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July 25, 1902
- Overton's name was selected in a competition to name the new park conducted by the Evening Scimitar, a local newspaper; the three choices in the voting were Memphis founding fathers Andrew Jackson, Overton, and James Winchester. The official naming occurred on July 25, 1902.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_Park
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The official naming occurred on July 25, 1902. In the 1960s and 1970s Overton Park was the subject of controversy when 26 of its 342 acres (138 ha) were slated by highway planners to be demolished to build Interstate 40 through the park to make it easier for suburban commuters to get to downtown.
The current Overton Park, once known locally as Lea’s Woods, was purchased by Memphis on November 14, 1901, for $110,000 (equivalent to $4,029,000 in 2023 and eventually established as Overton Park in 1906.
At the heart of Memphis lies Overton Park, a 342-acre public space that contains the Memphis Zoo, an old-growth forest, a famed amphitheater, and the Brooks Museum of Art. Founded in 1901, the park has been at the center of both celebration and controversy.
Apr 4, 2018 · The Overton Park Historic District was placed on the National Register on Oct. 25, 1979. History: Overton Park was designed by landscape architect George Kessler in 1901-02 and named for John Overton.
Apr 20, 2014 · The park with its unique 175 acres of climax oak-hickory urban forest was preserved as a unit by the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision, 1971. Placed in National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior 1979.
May 4, 2016 · Sam Cooper Boulevard (the name was rarely used) was a dismal entryway from East Memphis. You crossed railroad tracks, cursed the trains that made you late, and took blighted Broad Street or Summer Avenue to get to East Parkway, where you could cut through a corner of the park to get to North Parkway.
The most famous attempt at racial integration within the park happened at the Overton Park Shell, now the Levitt Shell. Johnnie Turner and other black student leaders attended a church service there, and—without giving the entire story away—they were arrested for their efforts.
