Overton Park - History

History

The property, known locally as Lea’s Woods, was purchased by Memphis on November 14, 1901 for $110,000; it was located along the city's eastern boundary at that time. Overton Park was designed by landscape architect George Kessler as part of a comprehensive plan that also included M.L. King Riverside Park and the Memphis Parkway System. The planning began in 1901, and Overton Park was established in 1906. The park is named for John Overton, a co-founder of Memphis. 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.

In the 1960s and 1970s Overton Park was the subject of controversy when 26 of its 342 acres (1.38 km2) were slated by highway planners to be demolished to build Interstate Highway 40 through the park to make it easier for suburban commuters to get to downtown. However, a small number of residents of midtown formed a group known as Citizens to Preserve Overton Park and challenged the plan in court. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court ruled in their favor in the landmark case Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe.

Nevertheless, the City of Memphis and Tennessee Department of Transportation continued to propose a number of alternatives for routing Interstate 40 through Overton Park, including building the highway in a tunnel, or in a deep trench. In 1978, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park successfully nominated the park to the National Register of Historic Places, thus guaranteeing that without approval by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal funding could not be used for projects that damaged the park's historic integrity. The Memphis Commercial Appeal called listing on the National Register the "final nail in the coffin" of efforts to route Interstate 40 through Overton Park.

Beginning in June 1974, the road system within the interior of Overton Park was closed to motorized vehicles on weekends and holidays, which were called “People's Days". Although initially there were some objections, the new policy gained popularity, and the closures were eventually made permanent on April 13, 1987 except for official vehicles.

Overton Park was selected for inclusion in the 2009 Landslide Program sponsored by The Cultural Landscape Foundation. This program "spotlights great places designed by seminal and regionally influential landscape figures, which are threatened with change."

By vote of the Memphis City Council on December 6, 2011, the nonprofit Overton Park Conservancy assumed management of 184 acres (74.5 ha) of Overton Park. The 10-year agreement covers the East Picnic Area, Greensward, Formal Gardens, Old Forest State Natural Area, and Veteran’s Plaza. The Levitt Shell, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis College of Art, Memphis Zoo, and the Overton Park Golf Course are managed independently.