Toddle House – Memphis Flyer

Photo courtesy Google Images
First Congregational today

NOTE: REVISED AND CORRECTED

If you’ve been reading this blog (and really, what else is there to do?), you know I recently turned up an intriguing old photo of a Toddle House nestled in the shadow of a large Gothic Revival church, and everyone has been offering suggestions and theories about the precise location shown in the photo (see the previous post and all your comments below).

It was quite a mystery because the photo, dated 1937, had a notation scribbled on the back “Highland – St. Luke’s.” But even the folks at St. Luke’s said it wasn’t St. Luke’s. And a caption at the bottom said “J.C. Stedman, Memphis” but I have since discovered that Stedman wasn’t a local photographer, but was the developer of almost ALL the Toddle Houses built across the U.S.

And I can now say with 99.99% certainty that the buildings in the old photograph are NOT located on Highland. Not even close. In fact, they are not even located in Memphis.

The picture shows the First Congregational Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio. It’s still standing today, as you can see from the photos here, “borrowed” from Google and Bing, but the charming little Toddle House is now a parking lot, dang it. The photo here is taken from just about the same position as the original photo; the little red dot shows the approximate location of the old Toddle House. (Scroll to the next page for an aerial view that’s a bit more clear.)

All credit for solving this vexing mystery must go to Laura Cunningham, who works in the history department at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library, with additional help pinpointing the correct structure from “critter42” here. Laura knew that the original photo had been mislabeled, and this afternoon, while I set about to slog through old city directories and newspaper files, she disappeared for about 10 minutes and then told me, “I found the church.” And she was right.

What she did was truly astounding. Laura began her detective work by — no, I won’t give it away here. I will let her research secrets remain a secret, but let me just say that I was very impressed, and the Lauderdales are rarely impressed by anything. Why should we be?

But, to show my gratitude, not only will I give her praise here, but a plug as well. Laura is the author of the very interesting book, Haunted Memphis, and she is currently hard at work on another, to be called Lost Memphis. I’d say she’s also got a good start — the first few pages anyway — on a third book, Lost Columbus, Ohio.

And thanks again to critter42 for his fine detective work as well.

1937 Toddle House – But Where?

Last night I was looking through old photos in the Memphis Room, and I came across this dramatic image of a charming little Toddle House nestled in the shadows of a GIANT Gothic Revival church.

BUT WHERE IS IT?

The photo is dated 1937. On the back, someone had scribbled in pencil, “Highland – St. Luke’s.” That would put it on the east side of Highland, south of Midland. There’s just one problem: The church building in this photo (see a detail below) bears no resemblance to the present St. Luke’s Methodist Church at 490 South Highland.

You can’t see it in this scan, but there’s a street address at the bottom of the door of the Toddle House — 482 — which would indeed place it next to St. Luke’s. But only if this is South Highland.

But this is NOT St. Luke’s. For one thing, St. Luke’s has a front entrance with THREE doors instead of one, it does NOT have the massive and elaborate stained-glass window in the facade, and it is only about two-thirds the size of this building. Even the stonework looks different.

Note that the photo carries the inscription “J.C. Stedman, Memphis, Tenn.” But that may only indicate the photographer is from Memphis. It’s not definite proof that this is a Memphis scene.

There’s another reason I’m not convinced this is South Highland. The Memphis Room has another view of this same Toddle House, taken from a different angle, so you could see what was off to the left side (and behind) the little building. As you can see from the detail below, it seems to be some kind of car dealership or used-car lot. Since the neighborhood east of Highland (which would be behind the buildings shown here) is residential, it really seems unlikely there was a car dealership there, even in 1937.

Heck, for that matter, even the double-wide sidewalk and fancy lamp posts (not visible here, but in another photo of this place) tell me: This is NOT Highland.

Okay, history detectives. Where is (or was) this church, and the Toddle House next to it? (Click on any of the images to enlarge them.)

Detail of Church

Visible behind the Toddle House

ALL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF THE MEMPHIS ROOM, BENJAMIN HOOKS CENTRAL LIBRARY