Friday, September 3, 2010
Charles Lindbergh's Visit to Memphis in 1927
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 3:22 PM
Lindbergh landed here at Armstrong Field on an October afternoon, and was driven to Overton Park, where he was greeted by some 100,000 fans. He gave free rides to a few VIPs (including the Lauderdales, I'm almost positive), then took off the next morning. All accounts of his visit mention the newsreel cameramen and newspaper photographs who captured his every move, and back in 2009 I wondered: Where are those photographs?
Well, one of them has finally turned up, as you can see here.
James Webster, now living in Galena, Illinois, wrote me a few weeks ago and told me this:
"I have an 8x10-inch glossy photo of Lindbergh taken on that visit. He is behind the wheel of a convertible, seated next to an unknown gentleman. My great uncle, William Lake Hayes (7/12/1891-9/13/1973), who was a Memphis city attorney, is in the rear, seated next to another unknown gentleman.
"As a child in the 1950s and early 1960s, I spent many summer days in Memphis visiting my grandparents, who lived on Oakview Street, near Lamar Ave. I would walk over to Uncle Lake and Aunt Margaret's house (at the southwest corner of Kendale Ave. & Burris St.) on the other side of the Southern RR tracks, to be regaled by his stories of the Boss Crump days in Memphis (while turning the freezer crank for my aunt's homemade ice cream).
"Other than my memories, I've been able to find very little about my uncle or his career in Memphis city government. As an amateur archaeologist, I'd certainly welcome more information."
Of course, I told him I was VERY interested in seeing the photo. When James sent it to me, he provided a bit more information about his family, and I thought I'd share that with you, because I am such a kindly old fellow:
"Uncle Lake is directly to the right of Lindbergh in the photo, his arm resting on the convertible top. I don't know the circumstances of the photo, or where it was taken. Perhaps it was taken by The Commercial Appeal, but there is no notation of that. I suspect because he was a city attorney, he was part of the official welcoming committee for Lindbergh's visit.
"He was quite the storyteller. From our conversations, now over 50 years ago, I vaguely remember him mentioning Lindbergh's visit to Memphis, but it was only on going through my father's things upon his death in 1992 that I came across this photo. A stamped inscription on the back says "Photograph by The Bluff City Engraving Co., Memphis, Tenn.). I have no idea who the other two gentlemen are. Also, to my knowledge, he never went by William ... it was always Lake Hays.
"The only other photo of Lake that I've come across is also attached (below). He is on the left in an extended family portrait taken in either 1929 or 1930 in the backyard of his residence on the southwest corner of Kendale Ave and Burris St. It includes his wife and son on the right, my grandparents, William C. and Mary B. Webster, their six sons and other assorted relatives, including Lake's father, who died in 1931. In May, I drove through Memphis en route to Baton Rouge and drove through the neighborhood. The color snapshot (below) is of the Kendale Avenue house today."
Thank you, James, for the wonderful photos. If I turn up more information about your family, I will let you know. And by the way, I've been to Galena, and it is a truly picturesque and fascinating town.
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF JAMES WEBSTER
- The Lake Family in 1929
- The Lake Hayes House Today
Comments (5)
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Wonderful pic, so nice to have it shared! For Father's Day I got a 1932 copy of Lindbergh's "We" (Actually I ASKED for a wii but never mind) and at the end it has the "Spirit's" log. He visited 48 states for the goodwill tour. In fact CAL took Henry and Edsel Ford up for their first flights in an "aeroplane" while at Ford Field in Detroit. By the way Vance, I have delved through the Memphis Room's Commercial Appeal images and found photos of Glenn Curtiss flying an extremely rickety crate. I think there was an "air meet" here in the very early teens. Do you have any knowledge of that in the Lauderdale Library Bowels?
Thanks to James for sharing.
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The Memphis Aero Meet was held at the Tri-State Fairgrounds in 1910. Though it was supposed to showcase the safety of the new "aero-plane" one of the highlights was a plane crashing into a parked car! I found a picture of some of the planes, including the shot you saw of Curtiss and, I think, his wife at the controls. I'll post that someday when I feel like it.
Armstrong Field was on Highway 51 North, but it was several miles south of Millington and did not become the navy base in later years. It just closed and became ... nothing. I recall visiting the site many years ago, thinking, "How could this empty field have once been one of the area's busiest airports?" but back then "busy" meant maybe an airplane a week.
I don't know when, exactly, the runway was built on Mud Island, and there were other landing fields around town, but for some reason Lindbergh chose Armstrong Field (way out of town at the time) for his visit here.
Thanks again Vance...as usual my exhaustive search (wiki) came up with: "in 1959, the Memphis Downtown Airport was opened on Mud Island, which at that time was called City Island. The one-runway airport could be reached by a pontoon-boat ferry and was used mostly by businessmen and shoppers. The Downtown Airport was closed in 1970"
To which my question is WHO would go to the trouble of flying in just to shop in Memphis...especially when they didn't even have a Bass Pro yet? Maybe it was the cropdusters coming in for supplies. I would imagine it would have had to close by 1973 when the "new" bridge was opened or it would make for an interesting approach..under or over?...unless they used the flying boats that were "floated" -ha!- when the Casinos opened but never came about. Maybe that was your family's idea instead of the Dirigibles? Maybe have "air yachts" to ferry casino patrons down river?
Any info on Wilson Field, a little grass strip in Southeast Memphis owned by Harry Wilson? He was purportedly a WW 1 pilot and had several WW II-era T-6 and Stearman airframes and other goodies (to an 8-year-old) strewn around. Took my first flight there in my uncle's 46 Aeronca Champ.
