Memphis—Down in Dixie
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OUR hundred years ago—it was the spring of 1541—Hernando DeSoto and his Spanish adventurers first glimpsed the great Mississippi River from t h e bluffs upon which Memphis now stands. The bearded soldier and explorer was the first white man ever to see the Mississippi. H e called it the River of the H o l y Ghost. Today, that river, wide and deep, still flows b y the towering Chickasaw Bluffs and still laps against the cobblestones of the Memphis levee, where picturesque old steamboats once churned the tawny waters of t h e Mississippi. Gone are Indian canoes. The golden age of the packet boats has passed. Modern towboats with their oil-powered motors now move with 20th century speed the everincreasing freight of the Port of Memphis. High up above the river, on the bluffs where D e S o t o once stood, stands modern Memphis, host to Meeting One Hundred Three
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CIETY, April 20 t o 24, 1942. City of cotton and carnival, sunshine and hospitality, where breezes from the past blow across t h e bustling present—that's Memphis. Here you'll find picturesque Front Street, facing the river, where cotton has been king for generations, and beyond its quaint buildings with the wisps of white gold floating out of the windows, rise in the distance t h e warehouses of the cotton capital of the world. Here is the South's largest manufacturing and distributing center for drugs and chemicals, the world's largest cotton market, hardwood lumber market and mule market, Beale Street "where the blues began" and, the equestrian statue of General Forrest, keeping watch over the tomb of the ConV O L U M E
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federate hero and his wife in beautiful Forrest Park. While red brick buildings and blackpaved streets are component parts of every city, it is not possible to measure a community's greatness b y counting the number of new brick or measuring the feet of asphalt. I t is the human factors involved t h a t make some cities stand apart from others. Often it is called civic spiritPerhaps t h a t is right, b u t that intangible something which goes to make a city outstanding can best be illustrated: in Louisville it is t h e Kentucky Derby, in New Orleans the Mardi Gras, while in Memphis i t is the Cotton Carnival. Begun only as a vague project, the Cotton Carnival was proposed in the early spring of 1931. There has been many a row chopped and many a bale ginned since the movement was launched that now has brought favorable national attention t o Memphis for its campaign to recognize cotton. Starting out as a minor parade, t h e Cotton Carnival has through accretion become the South's largest party with emphasis placed on King Cotton a n d the multiplying uses for the long white gold from the plantations. This is perhaps t h e most widely publicized development in Memphis in the past 11 years. But this year when less vital activities are giving way t o the needs of the war effort, the Cotton Carnival has been postponed. Later, when t h e emergency has passed, t h e carnival will be resumed, and Memphis and t h e Mid-South will again link arms t o uphold t h e throne of King Cotton a n d keep Memphis supreme as the world's largest cotton market. Along with this commercial predominance has come the desire t o maintain it
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by increasing the applications and distribution of cotton. The Cotton Research Foundation was created in Memphis in 1938 to find new uses for cotton through sponsorship of research projects at the Mellon Institute of Pittsburgh. Planters, ginners, and those associated with the cotton trade have created the National Cotton Council with headquarters in Memphis. This organization is seeking to promote new uses for cotton and to increase world consumption as well as stabilize its production and marketing. Monuments to the role of Memphis in the war between the states still stand guard along the waterfront. In DeSoto Park stands the great Indian mound which was the site of the fortress of Chisca, chief of the tribe inhabiting this region when first visited by the white man. T h e Chisca mound was utilized in 1863 as an artillery redoubt and magazine fortress, Fort Pickering, and the top of the mound was excavated for that purpose. U p above the center of the city, the forces of the river have deposited an island over the site of a gunboat battle during the war. There, under the guns of the defending battery in what is now Confederate Park, the Federal forces were victorious, and later General William T. Sherman took command of the city. In those days the Wolf River, a stream meandering north of Memphis, emptied into the Mississippi above the city. But in the years that followed, the silting deposits of the Mississippi formed an island in front of the mouth of the Wolf and extended it about three miles down stream to the center of the city. A city that heard the tramp of Federal troops in 1862 is now proud to be the 111
