Winter 2023
2/27/2023:
This week’s mystery will be the final one in our Winter series. We’ll be taking a break to process all of the submissions and update archival records, but first, one final photograph from the Robert Lanier Collection.
The description accompanying this photograph reads, “A photo of a woman standing in the street outside a pool hall on Beale Street.” The date is 1955. Can you help us locate this pool hall? What Beale Street address is this? If you can figure it out, let us know in the comments box!
SOLVED!!
This week’s mystery was solved by our Instagram followers. One detective noted that the building on the left edge of the frame matches the details on The Daisy Theatre, which would place the pool hall at 323 Beale.
Others noted that the location is still a pool hall today! Peoples on Beale currently occupies the location. These details place our photographer around 35.139406, -90.050404.
1/30/2023:
The title given to this photograph in our archive is “Building near Union”, but the description indicates that information is not conclusive. All we know is that it’s “a photo featuring construction around an apartment house or hotel, possibly on Union Avenue.”
Is this construction or a demolition? Is this building located on Union or perhaps a nearby street? If you know, please let us know in the comments box!
SOLVED!!
This was solved through a collaborative effort. Several detectives sent in parts of the answer. Over on Instagram several people concurred that the intersection of Dunlap and Union is what was captured in the photograph. But looking in which direction?
Instagram user @mistr.kay elaborated that it appeared the photographer was standing alongside Health Sciences Park, looking across to Union. @b_m_boswell followed up suggesting the demolition was to make room for the UTHSC Dental building.@lesaispas concurred that the location was near what used to be the College of Social Work.
We received one submisstion through the website from a detective named Patrick, who summed up the findings nicely: “The building in the picture was located on the south east corner at the intersection of Union and South Dunlap street next door to the Scottish Rite Cathedral building. Today it is occupied by the UT Dental/Orthodontics building. There is a corner of a building, the University of Tennessee Health Science O.W. Hyman building, showing on the left side of the photo which can be seen on the google maps street image at this location.”
All of these details help to place our photograph near 35.138688, -90.033775.
1/23/2023:
This week’s mystery photograph is another from our Robert Lanier Collection. Unlike many of our previous mysteries, this photo was taken fairly recently. The date on the image is May 20, 2008. The description only states, “A photo of the front of a white house. The light pole has the number 916 on it.”
We’re not sure what neighborhood this is or the street where this house is/was located. Can you help? If you recognize this house and can provide more details about where it is located, let us know in the comments box!
SOLVED!!
This mystery was solved both on our Instagram account and through submissions on the web. The first submission we received incated that the home is at 916 Rayner Street, and though the home has been remodeled, the pole with the address is still there today.
@whattangledwebs on Instagram used Google Maps to confirm the location as 916 Rayner Street, placing the photograph around 35.120924, -90.011704.
1/09/2023:
The first photo for today’s Monday Mystery is simply titled, “Memphis house”. The accompanying data indicates the photograph was taken on February 11, 1969. When the photo was first digitized, the description included stated, “a photo of a historic Memphis house, possibly on Vance Avenue.”
Is this Vance Avenue? Do you recognize this house? If so, please let us know! We’re interested in learning where this home was located and where the photographer was standing when the image was captured. Let us know your thoughts in the comments box!
SOLVED!!
This mystery was solved on our Instagram page. Memphis magazine published an article by Vance Lauderdale titled, “Lost Memphis: Henderson Business College”. In the article Vance Lauderdale describes finding an old booklet from 1950 which turned out to be the “Official Catalogue” of Henderson Business College, located at 530 Linden. The brochure includes a photograph of the above building, with the caption: “DORMITORY FOR GIRLS”. This puts the photographer around: 35.136762, -90.044522.