The History Press

For locals and visitors alike, read about the events that uncover the history behind the legendary Memphis culture, and examine the stories of music, murder, natural disaster and other River City blasts from the past.

Far more than blues and barbecue, Memphis deep and fascinating culture has evolved one day at a time. Author G. Wayne Dowdy pins an exact date to a host of important, quirky and forgotten events in the history of Tennessee's largest city--an entertaining footnote for each day of the year. Earth, Wind and Fire founder Maurice White entered the world in a Memphis hospital on December 19, 1941. On January 15, 1877, a severe thunderstorm mysteriously left the city covered in snakes. On December 31, 1902, a resident was murdered on Main Street after taunting a Native American named Creeping Bear. A day or a month at a time, enjoy a year of entertaining River City blasts from the past.

The town of Newport, nestled in the foothills of the Smokies, has a rich and storied history. While some of these rare photographs have appeared in local newspapers, many have never been published or seen by more than a few.

This book reveals glimpses of the community's past, where the everyday citizens have gone about their daily lives while playing vital roles in the community's history. Most of these photographs were taken by ordinary citizens who never imagined that they might be preserving history, from the portraits of renowned townspeople like Thomas Sandusky Gorman, ""the father of Newport,"" to images of buildings that have long since been razed to the ground. Journey with local historian Edward Walker through this pictorial account of times gone by in Newport, Tennessee.

The Tri-Cities has been blessed with fame-worthy eateries that have helped shape the area’s identity. Elvis shimmied through the area during his up-and-coming years, making for one incredibly happy girl and her not-so-happy boyfriend. Broadwater Drug Stores served hamburgers that brought in customers from miles around. Hungry patrons had to arrive very early at Mountaineer Restaurant or they wouldn’t find a place to park. Home Sweet Home and the Mezzanine Tea Room offered homey atmospheres and had the best quiche in the area. Visitors to Skoby’s World were treated to a culinary trip around the world. Author Daphne Matthews details the delectable stories of the most iconic restaurants in the Tri-Cities’ past.

Enter the forest with author F. Carroll McMahan as he tells dramatic, fascinating and sometimes humorous stories of a man who lived truly on his own terms.

Born in 1889 in the Smoky Mountains, Lem Ownby became one of the region's most recognized figures. Sight-impaired from an early age, Lem spent his life logging, bear hunting, farming and tending his beehives. He welcomed the arrival of logging operations into the pristine wilderness but became an eyewitness to the devastation it brought to land, streams and wildlife. As the last leaseholder living within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lem became a legend, selling his honey and offering pearls of wisdom to hikers, writers and even the governor. Lem's principles remained solid, his opinions so unwavering that he once refused to entertain two Supreme Court justices.

Author R. Scott Williams details the spectacular exploits of a true adventurer.

Richard Halliburton ran away from his hometown in Memphis at the age of nineteen to lead an extraordinary and dramatic life of adventure. Against the backdrop of the Golden Age, the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, Halliburton's exploits around the globe made him an internationally known celebrity and the most famous travel writer of his time. From climbing Mount Olympus in Greece to swimming the Panama Canal and literally flying all the way to Timbuktu, Halliburton experienced and wrote about adventures that others never even believed possible. His youthful spirit and bohemian lifestyle won the hearts of millions.

Enjoy this all-access pass to more than a century of sports in the Music City packed into one exciting volume Watch from the bleachers as Ty Cobb practices with the Vanderbilt football team and Babe Ruth blasts home runs out of the old Sulphur Dell Ball Park, or go all the way back to 1843 and witness what was then the richest horse race in the world at the Nashville Race Course. These are but a few of the stories compiled by local award-winning sportswriter Bill Traughber in this one-of-a-kind collection no sports fan should be without. Included are excerpts from local sportswriters like the legendary Grantland Rice and over forty historic photographs from the playing field.

Nashville's main industry is music. But where good tunes go, good booze follows, so it's no surprise that the city enjoys a lively local beer scene, as well. The city's brewing history dates back to the 1800s, when German immigrants first settled in the area. The rise and fall of Gerst Brewing Company, one of the first established Nashville breweries, left people thirsting for local beer after the company closed its doors in 1954. In the last decade of the century, a boom of brewpubs brought the drinking class some newer, more exotic styles of beer, and the people of Nashville have been under the influence of creative brewing ever since. Food, beverage and travel writer Chris Chamberlain tells the story of beer from the Music City and introduces us to the breweries and beer lovers that make up a local scene well worth raising a glass to.

As the Civil War unfolded, Murfreesboro became hotly contested by Confederate and Union forces. Both sides occupied the town for significant periods, with power changing hands as the fighting raged. Punctuated by events like Nathan Bedford Forrest's raid on Union forces in July 1862, Jefferson Davis's visit and the wedding of General John Hunt Morgan and Martha Ready, wartime Murfreesboro saw no shortage of drama. As combat escalated, the bloody Battle of Stones River and the Nashville Campaign brought more destruction. Yet at war's end, the resilient locals remained and rebuilt their town from the rubble. Authors and Civil War historians Michael Bradley and Shirley Farris Jones track the tumult of the proceedings to recount the compelling story of Murfreesboro during the Civil War.

Robert J Crawford was one of the first 12 black firefighter hired by the City of Memphis. He came through the ranks as the first black battalion chief, deputy chief and deputy director. This book details his experiences as a boy growing up in Memphis and as a black firefighter.

This is a first hand personal experience of what black firefighters faced from a systemic manipulation to deny them opportunity and examples of tactics used to "get rid of them."