Normal Station is a neighborhood in

East Memphis East Memphis is a region of Memphis, Tennessee with several defined and informal subdivisions and neighborhoods such as Colonial Acres, White Station- Yates, Sherwood Forest, Normal Station, High Point Terrace, Belle Meade, Normandy Meadows, St ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, anchored by the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering, the Center for Ea ...

, formerly Memphis State University, and originally called West Tennessee State Normal School. It is bordered by the University of Memphis to the north, Audubon Park to the east, Park Avenue and the Sherwood Forest neighborhood to the south, and Highland Street to the west.

History

Until the early 20th century, the neighborhood was part of an area known as the Eckles Tract. In 1911, construction of the new

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

began in the neighborhood. To serve the construction, the Southern Railroad built a stub track northward from its main line. A streetcar line was extended eastward to serve the site. When the school opened in 1912, the railroad converted the terminus of its stub line into an official stop and built a waiting station in front of the school, near what is now the intersection of Highland Street and Southern Avenue, to serve passengers using the railroad and the streetcars. The neighborhood took on the name of the railway station, Normal Station. It was common in the outlying areas around Memphis for neighborhoods and small towns to get their names from land owners, landmarks and railway stations. The custom is also seen today in areas such as Buntyn Station, White Station, and Bray Station. The Normal railway station closed in 1949 and was demolished the following year.

Campus neighborhood

The athletic department, student fitness center, and south parking lots of the University of Memphis are located in this neighborhood. Because of the proximity to the University, a large proportion of the neighborhood population are students and faculty. Most of the homes in this neighborhood are one-story single-family homes and duplexes built after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, but there are small apartment complexes and some larger, older homes interspersed within. The neighborhood's ZIP code is 38111.

The Highland Strip

The Highland strip is the restaurant and shopping hub in the Normal station neighborhood. It is situated on the western border of the neighborhood. There is live music regularly at Newby's Memphis and The Bluff. This is a local gathering place for many U of M students.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Colonial Revival architecture in Tennessee Neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee Houses in Memphis, Tennessee Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Memphis, Tennessee {{ShelbyCountyTN-geo-stub