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Memphis Trivia


Rardy

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I figured there's plenty out there about Memphis the rest of you forumers know, and I'd like to know unheard-of facts about our fair city I'm not likely to come across anyplace else.

Whatever interests you -- it's fair game here. Provide a link, though, if you can. :P

The first single-point urban interchange in the state of Tennessee was built in Cordova, at the interchange of Germantown Pkwy. and Walnut Grove. Single-point interchanges are the primary type used on the Nonconnah, and one is also being constructed on Walnut Grove at Humphreys. It is an interchange that requires only one traffic signal and is much more efficient than traditional diamonds. For more info on SPUI's, see Wikipedia.

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Well here is a couple of stories.....My uncle, when he was young back in the 70s, always went and did crazy things around town. So one night he and his crazy, drunk :alc: , friends snuck into the 100 n main building, supposedly being watched by one security gaurd, went up one of the stairwells to the top and commenced to throw firecrackers on the people below. Soon someone called the police and so while the cops were going up one stairwell they went down an other and escaped.

Then every once and a while my uncle, my dad and their friends would sneek in to the top of the cook convention center to see live concerts, I forget who it was they would go see. The story goes is that they would some how get on the roof of the convention center and just walk through the maintenance doors at the top and wouldn't have to buy a ticket for the concert.

I may be a little rough on the details since its been a while since they told me about their younger years. :D

Rardy: Thanks for using one of my pics for your avatar. Just recently I took some skyline pics from the Hernando Desoto Bridge, and I will post them on here sometime.

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I don't know if this counts, but heres something interesting.

I was looking around Emporis.com at the buildings that Robert Lee Hall & Associates designed (They designed the 100 n main bldg and Clark Tower). One of the other buildings they designed is in Milwaukee WI, and it looks like a miniature 100 n main bldg.

Heres the thread for the little bro.

633 Building

Just thought that was pretty interesting and funny. :thumbsup:

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I don't know if this counts, but heres something interesting.

I was looking around Emporis.com at the buildings that Robert Lee Hall & Associates designed (They designed the 100 n main bldg and Clark Tower). One of the other buildings they designed is in Milwaukee WI, and it looks like a miniature 100 n main bldg.

Heres the thread for the little bro.

633 Building

Just thought that was pretty interesting and funny. :thumbsup:

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  • 1 month later...

More trivia:

  • Shelby County has more horses per capita than any other county in the U.S.

  • The Memphis Cotton Exchange still handles approximately one-half of the entire American cotton crop each year

  • Palm-reading/fortune-telling is illegal in Germantown

  • Memphis is home of the first Trailways/Continental bus line

  • Memphis is the only 5-time winner of the nation's cleanest city award

  • Volney, the lion who roared at the beginning of all the old MGM movies, lived at the Memphis Zoo until his death in 1944

  • Memphis is home to one of the busiest cement terminals in the country, which is located at the foot of the Interstate 240 bridge across the Mississippi River. The Lone Star Industries terminal supports the Memphis "Home of the Blues, Birthplace of Rock'n'Roll" neon sign. More than 400,000 tones of cement are shipped each year through the Memphis port

  • The Piggly Wiggly, the world's first self-service grocery store, opened in Memphis in 1916.

  • Memphis is the site of the first Welcome Wagon, founded here in 1928.

  • Cleo Wrap of Memphis is the world's largest manufacturer of Christmas wrapping paper producing two billion feet of gift-wrap each year.

Pretty cool stuff!

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I figured there's plenty out there about Memphis the rest of you forumers know, and I'd like to know unheard-of facts about our fair city I'm not likely to come across anyplace else.

Whatever interests you -- it's fair game here. Provide a link, though, if you can. :P

The first single-point urban interchange in the state of Tennessee was built in Cordova, at the interchange of Germantown Pkwy. and Walnut Grove. Single-point interchanges are the primary type used on the Nonconnah, and one is also being constructed on Walnut Grove at Humphreys.

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I own a 100 yr old standing butcher block. Remarkably, it has the original brand on one side of the block. The brand is contained in a "football" shaped circle and it reads:

BRANKS UNF (remainder of word is eligible)

I X L (the word "BRAND"

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Per the Council of Mayors, Memphis MSA has a greater economic output than the entire countries of Cuba, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Panama, and four times that of the country of Iceland.

The MSA also exceeds the economic output of Alaska, Montana, and roughly South Dakota and North Dakota combined.

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Orange Mound facts:

It stands on the former John Deadrick plantation site

It was the largest community of black homeowners back in the 40-50's.

It was the 2nd largest black community in the U.S. after Harlem.

1st neighborhood built by blacks in the U.S.

Has consistently avoided gentrification, largely through its strong community identity.

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Orange Mound facts:

It stands on the former John Deadrick plantation site

It was the largest community of black homeowners back in the 40-50's.

It was the 2nd largest black community in the U.S. after Harlem.

1st neighborhood built by blacks in the U.S.

Has consistently avoided gentrification, largely through its strong community identity.

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Once the crack game began, it was a wrap. The difference between Harlem & Orange Mound is gentrification. Orange Mound residents wouldn't allow gentrification because it would threaten the historical character of the neighborhood. Gentrification has cleaned up much of Harlem so that's why it has enjoyed the rebirth. Nowadays, Harlem is mostly white folks. In Orange Mound that's not the case. When you think about it, Orange Mound is a lot better off than it was in the 80s and early 90s. '92-'95 were Orange Mound's worst crime years. In due time, Orange Mound will have a rebirth but the historical character can't be threatened. Crime has largely moved south and east of it.
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  • 11 months later...

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