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36-622: 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 the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are major tourist attractions in Memphis. Festivals and outdoor concerts frequently bring large crowds to

72-481: A slide . He made many successful records in the late 1920s, including "Kassie Jones", " Billy Lyons & Stack-O-Lee " and "Judge Harsh Blues" (later called "Good Morning Judge"). On October 3, 1959, Sam Charters , with the assistance of his wife Ann Charters , recorded Furry in his rented room in Memphis, Tennessee. The recordings were released on a Folkways Records LP that same year. On April 3, 1961, Charters again recorded two albums of Furry Lewis - this time at

108-419: A freight train in the area around Du Quoin, Illinois , despite having enough cash to pay for a rail ticket. He spent a month in hospital at Carbondale, Illinois recovering, although it took him a year to adjust to his artificial leg and in the meantime he gave up his traveling lifestyle and returned to Memphis, where he performed on street corners. In 1922 he took a permanent position as a street sweeper for

144-825: A month of festivities citywide known as Memphis in May . In 2020, in Memphis, the Beale Street Historic District and the WDIA radio station were added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Downtown Memphis, Tennessee It is home to the Memphis Redbirds , the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals , and the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team. Downtown is the oldest part of the city and includes

180-585: A well known blues musician. In his later years Lewis lived near Fourth and Beale, and in 1969 was recorded there in his apartment by Memphis music producer Terry Manning . In 1934, local community leader George Washington Lee authored Beale Street: Where the Blues Began ; the first book by a black author to be advertised in the Book of the Month Club News . In 1938, Lewis O. Swingler , editor of

216-498: A white mob. In the early 1900s, Beale Street was filled with many clubs, restaurants and shops, many of them owned by African-Americans. In 1903, Mayor Thornton was looking for a music teacher for his Knights of Pythias Band and called Tuskegee Institute to talk to his friend, Booker T. Washington, who recommended a trumpet player in Clarksdale, Mississippi named W. C. Handy . Mayor Thornton contacted Handy, and Memphis became

252-869: Is a park system along the Mississippi River that connects the Mississippi River Greenbelt Park in the north, to Tom Lee Park in the south. Points of interest along the riverfront Companies headquartered in Downtown include: Former headquarters: Downtown Memphis is zoned to the following Shelby County Schools (formerly Memphis City Schools ) campuses: Downtown is served by major highways and interstates, public bus and trolley service by MATA , commercial bus service by Greyhound , and passenger train service by Amtrak . Interstates I-40 , I-55 , I-69 and I-240 all run directly through downtown, providing direct access to

288-613: Is a popular regional destination for entertainment, dining, and tourism and includes attractions such as Beale Street , FedExForum , AutoZone Park , and the Peabody Hotel . Downtown Memphis is located on the banks of the Mississippi River . The Memphis Riverfront stretches from the Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in the north, to T. O. Fuller State Park in the south. The River Walk

324-892: Is also located in Downtown Memphis. These include the Memphis City Hall , and the Federal Building, located on North Main Street, in the Civic Center Plaza (corner of Main Street and Washington). Downtown Memphis also contains the Memphis branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . Downtown Core is the heart of the central business district and includes the majority of office space, retail, entertainment and dining spaces. It

360-607: 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

396-833: The Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, for the Prestige / Bluesville imprint: "Back on my Feet Again" (BV 1036), and "Done Changed my Mind" (BV 1037). One track was included in Sam and Ann Charters' movie The Blues , finished in 1962, and finding wide release, after being lost for many years, in a 2020 package titled Searching for Secret Heroes by Document Records , thanks to producer Gary Atkinson. In July 1968, Bob West recorded Furry Lewis along with Bukka White in Lewis's Memphis apartment. In 1972, West, with Bob Graf, in Seattle, released

