Beale Street Music Legends
Posted on 2023-05-14
Beale Street music legends gather in 1952 for the homecoming of W.C. Handy, from New York. From left: Howard Yancey, bandleader and former Handy player, Gilbert Fowler, clarinet, Joe Walker, sax, Walter Smith, trumpet, W.C. Handy, Walter Tangsmith, trombone, Matthew Thorton, former Handy player, Lodus Ireland, guitar, George W. Lee, Beale historian, and Will Shade, jug bandleader. Memphis Press-Scimitar
From the upcoming book, July 2023 release: River Shows, Blues, Ragtime, Jazz and Country Music, by Matt Chaney, http://fourwallspublishing.com
Matt's books are on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Matt+Chaney&crid=1Q5IGBUJOCUAZ&sprefix=matt+chaney%2Caps%2C95&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Chickasaw war parties posed a nightmare for Easterners aboard the steamboat, who would not pause at the bluff. The New Orleans chugged ahead of the canoes and Chickasaw braves were content enough, chasing it off.
In 1819 white settlers laid out a town on north end of the bluff, named Memphis for Egypt’s ancient city of the Nile delta. Memphis trade opened to Indian tribes of western Tennessee, whose couriers followed narrow pathways through wilderness.
Cotton, steamboats and stagecoaches keyed 1830s development of the Memphis area. Business and residential districts expanded, town population increased, and Shelby County gained farms, villages and roads. In 1840 cotton buyers shipped 35,000 bales from Memphis, primarily to New Orleans for international markets. In 1844 Memphis shipped 100,000 bales, sending steamboats stuffed to the rails, piled deck upon deck with product.
Stately homes multiplied along a “muddy tree-bordered lane” to be known as Beal Street, where land magnate Robertson Topp constructed his mansion and grounds. Topp was an attorney and legislator who cleared acres of wood and tangle, utilizing a mass of slaves, reportedly owning hundreds for his various properties.
...
C.G. Locke identified William M. Beal as namesake of Beale Street. Locke stated the entrepreneur had intended to reside in South Memphis but “failed to carry out his plans.”
“The city government and the maps of the city generally spell Beal Street with the final ‘e,’ making it Beale,” C.G. Locke reported in 1892. “The street was named in honor of Wm. M. Beal, who was a prominent merchant of New Orleans at the time South Memphis was laid off into streets. His name was Beal and not Beale.”
Beale Street origin: The famed Memphis thoroughfare was named for William M. Beal, New Orleans cotton dealer, according to historical news and more evidence, electronically recovered. "Beal Street" is denoted on the 1845 map, above, filed with incorporation papers for South Memphis. Courtesy of the Tennessee State Library & Archives
Beale Street Origin
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