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Speedway Terrace
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Watauga9 Offline
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Post: #1
Speedway Terrace
I was driving down North Parkway and noticed a national historic district sign called "Speedway Terrace". So I googled it and learned something new about Memphis. Here is a blurb about it in Memphis Magazine's "Ask Vance" section:



The Speedway



Dear Vance: When I was a teenager, my grandmother would reminisce about her childhood in Olive Branch and the trips she made to Memphis. She often spoke of a street called the Speedway. Where was this street, and why would it have been important? -- p.u., Memphis

Dear P.U.: The Speedway was never the real name of a street. Instead, in the early 1900s, it was a mile-long stretch of North Parkway, beginning just west of present-day University. And it was called the Speedway because that perfectly straight section of the road became an informal racetrack for anyone and everyone who thought they had the fastest horse in town. Much like certain streets (I won't mention any names) are used today as drag strips for youngsters with hopped-up cars and motorcycles. Many a night I've had to hide the keys from the Lauderdale chauffeur to keep him from racing our vintage Hispano-Suiza. Such a showoff. Why, he's older than the car!

The Speedway was a popular hangout in its day, especially on weekend afternoons, so I can see why your grandmother would have remembered it. But as the newfangled automobiles began to take over the city streets, the old racecourse was shut down, though the name still lives on, since that general section of North Parkway has signs proclaiming it the Speedway Terrace Historic District. And for many years, a pharmacy in the area carried the name Speedway Drugs, which never failed to amuse certain friends who -- how to say this? -- enjoyed the benefits of many, many medications without troubling with prescriptions for them.

What's interesting -- to me, and probably only to me -- is that the postcard manufacturers of the day (many of them out-of-town firms) often confused North Parkway with East Parkway. As a result, quite a few postcards supposedly showing "The Speedway" (such as the one you see here) actually depict East Parkway, not North. I'm certainly glad I never, ever make mistakes like that.
07-08-2008 05:32 PM
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mairving Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Speedway Terrace
Great thing about grandparents is the history that they can give you if you ask. I was once curious as to why North and South Parkway run east and west and East Parkway runs north and south. I asked my grannie and she explained that the city borders were:
W - The river
E - East Parkway
N - North Parkway
S - South Parkway

It finally made sense.
07-08-2008 10:17 PM
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georgiatiger Offline
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Post: #3
RE: Speedway Terrace
mairving Wrote:Great thing about grandparents is the history that they can give you if you ask. I was once curious as to why North and South Parkway run east and west and East Parkway runs north and south. I asked my grannie and she explained that the city borders were:
W - The river
E - East Parkway
N - North Parkway
S - South Parkway

It finally made sense.

After all these years. I never knew that, but always loved those parkways.
07-08-2008 10:28 PM
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mairving Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Speedway Terrace
georgiatiger Wrote:
mairving Wrote:Great thing about grandparents is the history that they can give you if you ask. I was once curious as to why North and South Parkway run east and west and East Parkway runs north and south. I asked my grannie and she explained that the city borders were:
W - The river
E - East Parkway
N - North Parkway
S - South Parkway

It finally made sense.

After all these years. I never knew that, but always loved those parkways.
I liked your first answer better.
07-08-2008 10:59 PM
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georgiatiger Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Speedway Terrace
mairving Wrote:
georgiatiger Wrote:
mairving Wrote:Great thing about grandparents is the history that they can give you if you ask. I was once curious as to why North and South Parkway run east and west and East Parkway runs north and south. I asked my grannie and she explained that the city borders were:
W - The river
E - East Parkway
N - North Parkway
S - South Parkway

It finally made sense.

After all these years. I never knew that, but always loved those parkways.
I liked your first answer better.

I have a concience and I've been unable to exorcise it.
07-08-2008 11:04 PM
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oldmangrizz Offline
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Post: #6
RE: Speedway Terrace
georgiatiger Wrote:
mairving Wrote:
georgiatiger Wrote:
mairving Wrote:Great thing about grandparents is the history that they can give you if you ask. I was once curious as to why North and South Parkway run east and west and East Parkway runs north and south. I asked my grannie and she explained that the city borders were:
W - The river
E - East Parkway
N - North Parkway
S - South Parkway

It finally made sense.

After all these years. I never knew that, but always loved those parkways.
I liked your first answer better.

I have a concience and I've been unable to exorcise it.
Must you post on EVERY thread? It really gets old for some of those that are extremely annoyed by you sometimes. Geez.
07-09-2008 06:43 AM
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georgiatiger Offline
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Post: #7
RE: Speedway Terrace
oldmangrizz Wrote:
georgiatiger Wrote:
mairving Wrote:
georgiatiger Wrote:
mairving Wrote:Great thing about grandparents is the history that they can give you if you ask. I was once curious as to why North and South Parkway run east and west and East Parkway runs north and south. I asked my grannie and she explained that the city borders were:
W - The river
E - East Parkway
N - North Parkway
S - South Parkway

It finally made sense.

After all these years. I never knew that, but always loved those parkways.
I liked your first answer better.

I have a concience and I've been unable to exorcise it.
Must you post on EVERY thread? It really gets old for some of those that are extremely annoyed by you sometimes. Geez.

Thanks. That was a good read.
07-09-2008 08:51 AM
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