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432-586: The "Home of the Blues" by an act of Congress . Despite national recognition of its historic significance, Beale was a virtual ghost town after a disastrous urban renewal program that razed blocks of buildings in the surrounding neighborhood, as well as a number of buildings on Beale Street. In 1973, the Beale Street Development Corporation (BSDC) was formed by George B. Miller and others as a racially diverse, cooperative effort for

468-488: 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 . As a young man, B. B. King was billed as "the Beale Street Blues Boy." One of Handy's proteges on Beale Street was the young Walter Furry Lewis , who later became

504-466: The 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1844 and 1886 the river landing was paved with limestone and granite cobblestones brought in from the upper Midwest . This created what is today the largest intact Mississippi River landing still in existence, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The explosion of the steamboat Sultana in 1865 near Memphis was one of

540-402: 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. By the 1960s, Beale had fallen on hard times and many businesses closed, even though the section of the street from Main to 4th was declared a National Historic Landmark on May 23, 1966. On December 15, 1977, Beale Street was officially declared

576-546: The Church Park Auditorium included Woodrow Wilson , Booker T. Washington , and Franklin D. Roosevelt . Beale Street Baptist Church , Tennessee 's oldest surviving African American Church edifice built beginning in 1869, was also important in the early civil rights movement in Memphis. 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 before her presses were destroyed by

612-533: The Civil War. In 1959, the Memphis Downtown Airport was opened on Mud Island , which at that time was called City Island. The one-runway airport could be reached by a pontoon-boat ferry and was used mostly by businessmen and shoppers. The Downtown Airport was closed in 1970. It was replaced in the 1990s by the new urbanist Harbor Town development. The Downtown Memphis skyline contains

648-724: The Dixie Dancekings , 1975), and was profiled in Playboy magazine. Joni Mitchell 's song "Furry Sings the Blues" (on her album Hejira ) is about her visit to Lewis's apartment and a mostly ruined Beale Street on February 5, 1976. Lewis despised the Mitchell song and felt she should pay him royalties for being its subject. Lewis began to lose his eyesight because of cataracts in his final years. He contracted pneumonia in 1981, which led to his death from heart failure in Memphis on September 14 of that year at age 88. He

684-520: The North End Terminal. Amtrak 's City of New Orleans passenger train runs through Downtown Memphis three days a week, stopping at Central Station . 35°08′20″N 90°03′27″W  /  35.1389°N 90.0575°W  / 35.1389; -90.0575 Furry Lewis Walter E. "Furry" Lewis (March 6, 1893 or 1899 – September 14, 1981) was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis , Tennessee. He

720-613: The United States and in 2006 by Universal Records . In 1972, he was the featured performer in the Memphis Blues Caravan, which included Bukka White , Sleepy John Estes , Clarence Nelson, Hammie Nixon , Memphis Piano Red, Sam Chatmon , and Mose Vinson . He opened twice for the Rolling Stones , performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , had a part in a Burt Reynolds movie ( W.W. and

756-436: The area from adjacent areas as well as the region as a whole. The new Interstate 22 is about 10 miles away from Downtown. Downtown also serves as the western termination point for U.S. Route 78 as well as U.S. Route 72 , and is directly located along U.S. Route 51 , U.S. Route 61 , U.S. Route 64 , U.S. Route 70 , and U.S. Route 79 . MATA operates the North End Terminal, its primary hub for Memphis public bus service, at

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792-753: The city of Memphis, a job he held until his retirement in 1966, which allowed him to continue performing music in Memphis. Lewis made his first recordings for Vocalion Records in Chicago in 1927. A year later, he recorded for Victor Records at the Memphis Auditorium in a session with the Memphis Jug Band , Jim Jackson , Frank Stokes , and others. He again recorded for Vocalion in Memphis in 1929. The tracks were mostly blues but included two-part versions of " Casey Jones " and "John Henry". He sometimes fingerpicked and sometimes played with

