A Rich History, in the Heart of Memphis
The Mid-South Fairgrounds, 168 acres in Midtown, is located between East Parkway, Hollywood Ave., Central Ave. and Southern Ave. Since 1897 — when the city purchased the land for the Montgomery Park horse track — the area has been used for various public events and activities. It was a fairground from 1912, when the Tri-State Fair (now Mid-South Fair) began, until 2008, when the fair moved to Desoto County.
Currently, the Fairgrounds are used by the Liberty Bowl Stadium, the Children’s Museum of Memphis, Fairview Middle School and The Salvation Army.
In early 2005 Memphis Mayor W.W. Herenton and Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton appointed the Mid-South Fairgrounds Redevelopment subcommittee to study the future use of the Fairgrounds site. The Committee hired a consultant team to study and recommend potential land uses, plus produce a fiscal and economic impact analysis.
One of the decisions made by the committee was to close Libertyland permanently. Libertyland opened as an amusement park on the Mid-South Fairgrounds in 1976, and was home to the Zippin Pipppin and the Grand Carousel, among several rides. The park operated up until late October of 2005 when the vote was passed to close the park. Today, all of the rides and attractions have been moved, sold and/or destroyed and the land has been cleared.
In 2007, The Salvation Army of Memphis purchased the land on the Midsouth Fairgrounds, where the Kroc Center will stand, for $1.6 million. It was funded from the Kroc Trust, based on the Trust’s confidence in the local team’s ability to raise the $25 million needed to build the facility.
Aerial Photo by Aerial Innovations.
Tiger Lane
In 2010, it was announced that “Tiger Lane” — a seven-acre green-space from East Parkway to the west side of The Liberty Bowl — would be built. The green space has parking spaces on either side that could be rented for tailgating before football games and other events.
Fairgrounds Timeline
Pre-1850: The land now known as the Mid-South Fairgrounds is part of the 5,000-acre Deaderick plantation.
1851: Plantation land bought and developed as a horseracing track by the Memphis Jockey Club.
1869: The Shelby County Fair moves in on land adjacent to the racetrack. A grandstand and new stables are built.
1882: Col. Henry A. Montgomery organizes the New Memphis Jockey Club and buys the mile-long racetrack and surrounding land. He names it Montgomery Park.
1885: The Jockey Club buys more land, extending the horseracing park from the railroad tracks on what is now Southern Avenue to Central Avenue in the north.
1897: The city of Memphis purchases the Mid-South Fairgrounds.
1908: The newly organized Tri-State Fair leases the grounds of Montgomery Park for five years. The racetrack has been out of use since the Tennessee Legislature outlawed pari-mutuel betting in 1905.
1912: City of Memphis buys Montgomery Park from the Jockey Club for $250,000.
1922: A city swimming pool opens at the fair- grounds. The Shelby County Baptist Association objects to men and women being allowed to swim together, calling it a “veritable hellhole.” The Shelby County Building opens.
1930: The Casino Building opens as a venue for dancing and musical entertainment. Admission is 40 cents. Fairview Junior High School opens.
1941: National Guard Armory built on southwest corner of Hollywood Street and Central.
1942: The Second Army uses the entire fairgrounds as a camp for the duration of World War II.
1944: The fairgrounds is transferred for operation purposes to the Memphis Park Commission.
1960: The Linkletter plan, formulated by entertainer Art Linkletter and his business partner, Clyde Vandenburg, proposes a reworking of the fairgrounds, including a 700-foot-long lagoon from the Shelby County Building to East Parkway. The plan also proposes the Mid-South Coliseum – the only part of the plan that becomes reality.
1962: High school stadium on the Central Avenue border of the fairgounds is built.
1963: The Casino Building is demolished.
1964: The Mid-South Coliseum opens.
1965: Memorial Stadium, later to be renamed Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, opens.
1974: Operation of the fairgrounds is transferred from the Memphis Park Commission to Mid-South Fair Inc.
1976: Libertyland opens, replacing the amusement park. Only the Zippin Pippin rollercoaster and the Carousel remain from the old set of rides.
1977: A proposal to cover the entire fairgrounds with a plastic tarp is debated but doesn’t go any further.
1990: Children’s Museum of Memphis opens in the old National Guard Armory.
2003: Shelby County Building destroyed in fire, leaving only its signature tower, which takes several attempts to pull down.
2005: Memphis Salvation Army granted permission to begin fundraising for a Salvation Army Kroc Center on fairgrounds land south of Fairview Junior High fronting on East Parkway.
2006: Mid-South Coliseum is mothballed because it fails to meet standards for access by the handicapped. Libertyland closes.
2007: The Salvation Army of Memphis purchases the land for the Kroc Center for $1.6 million.
2008: The Mid-South Fair announces it will move to Tunica, Miss., for the 2009 fair.
2009: The groundbreaking of the Kroc Center takes place.
2010: The development of Tiger Lane leading into the Liberty Bowl Stadium begins.
Sources: “History of the Mid-South Fair” by Emily Yellin and “2006 Mid-South Fairgrounds Redevelopment Study” by Looney Ricks Kiss Architects Inc., via the Memphis News
