photo by calvin l. Leake | Dreamstime
Visitors to Soulsville are welcomed by the brightly painted “I Love Soulsville” mural at the corner of East McLemore and Mississippi.
Rebecca Hutchinson, who’s lived in the neighborhood for nearly two decades, was one of the residents who spearheaded that project with local artists. When Hutchinson and her husband were looking to move from their Midtown home in 2002, they wanted to relocate somewhere nearby. “We first looked at Midtown,” she says. “Then we wandered over into the Soulsville area. I actually kind of grew up in that area. I went to church there at Metropolitan Baptist Church. That was my family church. So the community was already very familiar to me.”
The couple was sold on the neighborhood and its potential, deciding to move into a historic house on Fountain View right across from Memphis’ only Historically Black College and University (HBCU), LeMoyne-Owen College.
photo by blake billings | dreamstime
“When we first moved in, Stax was under construction, as well as the town center,” she says. “We saw that there was progress occurring in the neighborhood and knew that it was really on the upswing. We felt it would be a good investment of our time and effort.”
Since then, Hutchinson says she’s seen a lot of progress in the neighborhood, “but we still have a ways to go.”
She has been helping with that progress through her involvement with the neighborhood association and previously as the site director for Soulsville under a grant from Community LIFT (Leveraging Investments For Transformation). “I was able to work alongside my neighbors in helping to build their capacity,” she says. “We did a lot of projects in the neighborhood.”
photo by maya smith
Those projects included the “I Love Soulsville” mural and other neighborhood art, as well as the renovation of the basketball courts and walking trail at Chandler Park. Hutchinson also helped facilitate a resident-drafted three-year Soulsville revitalization plan, which began in 2017 and wraps up this year.
A key focal point of that plan is cultural tourism. “The idea is to capitalize on the history of our neighborhood and to showcase the historic landmarks here,” Hutchinson says. Another piece of the plan is economic development, with the goal of creating jobs for residents in the neighborhood.
“It’s vibrant,” Hutchinson says of Soulsville. “There’s a lot of vitality and energy. There’s also a lot of synergy going on in the community. A plethora of services and nonprofits have projects going on, but we’re all neighbors working toward the same goal: a better neighborhood. We are working to rebuild our neighborhood ourselves.”
Hutchinson believes the residents of the neighborhood take ownership of their community. “That’s a very important aspect of Soulsville, USA,” she says. “We feel that we have the resources, talent, and expertise in our neighborhood to make the type of changes and progress that we need.”
One of Hutchinson’s favorite aspects of her neighborhood are the people. “I love the people of Soulsville and their neighborliness — helping one another, knowing each other. Because we have people who’ve lived in the neighborhood for 50 or 60 years in addition to new folks, so we reach out to each other and we get to know each other.”
The residents of Soulsville are friendly and active, she says. “People are always out and doing things. People walk everywhere in Soulsville.You see activity going on all the time in our neighborhood. I love the folk who go down and keep the corner, where the iconic Soulsville mural is, clean and looking nice, and the residents who walk up and down Trigg picking up trash. There’s pride and that’s because of the people and value they place on this neighborhood.”
That pride is rooted in the neighborhood’s rich history. “How many neighborhoods can boast of an international museum and an HBCU right next door to each other?” says Hutchinson. “We have churches that are over 100 years old. We have thriving businesses that have been in the community for decades like the Four Way Grill, which is historical in itself.”
photo by alex shansky
Moving forward, Hutchinson says she hopes for a Soulsville that has more amenities and opportunities for those living in the community. “Even under good conditions, it’s a neighborhood that has traditionally been disinvested in. It was once a very thriving business community, particularly on McLemore. Those businesses dissipated. I want to see a resurgence of that.”
She also wants to see more jobs for residents. “I want to see more enterprises so that dollars can be spent here and stay here,” she says. “I want to see vibrant businesses, more restaurants, maybe a coffee shop. I want to see amenities that people in the neighborhood can take advantage of and patronize, but also earn a living. I want people to be able to work in the neighborhood they live in.”
photo by maya smith
“We try to make sure our staff represents the neighborhood we serve and they’ve probably been our greatest asset,” says Rogers. “I’ve learned a ton. We’ve just been completely blown away by what Memphis as a whole is missing out on. This is an incredibly rich neighborhood. I learn something new about it every day.”
Rogers says there is a “familial feel about residents” of Soulsville, but first you have to earn the trust of the community. “One thing that I really appreciate is that it feels welcoming and kind. Once you’ve shown yourself to be true and that your intentions are altruistic, valid, and real, and that you’re not just going to disappear, you’re a part of the family.”
That family feeling is what is most striking about Soulsville, Rogers says. “A lot of neighborhoods you go into, especially suburbs, it feels like you’re there and existing, but you’re not part of something. And Soulsville is the opposite. Here you have to earn the trust, but once you are a part of the community, you are fully embraced and part of something.”
Rogers says he’s seen this firsthand with the gym. “When we first opened, there was a lot of crime. We were broken into and things were being stolen. But employees who live in the community were able to teach us about the neighborhood, as well as the members of the community about what we represent. And eventually it stopped. It feels like that’s because we were an unknown commodity that popped up overnight and people didn’t know how long we’d be here. But now, we’re accepted as a staple in the community.”
Rogers says he wants to emulate what Stax Records was in the past: a meeting point for people from all over the city. “I’ve known about a lot of these artists my whole life, but didn’t realize this was the focal point for a lot of their creativity until recently. I heard about Aretha Franklin and all the amazing artists that have come through here. It’s special to be in a location where so many musical legends congregated. That’s what we see ourselves trying to do. We want to create an accepting meeting spot where people can come together again. I feel like the neighborhood will return to that rich location once again soon.”
Founded in 1960 by sister and brother Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart, Stax has always been an integral part of the neighborhood, says Jeff Kollath, executive director of the Stax Museum of Soul.
“Soulsville is known to the world because of Stax Records, but of course, Stax Records would be nothing without the people of Soulsville,” says Kollath. “There’s a reason Stax is here and it wouldn’t have the same impact if it was in any other location. We’re on sacred, hallowed ground here at the corner of College and McLemore. It really is the power of place.”
Today, Kollath says the museum and the academy strive to bring Stax into the twenty-first century by “providing opportunities to people to learn music and potentially take musical skills they’re learning into the world. For us, it goes back to the core tenants of what Stax Records was all about — making sure music is accessible.”
