photograph courtesy Memphis Public Libraries
The Memphis and Shelby County Room at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library has a nice collection of old photos that show the Hemphill Diesel School, inside and out. This shows the school’s final location in Memphis, when it was located on South Main.
Dear Vance: On a certain online auction site, I came across materials for a trade school for diesel engine mechanics, which was located in Memphis. When did this establishment open, and what happened to it? — V.R., Memphis.
Dear V.R.: The Lauderdales have received so many honorary degrees from a grateful nation that I looked around the mansion for a diploma from the Hemphill Diesel School. I didn’t locate it right away, but I’ll check the chauffeur’s quarters the next time he bothers to come to work. After all, this school taught people how to maintain giant diesel engines, much like the one that powers our ancient Daimler-Benz.
I could expound for hours on the advantages of the power plant invented by Rudolph Diesel in 1893, but I’ll save that for my next speaking engagement. Let me just say that these engines became famous for their durability and economy. Durable because they didn’t require sparkplugs or a complicated ignition system of any kind, and economical because they ran on oil of the cheapest grade, not gasoline which required refining. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?
But one could find diesel engines where anyone needed an extremely strong and reliable power source: bulldozers, generators, ships, trucks, tractors, and locomotives. Even though they were workhorses, they still needed maintenance and repairs from time to time, and that’s what made the Hemphill Diesel Schools so popular in the early part of the 1900s.
They didn’t start in Memphis, though. A Los Angeles engineer named Ralph Hemphill opened the first school in Los Angeles around 1930. The Memphis branch was the third in a national network of “America’s Original Exclusive Diesel Schools” that included locations in Houston, Chicago, Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia.
photograph courtesy Memphis Public Libraries
A classroom (or “Theory Room”) at Hemphill Diesel School when it was located on South Main.
Hemphill Diesel School opened a branch here in 1935 at 421 Monroe, where it intersects the finest street in town — Lauderdale. The handsome brick structure with fine stone detailing had first opened in 1916 as a fancy showroom and repair shop for Overland automobiles, a popular brand back in the day.
Norman Andresen was director when the Memphis school opened, with only four instructors at first. That number grew quickly, and newspaper stories about Hemphill usually mentioned its “hundreds of students.” A full-page ad in Popular Mechanics certainly emphasized a bright future in this field: “A Nevada gold mine, a lumber camp in the far north, a big Texas refinery, a West Coast manufacturing plant, a great motorship bound for the Orient — all needed trained diesel men, and Hemphill graduates went on those jobs!”
If Hemphill stayed busy in the 1930s, World War II brought the school even more students. Anyone going into combat knew their lives depended on reliable transportation, and diesels became the main power plants for tanks, trucks, battleships, and submarines. A contract with the U.S. Army and Navy sent soldiers to Memphis for training in diesel repair and maintenance. Classes were taught day and night, with Hemphill even offering a correspondence course.
Hemphill manager Norman Andresen predicted a time when every American carmaker installed diesel engines in its vehicles, noting that “a 3,700-mile jaunt across the country by diesel automobile can be made at a fuel cost of seven dollars.” Memphis drivers would spend only 80 cents to make a trip to Nashville.
I must say that the Hemphill chain of schools did a fine job with their promotions, in the 1930s distributing a newspaper called Diesel News, and by the early 1940s publishing a glossy magazine called The March of Diesel. In 32 pages, it featured massive diesel engines being put to use across America, with young men wearing snazzy “Hemphill School” coveralls tinkering with them and attending classes. It’s actually quite a fine magazine, though of course not as fascinating as the one you’re reading now, no matter how much you care about diesel engines.
Every Thursday evening, in its spacious auditorium, Hemphill also presented free lectures and movies “on the application of diesel engines to modern industry and transportation.” That became a weekly outing for the Lauderdales, as I recall — mainly because it was free.
Newspaper ads reminded readers of the “enormous advantages of many opportunities for trained diesel men.” (I’m sorry, but not a word was said about trained diesel women.) At a time when gasoline sold for 22 cents a gallon, diesel fuel cost only a nickel (imagine that today). In one of these ads, Hemphill manager Andresen predicted a time when every American carmaker installed diesel engines in its vehicles, noting that “a 3,700-mile jaunt across the country by diesel automobile can be made at a fuel cost of seven dollars.” Memphis drivers would spend only 80 cents to make a trip to Nashville.
