The Brinkley Female College opened in the mansion around 1868-69 and the headmaster was J. D. Meredith.    Ads for the school appeared almost daily in the Memphis Newspapers.   In 1871, the school was still "new" and had no more than 50 students. 

The entrance portico was the most notable feature of the large building.  It stood a full two stories tall with the heroic columns reaching a height of almost 24 feet.  The columns had cast-iron bases and caps.  The hip roof was covered with slate tile shingles and there were four chimneys.  It was a proper setting for the perfect Memphis ghost story. 

1870 Directory

On February 1 of 1871, the young student Clara Robertson was alone in the upstairs hall  practicing the piano.  She looked up and saw a girl standing there  who was wearing a moldy pink dress and had decaying flesh.  Clara screamed  and the apparition disappeared without speaking ...

Thus began a chain of events that would occupy daily newspaper space and stir the public's imagination for many weeks.   Half the city  was on edge and the other half was in stitches during this period.   Read a condensed version of the story below... and a few of the daily newspaper articles pro and con.

Ghost Story

Dig around the stump

 Editorial...

Treasure Jar

1871 Book

Father's response

"That Jar..."

Father attacked

Because of the publicity of the events in 1871, the school lost most of its students.  It was impossible to continue.  The headmaster, J. D. Meredith, had always insisted that all this talk about ghosts was strictly a hoax,  perpetrated by competing schools to drive the Brinkley Female College  out of business.   If that's the case, it worked.  Mr.  Meredith went on to open the Meredith Female College at the corner of Main and Broadway, but his new school only lasted three years.

After the Brinkley school closed in 1871 it was rather difficult to find or  to keep new tenants.  Brinkley arranged great discounts for those who would rent and help maintain the building.  A large family rented the building for a few years.   Around 1930  the house was sold and divided into as many as eight apartments for railroad workers.  Gradually all the other surrounding homes were torn down as the area moved toward commercialization.  The paper manufacturer, Wurzburg Brothers, purchased the land to build their warehouse and helped relocate the current tenants.  In 1972, the old building was dismantled and sold to a man in Jonesboro, Arkansas, who planned to reconstruct it there.  Afterwards, Wurzburg built their warehouse, and that large building is still there.

683 S. Fifth St.

Credits

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