Midtown boundaries?

[Ginsaw]

I'm in agreement with those Mid-Town boundaries with a special exception for CBC of course.

Now, I don't know what exactly we do with the Fairgrounds. It doesn't have the "feel" of Mid-Town or east Memphis. So I tend to put it in with a special, larger area including Normal, Orange Mound and Buntyn (btw, once its own town and extremely old). It co-incides with the Messick/Melrose areas and I think should be considered historically distinct. A single name for it is elusive.

As to North Memphis, this IMO is by far the widest of all Memphis areas. I agree it is bordered on the south by Jackson its whole length and I'd even run that downtown along the Auction extension of Jackson. I'd call its west border the Mississippi River, and its north border roughly the Wolf River/I-40. I consider it as extending all the way eastward to the junction of I-40 and Jackson Avenue. You can even find a few businesses in that eastern most area starting with "north memphis" in their names. It's bi-sected by Chelsea most of the way east.

South Memphis? IMO it's bordered on the west by the Mississippi River (the old Ft. Pickering area), and on the south by I-240 today but in former times by Nonconnah Creek (on the other side of that is Whitehaven). I'd put the northern border as Crump Blvd (known in former times as Georgia Avenue) as extended along Lamar/Southern. The eastern boundary I consider East Parkway as extended south along Airways. For the approximate geographical center I nominate the corner of Orleans and Richmond, at which once stood the original South Side High School.

[Smtchll]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

Central Gardens is the heart of midtown! It fits all the criteria posters have mentioned on here regarding boundaries. Crosstown is west of Cleveland, however it is right there on Cleveland. I'd call it midtown. The boundaries I gave at least, are just generalizations for anyone new to the city and needing a rough estimate.

I would call South Memphis anything south of the loop. North Memphis...north of Jackson.

South Memphis is inside the loop. South of the loop would be Whitehaven, Westwood, Hickory Hill, etc. North Memphis is also inside the loop because north of the interstate is Frayser and Raleigh. Generally, North, South, and East Memphis are inside the loop, sometimes they spill outside of the loop, like in the case of East Memphis. I suppose other parts do as well.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Smtchll

South Memphis is inside the loop. South of the loop would be Whitehaven, Westwood, Hickory Hill, etc. North Memphis is also inside the loop because north of the interstate is Frayser and Raleigh. Generally, North, South, and East Memphis are inside the loop, sometimes they spill outside of the loop, like in the case of East Memphis. I suppose other parts do as well.

I think the "loop" he was referring to was the Parkways loop: North Parkway, East Parkway, and South Parkway. At least that's how I interpreted it. And when I lived in Memphis, Midtown purists often told me that the Parkways pretty much delineated what they considered to be "midtown" (although I agree with others that maybe Jackson would be a better northern boundary since that would mean Rhodes would be part of Midtown).

[Smtchll]

Originally Posted by JMT

I think the "loop" he was referring to was the Parkways loop: North Parkway, East Parkway, and South Parkway. At least that's how I interpreted it. And when I lived in Memphis, Midtown purists often told me that the Parkways pretty much delineated what they considered to be "midtown" (although I agree with others that maybe Jackson would be a better northern boundary since that would mean Rhodes would be part of Midtown).

O well I've never heard of the Parkway loop. I always use it to refer to the I-40/240 loop.

[Ginsaw]

I agree with Smtchll about I-40/I-240 as the loop for today's world. The Parkways served that purpose for a different time.

When I was young we tended to think of parts of town somewhat the same as where you went to high school. Central and Tech were Mid-Town, and so on. Also, for instance, you wouldn't use S. Parkway as the northern boundary for South Memphis because South Side High School was to its north. Another more current example is that it'd be awkward to use Highland as the western border of east Memphis because East High School is on Holmes, well to the west of Highland.

Just think, the "loop" will soon be 385.