When the city founders first laid out Memphis 200 years ago, the plans included a downtown park called Court Square.
In our typically Memphis way, we never built a courthouse or any other court-related building in, or even on, Court Square. Instead, it has remained a park — a very nice park indeed — for two centuries.
Now that doesn't mean it's just been an empty lot. For one thing, the oak trees have created a lovely canopy over the walks, and turned that square-block-space into one of Downtown's most pleasant green spaces. Over the years, certain additions and "improvements" have come and gone, such as the old cannon from the Spanish American War, which I wrote about recently.
But in the late 1800s, city leaders added two features that have become a permanent part of Court Square. The most impressive, of course, is the elaborate cast-iron fountain, topped with the statue of Hebe, the Greek goddess who served as "cupbearer to the gods." The second feature was a covered bandstand in the northwest corner of the park, shown here in a hand-colored (but accurately rendered) postcard from the early 1900s.
Though both the fountain and the bandstand have been restored and rebuilt over the years, they are still standing today, little changed from when they were first added to the Square.
Now, if you study the postcard, you'll note that the bandstand apparently has a basement, or some kind of lower level, with windows.
As a Lauderdale, I must warn you: Don't ever try to go down there. Don't! My cousin, once one of the bravest lads I know, tried that one day, by prying open a window and crawling inside. It was hours before he was able to escape, his clothes shredded and babbling like a lunatic. All he does now is sit in his dark room and scribble on the floor with a piece of chalk the nurse brings him. And, oh, what he draws ...
