Chickasaw Country Club, 3395 Galloway Ave., Memphis TN - Circa 1922
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(04-05-2018 11:33 PM)Cletus Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 11:12 PM)snowtiger Wrote:  

(04-03-2018 01:43 PM)Cletus Wrote:  

A Flooded Mud Island, Mississippi River Waterfront & Wolf River Harbor with Steamboats in background, Claridge Hotel Garage & Steinberg & Co. buildings,, Memphis TN - Circa 1942
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Mud Island was so flooded.

I wonder how they fixed that. Diverted the flow maybe.

I'm sure the US Corps of Engineers have spent countless man hours and tons of rock and earth to fight back the Mississippi River.

You've got to remember that Mud Island never existed until Circa 1910-1911 when a US Navy Ship got stuck on a Mud-Bar at what is now the mouth of the Wolf River Harbor.

The Monitor USS Amphitrite was moored at the mouth of the Wolf River where it meets the Mississippi & apparently caused silt buildup causing the eventual forming of Mud Island. The white building just to her stern appears to the US Custom house.

That is one awesome ship! Damn I wish I could have seen her.

(04-16-2018 09:17 AM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 11:33 PM)Cletus Wrote:  

(04-05-2018 11:12 PM)snowtiger Wrote:  

(04-03-2018 01:43 PM)Cletus Wrote:  

A Flooded Mud Island, Mississippi River Waterfront & Wolf River Harbor with Steamboats in background, Claridge Hotel Garage & Steinberg & Co. buildings,, Memphis TN - Circa 1942
.

Mud Island was so flooded.

I wonder how they fixed that. Diverted the flow maybe.

I'm sure the US Corps of Engineers have spent countless man hours and tons of rock and earth to fight back the Mississippi River.

You've got to remember that Mud Island never existed until Circa 1910-1911 when a US Navy Ship got stuck on a Mud-Bar at what is now the mouth of the Wolf River Harbor.

The Monitor USS Amphitrite was moored at the mouth of the Wolf River where it meets the Mississippi & apparently caused silt buildup causing the eventual forming of Mud Island. The white building just to her stern appears to the US Custom house.

That is one awesome ship! Damn I wish I could have seen her.

Those CW Monitors sure started something, eh Bill?

The Amphitrite was a derivative of the CW Monitor design. It later was retrofitted as a floating Hotel/Casino off the shore of South Carolina, Georgia, & Florida.



Amphitrite as a Floating Hotel, Formerly USS Monitor, America's Most Unique Dining Room, Air Conditioned



Amphitrite, a Floating Hotel docked at the Frederica River original Sea Island Yacht Club, St. Simon's Island GA - Circa 1928

Some rumors were that it was used as a Rum Runner during Prohibition.

USS Amphitrite M2

After the Civil War America had not maintained her navy well, and with the Spanish/American War a near certainty we were left with nothing but old wooden hulls in poor repair and no ironclad monitors in a serviceable condition.

Congress, in a panic to upgrade the obsolete Navy quickly commissioned five Civil War monitors to be refurbished in 1873. Then Secretary of Navy George Robeson worked very hard to fulfill this directive, but the monitors in question were just too far gone and obsolete.

His solution was to scrap the monitors and use the funds and steel to build new ships to replace them, all bearing identical names to the old; Puritan, Amphitrite, Miantonomoh, Monadnock and Terror. That was a great idea, but the Navy didn't have the yard capability to do it, so the work was contracted to private yards. That was a practical decision, but building ships; especially steel hulled warships; is an expensive proposition. When the steamship Virginius was captured by Spain and her crew executed, Congress ordered an immediate increase in Navy personnel, which dried up the money needed to complete the new monitors. More obsolete monitors had to be scrapped to foot the bill, which delayed construction. In 1876 Robeson signed contracts to have machinery built for the new hulls and asked Congress for the money.

Then in 1877 the Hayes Administration took the reigns of government, and Robeson was replaced by Richard Thompson, who took over a Navy that was vastly in debt and over budget. He cancelled the new contracts to furnish the new hulls with machinery and cancelled the orders for the new monitors. The yards were forced to maintain the incomplete hulls for no pay.

In 1881 the Garfield Administration took over, and by this time America's Navy was in much worse shape with very old obsolete ships. Only 52 of the 140 ships on the Navel Register were operational, and only 17 of those were iron hulled, and the majority of those were very obsolescent Civil War monitors. New hulls were needed desperately, and the contracts were again re-instated.

The problem was that the new monitors were now already obsolete. Further delays for redesigning were needed. The first to be completed and commissioned was the Miantonomoh M5 in 1891. The others were not completed until 1895-1896, meaning it took more than two decades to build them. Puritan M1 was fitted with extra armor and designated as a separate class, the Puritan class.