To enroll in the Hemphill school, Andresen warned that he “only accepts students after a thorough investigation as to their mechanical inclinations, their character, and their general ability to comprehend and utilize their faculties to graduate into genuine diesel engine experts.” By 1940, he pointed out the Memphis branch “now has students from every state in the South.”
Earning a degree or certificate took 34 weeks, and The Commercial Appeal ran a photo — too fuzzy to share with you here — of precisely 110 “soldier-machinists” receiving their Hemphill diplomas at a gala ceremony held at the Claridge Hotel in August 1942.
photograph by vance lauderdale
This is the first location of the school, when it opened on Monroe. Note the old sign painted on the bricks above the entrance. For years, it was home to Memphis Cycle Shop.
By this time, the school’s regular ads announced that “Hemphill Diesel School Has Gone To War,” with most of its classes “devoted to the training of soldiers and sailors.” Civilian classes would resume soon, they hoped, but the ads urged readers to “prepare yourself now for a better future in war and in peace.”
I should mention that other trade schools around the country adopted this patriotic approach, with the Defense Vocational School in Memphis asking newspaper readers, “Are YOU Helping Win the War?” and promoting six-week classes that taught students how to become certified aircraft inspectors.
In May 1944, Hemphill Diesel School had to find a new location, when Clyde Collins, Inc., manufacturers of food coloring and other additives, purchased their building on Monroe. A new school director, Gerald Logan, complained to readers of The Commercial Appeal, “There is a rumor going around that we are closing up, and this is absolutely a false idea.” He assured readers (and presumably, his students) that they were seeking a new location.
They found it in December of that year in a somewhat smaller building at 1017 Union. Located in the heart of “Automobile Row,” it had until recently housed Dixie Auto Top and Body Works. The newspaper reminded readers that “the Army has sent company after company of men here to take their courses,” and Hemphill reminded readers that it would soon resume its regular commercial classes.
Hemphill, however, encountered some challenges. By the end of 1945, with the war over, it would seem that men and women returning from active duty would need to find employment, or enroll in a school that would help them train for new jobs. For whatever reason, they didn’t turn to Hemphill, and enrollment declined. In 1946, the Union Auto Electric Service Company decided to expand, and it bought the Hemphill building next door to do that.
Once again, the school was forced to relocate, this time moving to 311 South Main, a warehouse built in 1900 that had most recently been home to the Chisca Garage. That’s the older building shown here (at left), and Hemphill made sure anyone driving past knew what was inside. A neon sign carried the school name, also painted across the front, sides, windows, and front door. A window display promoted “Diesel Electric Power — It’s Here.” Other signs said, “Visitors Welcome,” and a close look shows how Hemphill enticed future students to stop and look around: A diesel fuel pump stood outside the front door.
photograph by vance lauderdale
Hemphill-sidewalkmarker-1
The developers placed nicely illustrated plaques in the sidewalk in front of the school on Monroe, commemorating its history.
In 1949, The Commercial Appeal devoted a full-page story to local trade and vocational schools, noting that “the field of diesel engines has rapidly moved into the high-paying brackets for men who can operate them.” What’s more, Hemphill “has long been considered a fine institution for learning the operation, repair, and maintenance of diesel engines. The school in Memphis has 281 students in the Diesel Mechanics course and 33 in the Specialized Automobile Tuneup division.”
Apparently, that wasn’t enough enrollment to keep the school in business. A 1950 newspaper story announced the sale of the school building on South Main, but this time there was no mention of where it moved next. After some 15 years in Memphis, it seems the Hemphill Diesel School quietly closed.
The building on Union was demolished to make way for the expressway, but Hemphill’s first building on Monroe (above), for years home to the Memphis Cycle Shop, has been beautifully restored, inside and out. Developers have also refurbished the school’s third and final location on South Main. Both are currently waiting for new occupants, and 421 Monroe (at Lauderdale, remember) seems the perfect location to relaunch Lauderdale Enterprises, Inc. — beginning with my family’s chain of sno-cone parlors.
Got a question for Vance?
Email: askvance@memphismagazine.com
Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis Magazine, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101
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