If you were reading this thrilling, heart-warming blog waaaaay back in 2009 (and I certainly hope you were), then you might recall that I told about the day in 1927 when Charles Lindbergh visited Memphis. It was only a few months after his world-famous transatlantic flight, and the “Lone Eagle” had embarked on a cross-country tour in The Spirit of St. Louis to talk to various civic leaders about the advantages of air travel.
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 8×10-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.”