headquarters of the Second Army of the United States, proud t h a t Lieutenant General Ben Lear selected this central location to command troops stationed in Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Michi gan, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The position of Memphis at the cross roads of the South is amply proved by the six air routes into and out of the city. Now Orleans, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Washington, and Miami are only a fewhours away. A 502-acre airport with mile-long paved runways is increasingly important in a civilian and military trans portation system. Ton trunkline rail ways link Memphis witli the Southeast, Southwest, and the industrial cities to the north and east. Eight national high ways witli a free bridge over the Mis sissippi River handle an increasing vol ume of private and commercial motor traffic. Memphis is nationally recognized as having the greatest fire prevention or ganization in the country. In 1938 and again in 1939 Memphis was given the grand award among all cities in the United States for fire prevention. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States saluted Memphis as t h e only major city ever to have won this honor in two consecutive years. T h e first southern city to receive the National Safety Council's highest honor was Memphis. The award was bestowed in 1938 for the previous year's traffic rec ord and for leadership in motor vehicle inspection. Memphis was the first city to inaugurate a municipal inspection station for trucks and automobiles with tests made three times a year to deter mine and correct mechanical faults. At the present time Memphis leads the Nation in traffic fatality reduction. This record is due largely to t h e aggressive at titude toward traffic regulation including speed limit and horn blowing. The Anti-Noise Ordinance lias made Memphis one of the quietest cities in the country. Memphis has gone far in the matter of municipal ownership of its public utilities. For years the city has operated the world's largest artesian water systems, but only recently it purchased the citywide electrical distribution system and facilities for handling natural gas from Louisiana. When the Tennessee Valley Authority was launched and power moved out over transmission lines from Wilson D a m on the Tennessee River, Memphis voted the necessary funds for the pur chase of its utilities. T o d a y , the City of Memphis supplies electricity, gas, and water to approximately 60,000 families. Resulting low rates are bringing about increased consumption of kilowatt hours both in the home and in the factories, and new industries are turning a n ap preciative eye upon particularly attractive rate structures. T h e city's far-reaching step toward low power rates is casting a 112
lengthening shadow along the highwaj' t h a t Memphis plans t o travel toward be coming an increasingly important southern industrial center. Memphis h a s grown to be the world's largest nonproducing steel center, with eastern steel companies establishing ware houses there and with mover/ipnt of steel down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers for redistribution by rail to t h e South, Southeast, a n d particularly to the oil fields of the Southwest. Because of its location on the Mississippi River, Memphis has naturally benefited. In recent years there has been a general revival of activities in the Memphis harbor with approximately $122,000,000 worth of freight moving annually through this port. T h e river-rail terminal has been enlarged. A huge municipal grain elevator has been built with river and railloading equipment. This makes possible the movement of grain down the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the redistribu tion by rail from this point. Not so picturesque perhaps as the Rob ert E. Lee or the K a t e Adams, the modern twin-screw, oil-burning towboat handles far more freight tonnage in one trip from Memphis to New Orleans than the ornate steamers of t h e seventies. An old-time packet boat had a capacity of 1,800 tons. But a modern barge will carry more t h a n that, and it is customary to have six to eight barges in one tow. Since the beginning of cities, strategic location and transportation have been governing factors in expansion and de velopment. Therefore, it is no surprise to Memphians when informed manufactur ers look with favor on this city as a logical
The Doughboy in Overton Park C Η ΕΜ ICAL
