Boxtown is a neighborhood in
South Memphis, Tennessee
South Memphis, one of the oldest portions of Memphis, Tennessee, is a community stretching from Midtown and Downtown to the Mississippi state line. In its early days, it was primarily an agrarian community. South Memphis has many well-known neig ...
. The neighborhood, which is near
T.O. Fuller State Park
T.O. Fuller State Park is a state park in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It consists of of mostly forest located in South Memphis on Mitchell Road. It is the only state park within the city limits and is suitable for wildlife.
The park ...
, is also the oldest in South Memphis. Boxtown includes White's Chapel AME Church, which was built in 1890. Boxtown has numerous shotgun houses.
Boundaries
The main boundary of Boxtown is Sewanee Road, which is on the east.
History
Boxtown began as a community for
emancipated slaves
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The Britis ...
and freedmen slaves soon after the signing the
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
in 1863, as it was a part of Shelby County on the south boundary of the Memphis city limits. Boxtown is so-named because the houses looked like boxcars, which were built from the trains. Many opened grocery stores. The most notable grocer in Boxtown was S.L. Jones (1914–1991), who opened a grocery store at the corner of Sewanee Road and Fields Road. He later opened Jones Big Star on McLemore Avenue. On December 31, 1971, Boxtown has been annexed by the City of Memphis, due to an attempted 1968 annexation being rejected.
Families like the Rogers family lived in the area for generations, as well as families like the White Family who the White's Chapel Church was named after.
References
* Meeks, Ann. Streetscapes, ''The Commercial Appeal'' 1988-2013.
* Gibson, Stephanie. ''Beautifully Abandoned'', Flickr 2011-2014.
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Neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee