The Early Word: Clayborn Temple may ‘rise again,’ but Oak Court Mall will not
Good morning, Memphis. It’s Tuesday, April 29, and if you’re a University of Tennessee sports fan, you might want to make plans to be at the Memphis Botanic Garden tonight. The Big Orange Caravan tour is stopping there for a meet-and-greet with UT athletic director Danny White and the coaching team.
If that doesn’t interest you one bit, Memphis indie rocker Julien Baker is going country for a show down in Oxford.
The historic Clayborn Temple Downtown was a total loss after an early-morning fire on Monday. The church was a base of operations for the 1968 sanitation-worker strike that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis. Clayborn Temple was under restoration, and the leader of the nonprofit behind that effort pledged to rebuild on Monday. Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the city would “help ensure this sacred place rises again.” Memphians came out Monday to pay their respects to the historic site as fire trucks sent plumes of water onto what remained. The Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins was there.
Goodbye to the giant marble-ball fountain, 1980s-style green-tiled floors and the heaviest mall doors that ever doored. The Oak Court Mall is set to be demolished later this year, starting with the Macy’s that just closed a few weeks ago. It’s not certain yet what will replace the mall, but the future site plan offers some ideas for mixed-use, “main street-style” buildings. Never fear, department-store fans: One store will remain.
Plus, Tyre Nichols’ mom takes the stand, some MSCS buildings are in bad shape, and you can leave your Halloween skeletons up all year in Germantown.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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