Today’s #MysteryMonday photos came from a folder of historic photographs of Memphis Buildings taken by Poland Photographers. While the folder included easily recognizable images like the Peabody Hotel, there were a number of buildings that were difficult to identify. This week’s mystery focuses on three unidentified buildings. Included below are the details of what we know about each image and what we need your help to uncover!
In this first image, the sign on the building reads, “University of Tennessee, Institute of Pathology.” We’re not sure where this building was. Do you recognize the street? What direction would the photographer be facing?
SOLVED!!
We received a few clues on this mystery in the comments of our Instagram post. This building was the University of Tennessee Institute of Pathology, and we were not sure where it was located. Instagram user @paranan11 suggested the building was at 858 Madison and that the building was still there. They were backed up by @girleight who added that the photo was taken from 869 Madison.
After poking around Google Maps, we confirmed that both of these users were right! Looking from 869 Madison, attempting to get the slightly angled perspective of the original photo, reveals that while the building is no longer the Institute of Pathology, 858 Madison seems to maintain some of the original building from our photo. Additionally, it is still used by the University of Tennessee. Though it is now the Molecular Process Building.
This image is a little trickier. We’re not sure what street it is on nor what building is photographed. Does anything in this image look familiar to you?
SOLVED!!
This mystery was solved by a suggestion from @aggietoo on our Instagram page. She posted that perhaps the building was the old Le Bonheur Hospital, and in fact, it is! Searching the Commercial Appeal archives led to an article from 1952 covering the opening of the new hospital, and including an image of the hospital from this same angle.
Searching DIG Memphis for “Le Bonheur” brings up additional photographs of the original building, all looking quite similar to the photograph here. That would place our photographer near the coordinates: 35.143773, -90.033088.
While we don’t know the name of the downtown building in this final image, we do know that it housed American Savings Bank & Trust Company and Merry Optical Co. Can you use the clues in the image to help identify the street or building? Where would the photographer have been standing to take the photo?
SOLVED!!
This was solved on Instagram thanks to the sharp eye of @great_white_schark and backed up by @paranan11 and @girleight. They identified the location of the building as the northeast corner of Madison Ave and Second Street by perusing the vintage postcards on historicmemphis.com and discovering that the building was “the Germania Bank Building, which replaced the Masonic Temple, and then was replaced by the Blake Building.”
We further confirmed the location using Commercial Appeal’s archives and found a 1931 advertisement for a Manhattan Savings Bank & Trust at Second and Madison, which tracks with the visible sign on our original image that reads American Savings Bank & Trust (though there seems to be a slight name change). The illustration in the ad looks similar to the building as well. Further, the newspaper ran a history of this particular corner in a 1982 article in the Business Section of the paper.
Unfortunately, that gorgeous mysterious building is no more, replaced with a modern brown structure. Which you can see in the Google Street View Image.