New Chicago

So, today I took a little trip to New Chicago, and I never even left Tennessee!!  Founded in 1901, New Chicago sits on the North side of Memphis.   According to the all knowing interweb, New Chicago has 362 homes built in 1939 or before.  It was in one of those that my favorite nonagenarian (person who is from 90 to 99 years old)  was sitting on her front porch, even though it was over 90 degrees in Memphis today. She reminisces about when she and her newlywed husband first moved into this very house, over 70 years ago. They tried to raise chickens, but as she says, "We didn't know what we were doing."  He's been gone for many years, and she has raised their children, nursed her beloved grandmother, and buried them all.  From her well maintained home, with the neatly trimmed yard and painted white trim, she looks across the street at the boarded up homes with the overgrown yards and remembers a neighborhood from days gone by... When she was growing up she tells me, there were only 2 High Schools for blacks in Memphis.  She attended one, and her Husband attended the rival school.  She once told me, "You've  heard of a Strong Black Woman?--That was me." Her Grandparents told her that back at the turn of the century black folks in the South were told that Chicago was the place to be--plentiful jobs, better living conditions, etc.  A group of people from down South headed out to make their way to Chicago, and this was as far as they could make it.  Thus they named it New Chicago. She eventually heads inside to eat her lunch before her daily phone call from a friend checking to make sure she's not sitting outside in the heat...    I can only imagine the glory days of New Chicago in 1901. In 2014,  many  homes are dilapidated, abandoned, and in disrepair.  Old Chicago still has  a City park, although today none of the neighborhood kids wanted to brave the heat it seemed.   The New Chicago grocery has seen better days.  Many of the homes in the neighborhood have been boarded up, and some have been torn down completely.  

I spotted one beautiful early 1900's home in need of just a little TLC to make it shine again. The old Cypress Creek Pumping Station still stands watch on the edge of the neighborhood. Built in the early 1940's, it has made sure that neighborhoods don't flood in times of heaviest rains. I wonder if the neighbors have thanked it recently. 

On My way back to My Midtown Mecca, I meandered past another Memphis iconic site, Plastic Products Record Plant, Hub of Rock and Roll.  At 1746 Chelsea, this site was dedicated in 2012 by the Shelby County Historical Commission. The marker boasts,  "by 1956 Plastic Products was pressing records round the clock for more than 49 labels nationwide".  I love the old Quonset huts, that take us back to the days of Big Bands and USO dances. They deserve to rest after so many years of use.   

Stay tuned and see where this Middle-aged Memphis Midtowner meanders to next. On the agenda so far for the weekend, Antique Trekking, and dinner with the Daughter. 

Peace Out...