828-515: The corner of Main Street and A.W. Willis Avenue. The majority of fixed bus routes operates by MATA terminate at the North End Terminal, therefore bus accessibility in the area is very high. The MATA Trolley is a heritage streetcar system that operates three lines in downtown along Main Street, Riverside Drive, and Madison Avenue. It consists of twenty four stations and, in 2021, had a daily ridership of approximately 650. Connections between MATA public bus and Main Street trolley line can be made at

864-546: The eastern part developed as an affluent suburb. In the 1860s, 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. In the 1870s, the population of Memphis was rocked 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 eventually led to his becoming

900-541: 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, 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. Speakers at

936-486: The home of the 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

972-471: The recording on a 12-inch vinyl record. In 2001 the recording was released on CD as "Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends, Party! at Home", by Arcola Records. In 1969, the record producer Terry Manning recorded Lewis in his Fourth Street apartment in Memphis, near Beale Street . These recordings were released in Europe at the time by Barclay Records and again in the early 1990s by Lucky Seven Records in

1008-590: The redevelopment of Beale Street. The corporation was selected by the City of Memphis to participate in the redevelopment of the blocks on Beale between Second and Fourth streets in August, 1978. The corporation dedicated its efforts to the success of the Beale Street project for the preservation of the street's rich history, and to its cultural as well as physical development. The BSDC secured $ 5.2 million in grants for

1044-479: The renovation of Beale Street. In 1982, the City of Memphis recommended that the BSDC hire a management company led by John A. Elkington to assist in the development of the street by securing new tenants, collecting rents and handling certain maintenance and security issues. Each new lease had to be agreed upon by BSDC, the City of Memphis and the management company, Performa. The day-to-day management of Beale Street

1080-429: The riverfront and the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River . The founders of Memphis dedicated the riverfront to the public "now and forever" as long as the public use continued. The land overlooking the riverfront was originally planned to become a "public promenade" to be called Mississippi Row . The upper riverfront became the site of the river landing where steamboats were loaded with cotton and other goods in

1116-472: The street and its surrounding areas. Beale Street was created in 1841 by entrepreneur and developer Robertson Topp (1807–1876), who soon named it later in the decade for Edward Fitzgerald Beale , a military hero from the Mexican–American War . (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

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1152-505: The tallest buildings in the city. The tallest building in Memphis, 100 North Main , is located at the heart of downtown along Main Street at Adams Ave and rises to 430 ft (131m). Some notable and/or historic downtown buildings are: Downtown Memphis consists of 4.5 million square feet (418,000 square meters) of office space, around 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters) of retail space, 3,456 hotel rooms, and 13,400 housing units. The administrative core of Memphis and Shelby County

1188-773: The worst marine disasters in history. There are several historic residences downtown, particularly in the Victorian Village neighborhood. Other historic homes include the Hunt-Phelan House (1830), the Magevney House (ca. 1835) and the Burkle Estate (1849). The Burkle home and the Hunt Phelan House (533 Beale Street) were reputed to have been part of the underground railroad by which escaped slaves made their way to freedom prior to

1224-438: Was age 7. He acquired the nickname Furry from childhood playmates. By 1908, he was playing solo at parties, in taverns, and on the street. He was also invited to play several dates with W. C. Handy 's Orchestra. In his travels as a musician, he was exposed to a wide variety of performers, including Bessie Smith , Blind Lemon Jefferson , and Alger "Texas" Alexander . In 1916, Lewis lost a leg in an accident when trying to jump

1260-546: Was one of the earliest of the blues musicians active in the 1920s to be brought out of retirement and given new opportunities to record during the folk blues revival of the 1960s. Lewis was born in Greenwood, Mississippi . His birth year is uncertain. Many sources give 1893, the date he gave in his later years, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest 1899, based on his 1900 census entry, and other sources suggest 1895 or 1898. His family moved to Memphis when he

1296-488: Was turned over to the City of Memphis in an October, 2012 court decision after a long legal dispute involving the city, BSDC and Performa. 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

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