History of Germantown, TN

10/27/2025

The Germantown Historical Preservation Association received a thank you note today from Susan Saridakis, the great, great-grandaughter of Frances Wright, regarding the Frances Wright Symposium held on September 20th.

Dear Andy, Kate, Edna, Mary, Joni, and all the members of the Germanton Historical Preservation Association:
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Thank you so much for inviting me to the Frances Wright Symposium last month. It was a truly wonderful event, pulling together so many people to celebrate Granny F***y. It gave me opportunity to talk about her as a person, and to hear stories from other perspectives. The audience asked great questions, too.

You were all so kind and thoughtful, making my experience enriched by all the ways I could interact with you, the other speakers, and the community. In all my years, in and out of industry, I have never attended any conference that was so thoughtfully put together.

Andy, you mentioned you were interested in the Irish historian I mentioned. The book you may wish to read is by Catherine Corloss; 'Belonging, One Woman's Search for Truth and Justice for the Tuam Babies'.

You all really outdid yourselves! Thank you for finding me another vision of Frances.

Warmly, Susan

Thank you SUSAN!

08/23/2025

Two weeks to the Frances Wright Symposium at St. George's Episcopal Church. Hear an author from Scotland, a bishop from Mississippi and the great-great grandaughter of Frances Wright. Go to www.germantowntnhistory.org to sign in and let us know your coming. There are 300 seats and they will fill fast.

06/26/2025

So what happened to 2nd Street? Second Street is essentially the drive between the Germantown Methodist Church and Southern Social Restaurant. It actually crosses West Street continuing on to McVay.

When the church chose to build a new worship space, the additional square feet required an increase in parking spaces. The restaurant also needed more space for cars. They were already using space at Parks & Recreation after a certain time of day.The church, the restaurant and the city got together and signed an agreement to close the street and share the space. Interestingly, the sign head ended up inside the Germantown Commissary. It makes an interesting artifact.

And that's where Second Street went.

06/25/2025

Enjoy viewing Germantown History at germantowntnhistory.org. In 2024 11,000 Users did and we had 17,000 hits!

Ever wonder what it was like to live in Germantown when it covered only about one square mile and was home to just 200 people? The Germantown Historical Preservation Association has you covered.

Launched on September 6, GermantownTNHistory.org covers the last 180 years of Germantown history. A total of 190 pages include information about the characters, events and places that make Germantown what it is today.

A project of the Germantown Historical Preservation Association (GHPA), the site is the result of years of work to chronicle the history of Germantown. According to GHPA President and City Historian Andrew Pouncey, “the shift in focus to a website makes Germantown’s history accessible to anyone, anywhere at any time, as close as the palm of your hand. With an online museum, anyone whether at home, at school or around the world, may learn about Germantown’s history.”

And that history is full of surprises. Did you know that in the 1820s Germantown was home to an experimental colony designed to free slaves? Or that due to anti-German sentiments, Germantown was renamed Neshoba for a time during the First World War? How about the fact that the Germantown Fire Department once used a rowdy group of high school boys known as Filthy Phil’s Fire Fighting Fanatics to fight fires? You can even check out a copy of the 1947 Germantown High football program. The site is full of old photographs, advertisements and images from old newspapers. Asked about his favorite story from the collection, it took Pouncey some time to decide, “I’d say Sallie Eola Reneau. She was a nurse and journalist who published accounts and reports of Yellow Fever in Germantown. Finding her stories was like unearthing treasure,” Pouncey offered.

The GermantownTNHistory.org museum is not like a book that is static, but a living, breathing experience that allows for frequent opportunities to import new material and make additions, deletions or corrections quickly and easily. Residents are welcome to offer new stories or add to the stories that are already there. A contact form is available at GermantownTNHistory.org/contact/. The website project was made possible with grants from the Shelby County Commission, the City of Germantown and private member donations.