industrial and distribution point. The in creasing trend of industry has been to ward the South in the past six to eight years and a large number of concerns have begun operations in Memphis. The year 1941 will long be remembered as the d-*te when the $20,000,000 British smokeless powder plant began producing explosives from cotton linters, 20 miles from Memphis. Also in this area is a huge shell-loading plant for tlu? United States Army. Just outside the city limits and near the Municinai Airport is the S 15,000,000 United States ν Quartermaster Depot. On the other side of the city is the $7,000,000 Fisher Memphis Aircraft Division of General Motors where air plane parts will be manufactured. With pardonable pride Memphians invariably round off any story of industrial expansion by referring to the $5,000,000 factory investment made by Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., in 1937. A little more than 10 years ago Sears Roebuck and Co. invested 83,000,000 in wholesale and retail distribution units for Memphis. Sales have since proved that the appraisal of the Memphis market possibilities was justified. About a year ago this company spent nearly $1,000,000 in enlarging its physical plant in Memphis. Memphis has not been a "Topsy" city—it has not just grown. The original rity fathers set aside four downtown parks when the city was first laid out in 1819. As the city's boundaries spread out, the need for definite planning became ap parent and in 1921 Harland Bartholomew, St. Louis engineer, drew up the Memphis City Plan. Zoning commissions have kept residential areas protected while at the same time definite parts of the city have been set aside for industrial expan sion. Memphis' city plan has resulted in well laid out public parks, playgrounds, community centers, wide streets, and tree-lined parkways. Modernized zoological gardens in Over ton Park feature the moat system for displaying animals in their natural habitat. The unique monkey island, a fascinating example of this system, is inhabited by 100 India Rhesus monkeys and a goat. When the island was built several years ago, the goat was introduced to keep the grass down. He soon got used to the monkeys and let them climb on his back and ride around the island. When he tires of it, he just bucks them off. Among other interesting attractions at the zoo are the open bear pits and a pair of hip popotami with their ninth calf less than a year old. Also in Overton Park are the Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, the Mem phis Open Air Theater, and a Municipal Golf Course. The residential subdivision of Chicka saw Gardens was once the estate of a millionaire grocer. His palatial home of pink Georgia marble, the "Pink Palace", now ' houses the Little Theater and the Memphis Museum of Natural History. A N D
ENGINEERING
NEWS
TO MEMPHIS A. C. S. MEMBERS April 20 to 24
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The Mississippi called DeSoto and his Spanish adventurers to the bluffs of Memphis 401 years ago. O n A p r i l 2 0 to 24 the Mis sissippi calls A . C. S. members to the 103rd national meeting on the same bluffs. Meeting at tendees will see modern Memphis as well as relics and monuments to its history. ( 7 ) Confederate Park. (2) The bears beg for pea nuts at the zoo in Overton Park.
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(3) A footbridge on the Munici pal Golf Course in Overton Park. (4) Fort Pickering in DeSoto Park. ( 5 ) The Pink Palace. (6) Monkey Island in Overton Park. (7) The Brooks Memorial A r t Gal lery situated in Overton Park. *lv
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A few years ago a park, Shelby Forest, consisting of 13,000 acres was created in a heavily wooded section on the banks of the Mississippi River a few miles north of the city. This is rapidly becoming a popular recreation area and h a s tourist appeal. Glamour of the Old South still clings to Memphis. Romance and southern history abound here. Each spring brings forth memories of the past as wisteria drops its purple flowers above the old verandas and magnolias blossom in fragrant gardens. Yet Memphis is not living in the faded glory of many years ago. Here on the bluffs above the Mississippi River is a metropolitan city made possible and perpetuated by the 2,500,000 people who live within a 200-mile radius. Below Memphis on both sides of the Mississippi River is the great agricultural empire that lies in the rich alluvial Delta. For generations this area has depended upon cotton as its main source of income. Spurred by the world economic situation and encouraged b y the now nationally known Plant to Prosper program, farmers seriously began a diversified agricultural program in 1934. Last year more than 80,000 farm families in the Midsouth participated in this great agricultural adventure in living-at-home. While the purpose of this program has been to improve farming conditions in the Midsouth and to provide other cash crops for farms where it w a s no longer profitable to raise cotton, there have been t w o striking and interlocking developments—the creation of pastures and the growth of the livestock industry. In Mississippi alone there are approximately 725,000 head of beef cattle, and officials estimate that annual cash income from beef cattle averages about $10,000,000 for Mississippi alone. The importance of this agricultural program can hardly be overemphasized, for while Memphis has its smokestacks and its payrolls it still watches the rolling fields and the plantations, the small towns and the red hills, for it is from these sources that this Midsouth metropolis continues to draw its ever-stable wealth. After all, Memphis has its roots in the soil and its future must always be chartered by Old Man River—the River of the Holy Ghost.
