederate heavy artillery mortar shells flew back and forth over Charleston Harbor en route to their targets.  In the midst of this barrage, a group of Confederate prisoners were held in a stockade built in the path of those bombs - their Morris Island prison pen had been deliberately placed in harm's way.  In essence, these confederate prisoners were being used as human shields.  They became known as the "Immortal 600".  On June 8, 1909 the Society of The Immortal 600 met at the Fransiola Hotel in Memphis during the 19th  UCV Reunion.  The photo on the right shows those members in attendance. The names correspond with numbers.  

Immortal 600 . 1909

Burial Fort Pulansky

The full story is well documented and available on the internet.  With a little research, it's possible to locate portraits of individual soldiers.  We're looking for a volunteer guest-writer to write the text to cover the story of the Immortal 600 and their 1909 reunion at Memphis?

Henry Cook

David Bullard

The Little Peabody was a gambling joint on Highway 51 N, about 20 miles from Memphis.  It was oprated by Byron Hughes and Frank Lowe and open circa 1939-40 and was frequently raided by law enforcement.  Illegal poker chips continue to show up for sale on Ebay.  Almost no information and no photos are currently available.

 Matchbook

 "Raid"

Macon-Andrews was considered one of the finest business colleges in the south.  The school occupied a choice Main Street location for many years.  While photos do occasionally turn up on the internet, we have not been able to locate  much historical information.  Anyone?

Macon Andrews

Macon-Andrews

Macon-Andrews

1910 Macon-Andress

Macon-Andrews

A really BIG page is planned showing how German immigrants brought the Mai Festival with them, along with Classical Music.  And they were the master music teachers.  This influx of Germans led to " Memphis in May,  Memphis Symphony, The Beale Street Musical Festival, October Fest and the Barbecue Cook off".  A great deal of information is currently available.  It's just a matter of  additional research and organizing the photos with information and dates +  the TIME to work on it.  Anyone willing to volunteer?

Martin Stadium was one of only a few baseball stadiums that exclusively hosted a team from the Negro Major Leagues.  It was home to the Memphis Red Sox.   It was built around 1932 by the Martin brothers.  The Red Sox came to an end in 1960 and Martin Stadium was demolished in 1961.

There's enough info available to put a page together, but historic photos and memorabilia are needed and many photos may be restricted due to copyrights.   Anyone?

There's virtually no information available about Miller Hatters.  We do know they were located in the new Peabody Hotel when it opened on Union in 1925 and they issued a commemorative coin for the opening.

Anyone have additional information or photos???

Henry Sessell opened a butcher shop on Main Street in 1858 ... and the rest is rather well documented.

There's probably enough info and photos available for a page.  We're looking for a volunteer guest-writer who would do the research and write the text to go with the photos.

Based on the Memphis Directories this company was in business from 1921 to 1933 - 12 years.  They were originally located at 261 Rayburn and in 1926 moved to 290-94 S. Washington.  Thomas Hanson was President of the company.  Practically nothing more is known about this company, yet their tokens show up regularly on EBAY.  The building on Washington still stands.

Anybody know more about this company?  Any photos?

1916:  "The most modern and up-to-date stockyard in the world.  The buildings and pens and barns are the most modern, being constructed especially for the housing of horses and mules.  The entire plant covers an area of 11 1/2 acres.  During the summer months about 5,000 head of cattle are handled from Florida and other Southern States and sold to Western dealers.  The yards were organized in 1911 and immediately leased to Hazel-Darnell Mule Co."

For "the most modern in the world" the five photos are all we have located about the Stockyards.  Any additional information and especially photos would be appreciated???

"In 1967 a 1.5 million dollar vocational school will be constructed on a site now occupied by the Merrill Elementary School at 303 Jones Avenue.  It will be operated by the Memphis Board of Education with state financing and will replace the Memphis Area Vocational Technical School at 591 Washington.  Schools of this type are also being established in several locations in rural West Tennessee and should improve the capability of the man-power resources from the surrounding area."