100 Years Ago in Memphis

August 14, 1909, Jessie and her Mother have just left for Colorado on the train. There were several train stations in Memphis, and Union Station would not open until 1912. The Calhoun Station, which was the first depot in Memphis, may have been the terminal they left from.

Jessie read “Joe’s Luck” by Horatio Alger during August 1909.

She often mentions playing with C.S. I think this was one of her cousins who lived in the neighborhood, perhaps Aunt Sallie’s little boy (Jessie does not spell this out in her diary).  Here is a photo Jessie took of Swayne playing with C.S. (in white) and a white rabbit. Another photo from Jessie’s scrapbook that I like — her Mother carrying a doomed chicken (or is that a rabbit?).

Just before Jessie and her mother left for Colorado, they went shopping and purchased Jessie a new suit for the trip. The Edwardian styles were becoming less frilly and cumbersome and more tailored at this time.

*Credit to historic-memphis.com for the photo of the Calhoun Street Train Station.

Things were slower in Memphis in the middle of the summer. Jessie kept up with her music lessons and and her clubs, Merry Maids and Mystic XX.  There were band concerts in the parks many nights of the week — Gaston Park, Bickford Park, and Overton Park all had frequent band concerts. Jessie and her friends gave a concert themselves at Jessie’s house, for which they built a stage and sold tickets (making $27).

Jessie’s mother, Jessie Swayne Latham, was well known in Memphis for her civic and church leadership.  For many years she  served as President of the Board for the Porter Home and Leath Orphanage. Jessie followed in her footsteps a bit, often going to the Home for Incurables to play the piano for the residents.

There were some birthdays in July. Dorothy Jane had her 10th birthday party, which Jessie attended. I don’t know if Dorothy was a cousin or just a little girl in the neighborhood that Jessie was fond of.  Jessie’s dad had his 55th birthday in July as well.

Quite a few times in 1909, and maybe 1910 too, Jessie ends a diary entry with “burned wood.” I couldn’t think what this meant. Did she build a fire in the fireplace or somewhere else? Was she smoking cigarettes and using “burned wood” as a euphemism? Finally, I remembered that I have a decorative wooden disk that came from Grandmother. It was made with with a woodburning pen to make a picture, a picture that looks a little like Jessie, or at least like a girl of her period. If you look closely on the bottom right, you can see her name that she burned into the wood. I remember these kinds of kits from my childhood, and you can still buy them today. I’ve also added a postcard of Memphis from 1907.

This time I added most of Jessie’s March diary entries just so you can get an idea of the typical way she is spending her time.  Social clubs like the Merry Maids (MM) and the Mystic Twenty or Mystic XX (MXX) are popular.  At this time Jessie is 14.

The top picture is the Lyceum Theatre in Memphis. Below is a page from one of Jessie’s scrapbooks. It shows her home and her playhouse. Jessie is the girl in the front seat of the wagon, on the left – always smiling!

Jessie led a very busy and happy life.  She had lots of friends and they were always going places and doing things. Favorite activities were going down town and ‘bumming,’ playing various games outside, dancing, playing the piano and singing popular songs, going to concerts, plays, moving pictures (silent ones, of course), having various club meetings, and so on.

I think these are some sort of ‘fast’ photo images that Jessie and her friends had developed. Taking pictures was another pastime. In the sepia toned photos, Jessie may be the girl in the top. The blue photos (probably another ‘fast’ photo image of some kind) are family shots again. In the top image, standing are Frank (Jessie always called him ‘Bud’), an unidentified girl, and Jessie. Her grandmother and mother are seated. The bottom image is Frank with the unidentified girl.