Broadway - An Early History

Broadway's Early History

Map of Fort Pickering Area 1858 (http://www.loc.gov/item/2012586237/)

In 1823, Andrew Jackson, one of Memphis' founders, sold his one eighth interest in Memphis to John Christmas McLemore. McLemore named the tract Fort Pickering,¹ after a United States Army fort established in the area in 1801 by General James Wilkinson. The fort was named after Secretary of War Timothy Pickering². It remained as an Indian trading post until after the end of the War of 1812.³

McLemore saw Ft. Pickering as a rival to Memphis. In pursuit of this dream, he reached an agreement with Judge John Overton, another one of Memphis' founders, to establish a ferry landing in Ft. Pickering in competition with Memphis ferries.⁴

He deeded 208 acres of his property to the La Grange and Memphis Railroad with the understanding that the railroad would lay out a town on the land. One entire block 300 by 400 feet was set aside and designated as the site for a depot. A street one hundred feet wide running from the depot to the river on the west and Bayou Gayoso on the east was named “Broadway”.⁵ Broadway east of the depot was intended to be a street and a railroad right of way combined.⁶

McLemore also owned the land east of Bayou Gayoso and granted the railroad a “right of way” (later to be judged an easement) over this property to connect with the railroad at the point where the railroad diverged toward Memphis⁷ (KC Junction)

No work was ever done on the right of way by the La Grange & Memphis with the exception of some grading on the right of way and for the most part the land remained vacant and unimproved until 1871 when the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad Company did work preparing it for laying railroad track. This company failed and in 1881 the Memphis, Selma and Brunswick took up the task of preparing the right of way for track and in 1882, the Kansas City, Ft. Scott and Memphis, successor to the Memphis, Selma and Brunswick, finally laid track the length of the right of way.⁸

The authority for occupying Broadway by the Selma, Marion & Memphis, the Memphis, Selma & Brunswick and the Kansas City, Ft Scott & Memphis railroads was presumably granted by the City of Memphis or the the Taxing District of Shelby County by agreements similar to one dated December 5, 1881, between the Taxing District of Shelby County and the Springfield & Memphis Railroad Company⁹ The Taxing District of Shelby County was the governing body for Memphis from January 29, 1879 until April 9, 1891, Memphis' charter having been revoked as a result of the yellow fever epidemic.¹⁰

By virtue of the agreement between John C. McLemore and the La Grange and Memphis Railroad, the Memphis & Charleston Railroad claimed ownership of Broadway and sued the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis. The suit was settled with the Memphis & Charleston acquiring one half of the right of way.¹¹ The City of Memphis, however, held that Broadway was a dedicated street and was owned by the City of Memphis. On January 31, 1890, an agreement was reached between the City of Memphis, the Memphis and Charleston and the Kansas City, Ft. Scott and Memphis/Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham (called the “Kansas City Companies” in the agreement) as to the division of Broadway. The southern 25% was “quit claimed” to the Kansas City Companies, the center 50% was “quit claimed” to the City of Memphis and the northern 25% was “quit claimed” to the Memphis and Charleston. Interestingly, none of the parties waived their claim to the ownership of Broadway, calling the agreement a “compromise adjustment of differences.”¹²

1 History of the City of Memphis, Tennessee by John M. Keating, page 124.

2 Standard History of Memphis by A.R. James, Page 50.

3 History of the City of Memphis, Tennessee by John M. Keating, page 102.

4 History of the City of Memphis Tennessee by John Keating, page 186

5 The Southwestern Reporter, Volume 69, page 339, West Publishing Company, 1902

6 IBID Page 341

7 IBID Page 339

8 IBID Page 340

9 Digest of the Acts Repealing the Charters of Certain Municipal Corporations" ,Appendix, Page 62, S. C. Toof & Co, 1898

10 Ibid, Page 1

11 A History of the Legal Development of the Southern Railway Company, Felix Harrison, Page 728, 1901

12 Digest of the Acts Repealing the Charters of Certain Municipal Corporations" ,Appendix, Page 251, S. C. Toof & Co, 1898