06/25/2025

Where did First Street go? First Street was essentially Poplar Pike extended eastward to Germantown Road, between the Depot and the second City Hall building. When the City moved in '79 to Farmington/Germantown Rd., this City Hall became Parks and Recreation (PR) and Depot Park was created tying the Depot and PR together.

04/17/2025

The caboose on the left located on the Germantown property (Poplar Pike) formerly belonging to Harry & Becky Cloyes was a gift of the railroad. Harry was a 'railfan' and he kept a close lookout for all trains passing his property. One day Harry saw a fire underneath several rail cars passing and he called the rail company. As a result, they stopped the train and put out the fire.

Harry had saved them a huge amount of money and they asked Harry what they could do for him. They knew he had an interest in trains. He said that he would like a caboose. So they gave Harry a 1944 caboose in October 1989 (47,000 lbs lifted in by a crain). Norfolk and Western never ran these rails, but that didn't matter to Harry. Basically all caboose looked alike. Several years ago, Leadership Germantown made it their project to repaint the caboose, and they kept Norfolk and Western painted on its side as a way to remember Harry's story.

03/30/2025

As City of Germantown (TN) Historian for the last 10 years, I have gathered information from many sources, doing everything possible to share this City's history. This includes building a website that received 17,000 hits, just last year, from all over the world. (www.germantontnhistory.org).

When the offices of the Germantown News left for Bartlet, they left 55 bound volumes of the newspaper behind in the attic on North St. covering the years 1990-2017. Of course I had to save them.

I learned recently that they were online, and available to all on 'newspapers.com'. Yet, I couldn't let them go to the round file. No one here, at the county, or at the State archives wanted them. Someone suggested I call the Memphis Public Library (MPL). Fortunately, they now collect materials from all over Shelby County, TN. Thank you to Wayne Dowdy, head of the History Deprtment at the MPL. They have been a valuable resouce, and are now in my garage awaiting pick up.

03/10/2025

For those who have enjoyed the display cases at Germantown Methodist for the last 12 years, the Germantown Historical Preservation Association says thank you. The hospital is making changes.

If you want more on our City's history, go to www.germantownhistory.org, and join over 17,000 world-wide viewers that went to our site last year. This was up 2,000 visits from the year before, showing that our motto "anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world" can learn about Germantown, TN.

02/09/2025

As the Germantown Historical Preservation Association prepares for the Frances Wright Symposium, Saturday, September 14, 2025, we are continuing to learn more about her and the community of Nsshoba in Germantown 1825-1830.

This spring Kate and I are planning a visit to New Harmony, Indiana, and the Working Man's Institute where she collected ideas on communal living. (See below).

The Symposium will be held at St. George's Episcopal Church and currently there are 3 committed speakers: Susan Saridakis - Francis' great granddaughter, Episcopal Bishop of MS Dorothy Wells, and Roger Illsley, a Scottish author who lives in Francss' hometown of Dundee, Scotland.

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE!.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15c4CLK7FT/

Working Men’s Institute was set forth in 1838 as “the dissemination of useful knowledge to working men and their families.”

01/26/2025

Hi! I'm Andrew Pouncey, Germantown's Historian. Did you know that the southern portion of Southern Social Restaurant (in the Old Germantown District) was built as a general merchandise/grocery store by Louis Rosengarten in the mid-to-late 20s. I chose to put a photo of Louis standing in front of his store as the lead photo for this website.

Last year www.germantowntnhistory.org got 17,000 hits, 2,000 more than last year. So I feel pretty comfortable in saying, that for months, Louis gets more views from all over the world, than cars traveling that section of Germantown Road. Congratulations Louis! (P.S. Hit website letters below and see a photo of Louis!

welcome The Germantown Historic Preservation Association’s (GHPA) vision is to create a museum that is accessible to anyone, anytime and anywhere, as close as the palm of your hand. Whether you are at home, at school, or around the world, you can share with others the story of the history that has...

01/12/2025

Germantown (TN) Cemetery on McVay - January 11, 2025