As my half-dozen readers know, I have a curious obsession with then-and-now photos. Whenever I find an old photograph of a home, street, building, gravestone — just about anything, really — I hop in the Hispano-Suiza, hop out and find something more reliable to drive, and then hurry to that location, to see what has changed over the years.
Using funds from the Lauderdale Family Trust, I recently purchased this rare 1936 view of downtown Memphis. I know it's dated 1936, because it's actually a "real photo" postcard, with a stamp on the back, and postmarked March 30, 1936.
The message, scribbled in ink on the back, is interesting. Mailed from someone named "Runtie" (I think that's what it says) to his father in Beaumont, Texas, the sender writes, "Dearest Dad, We beat M. yesterday 6-3, but they finished first with 7-4 today. Al played 5 innings today and the whole game today."
I don't know what team he means by "M" and of course I don't know who "Al" was, but I thought I'd share this with you anyway, as an example of a pre-Facebook and pre-Twitter message between friends and family.
But back to the image on the postcard. I immediately recognized most of the landmark buildings depicted here, and after a few moments of pondering the scene from my La-Z-Boy, I concluded the old photo could have been taken from only one location — the 12th (or top) floor of the Cotton Exchange Building, located at the southeast corner of Union and Front.
A quick journey to the rooftop, accompanied by several fearless colleagues (fearless of heights, I mean), and I confirmed I was correct, so I've included the present-day view below, so you can see how some things have changed, and some things haven't.
It feels strange, in a way, to think that someone stood in the exact spot where I was (precariously close to the edge!) and aimed their camera at the exact same scene, more than 80 years ago. It's not that easy to clamber up to the roof of the Cotton Exchange (please DO NOT attempt to do so — after all, you are not a Lauderdale), so I wonder if he (or someone he knew) worked in the building.
To make it easier for a then-and-now comparison, I've numbered the major buildings for you on the old postcard. All of them are still standing today, and if you don't believe me, just compare the 1936 view at top, with the present-day view below:
1. Lincoln-America Tower, also known as the Columbia Mutual Tower. It's a bit hard to see in the present-day photo, since the white color of the original stonework now blends pretty well with the 100 North Main Building just a few blocks north.
2. Lowenstein's Department Store, now Brinkley Plaza.
3. Commerce Title Building, now apartments and home to Cafe Keough.
4. Farnsworth Building, distinctive for its "icicle" stonework. Perhaps better known as the Three Sisters Building, and then the Memphis Business Journal Building, and now the Lokion Building, and also called 88 Union Center. This view shows it without any huge neon sign on the rooftop. You'll also notice that the external fire escape (visible in the current photo) was obviously added after 1936.
5. Sterick Building. At one time, our city's tallest building and "The Showplace of the South." No longer visible from the Cotton Exchange because of the Commerce Square Tower.
Oh sure, I could name other structures I recognize (I also see the old Exchange Building in the distance) but all this clambering to rooftops has worn me out, so it's back to the La-Z-Boy for another 14-hour nap.
The most interesting detail in the old postcard — and perhaps this is why the photographer pointed his camera in this particular direction — is the building under construction in the lower center. Look carefully. See it, just to the left of the Farnsworth Building, with only the concrete framework visible, and with two construction cranes or elevators poking up from it? This would soon open as the Wm. Len Hotel. Today, it's a Residence Inn.
Here's the same view today, taken from the same vantage point.
