On the morning of December 9, 1941, a young Memphis woman named Thelma Lloyd plunged to her death from the top floor of the Medical Arts Building, located at Madison and Fourth. Investigators later determined that she had tumbled out the open window of the women's bathroom on that floor, but they were never able to determine if her death was an accident or suicide.
For that matter, they never discovered why she was in the building in the first place. She didn't work there, had no appointments in the buiilding, and it was several blocks away from where she worked. I told the whole tragic story here.
Her death took place exactly 80 years ago today, and my pal Stuart Harris, one of the owners of Walk-Off Properties, whose company has been renovating the Downtown landmark — now known as The Commonwealth — decided to pay a tribute to Lloyd by placing this nice plaque (shown here) outside the bathroom on the eighth floor.
Here's how the building, erected in 1926, is described on their website: "Originally conceived as the Medical Arts Building, it was a place designed for the common good. A place where all Memphians — no matter their social status, race or gender — could come for healing. A place where medical professionals collaborated and shared ideas about their craft."
That was then. Here are the plans for the building now: "Drawing inspiration from the building’s previous incarnations, the redevelopment breathes a new life into the building as a multifaceted development, uniting Memphians with a common interest. We are delighted to offer forty apartments, commercial offices, a number of amenities at street-level, and space for collaboration and congregation." It's a lovely building, and I'm glad it didn't fall to the wrecking ball. Go to their website for lots of pictures.
I should mention that the old Medical Arts Building shares another (considerably happier) connection with someone else I've written about. Years ago, I told the story of Cy Cooley, who had developed a program of "radio exercises" for the WMC radio station. The show was called "The Early Bird Club" and you listened to the program and did what he told you. He was definitely ahead of his time.
Well, it seems Cooley — who was involved with sports and physical fitness activities in Memphis all his life — operated a health club in the penthouse of the Medical Arts / Commonwealth Building. To acknowledge that aspect of the building's history, in fact, Stuart tells me he plans to place a blown-up cover of one of Cooley's radio-exercise pamphlets (perhaps this one) outside the building's new fitness center.