By the time these new ships were completed and commissioned the concept of the Coastal Monitor was well and truly obsolete. The main problem is that they are very poor at blue water (intercontinental) sailing, as they are so low that they cannot handle rough weather, though Monadnock did manage to do just that; one of only two US monitors to do so, she sailed to the Philippines. She never returned, and served her career on the China station and in the Philippines. Also, they lacked sufficient bunker space for fuel, making them very short ranged, and they were very slow, capable of only seven knots.

Her main armament was effective consisting of four 10" breech-loading cannon; the product of one of the redesigns; but the heat inside the hull was nearly unbearable. During a 2 1/2 hour shore bombardment against Costa Rica an Amphitrite crewman died of heat exhaustion.

USS Amphritite M2 was the last of the class to be decommissioned in 1919.

Now, this is where things get interesting.

Unlike her sisters, Amphitrite wasn't scrapped. Instead she was sold to the private sector and rebuilt. Her guns and superstructure were stripped and she was converted to a very successful floating casino and hotel in Beaufort, SC. Al Capone actually once tried to buy her. At different periods periods she was at Ft Lauderdale and Maryland in this capacity.

Then she was re-commissioned by the Navy in 1943 for use as a floating barracks off the shore of North Carolina.

She then returned to the private sector and resumed her role as a hotel/casino, but times had changed and she was no longer the commercial success she had been in the past. Late in her career there were plans to refit her as a support ship for commercial oil exploration, but this never came to pass.

Old GMC (electric) Truck laden with Cotton heading up Beale St. from the Mississippi River toward Cotton Row, Front St., Memphis TN

click the image as it's a huge data file with incredible detail

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Piggly Wiggly, In The Heart of Your Neighborhood Logo - Circa 1930

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Freedom Train visit, Mud Island construction in background, Riverside Drive, Memphis TN - Circa 1976



The train displayed along the Mississippi River near Mud Island. Temporary tracks were laid across a busy street for the locomotive and train. Then the section across the street was pulled up, effectively stranding the train.

Aerial Photo of Downtown looking south toward the Harahan & Frisco Bridges over the Mississippi River, Warner & Tamble Wharfboat, Memphis TN - Circa 1935

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Melrose Golden Wildcats TSSAA Boys Large Class State Boys' 35-0 Basketball Champions, Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis TN - Circa 1974

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Melrose Boys Basketball Class AAA Tennessee State Boys' Basketball Champions, Vanderbilt Memorial Gymnasium - Circa 1983

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Forrest Park Hotel Apartments, Madison Ave. & Court Ave. at Manassas St., Memphis TN - Circa 1940

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I saw Crosstown Concourse for the first time last week. What a great addition to the city. For those that haven't seen it, it worth going out your way. Make sure you go inside.

(05-02-2018 06:14 PM)dcg141 Wrote:  I saw Crosstown Concourse for the first time last week. What a great addition to the city. For those that haven't seen it, it worth going out your way. Make sure you go inside.

Yea, I must admit it is interesting. I enjoyed going there. I wish they would light the top of the tower. It would be a good look if tastefully done.

(05-08-2018 03:26 PM)tigerlands Wrote:  

(05-02-2018 06:14 PM)dcg141 Wrote:  I saw Crosstown Concourse for the first time last week. What a great addition to the city. For those that haven't seen it, it worth going out your way. Make sure you go inside.

Yea, I must admit it is interesting. I enjoyed going there. I wish they would light the top of the tower. It would be a good look if tastefully done.

Like the Bat Signal?

Innaugration of the Italian Catholic Club of Memphis, Photo by C.H. Poland, Memphis TN - Circa 1921

Click on the pic to enlarge it

(05-01-2018 01:25 AM)Cletus Wrote:  

Melrose Golden Wildcats TSSAA Boys Large Class State Boys' 35-0 Basketball Champions, Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis TN - Circa 1974

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John Gunn #44

And crazy mayne Spook Bradley #32

(05-11-2018 08:45 PM)Hernando Hills Tiger Wrote:  And crazy mayne Spook Bradley #32

PG Alvin Wright front row left
Memphis State (1974-78)
Wright led Memphis in assists all four seasons he controlled the ball,
Wright increased his scoring average from 7.9 as a freshman to 15.5 as a senior.
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Mud Island just forming in the Mississippi River, Steamboats on the Wolf River Harbor, Memphis TN - Circa 1900

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(05-12-2018 03:36 AM)Cletus Wrote:  

(05-11-2018 08:45 PM)Hernando Hills Tiger Wrote:  And crazy mayne Spook Bradley #32

PG Alvin Wright front row left
Memphis State (1974-78)
Wright led Memphis in assists all four seasons he controlled the ball,
Wright increased his scoring average from 7.9 as a freshman to 15.5 as a senior.
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Memphis produces outstanding point guards. I credit the water.