A historic Midtown trolley stand located along Poplar in Overton Park was struck by a car Friday night, causing the entire structure to collapse.
Preservation Memphis, a nonprofit group that focuses on low-cost preservation projects, repaired and moved the East End Trolley Stop to the north side of Poplar Avenue last December in an effort to make it into a working bus stop. The stand, which has been around since the 1930s, was previously located on the south side of Poplar, and it had fallen into disrepair and was tagged with graffitti.
Last winter, Preservation Memphis members Kenny Jabbour and Alex Turley raised money to replace rotted wood in the frame, replace the roof, and paint the structure.
Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) now manages the bus stop, and Jabbour said MATA is working to contact the driver of the car that crashed into the stand to determine whether her insurance will cover its repair. Preservation Memphis has the original blueprints for the stand, and Jabbour hopes it can be rebuilt to look like it did before.
“It went from being a piece of Memphis history to just being in pieces,” Jabbour said.
