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Historic Maywood Beach |
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...a different kind of Water Park |
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Maywood Beach was a water park located just across the
Mississippi state line in Olive Branch, Mississippi. It
was opened by Memphians Maurice and May Woodson in 1931, who
were looking for a change of pace from city life. To
achieve this, they purchased 400 acres of land 17 miles south
of Memphis. On the property was a spring fed lake.
They dug out the lake and lined the bottom with several tons
of beautiful white sand imported from Destin, Florida.
And then they filled the lake by tapping down into a natural
artesian water basin below ground. This eventually fed
into two other lakes on the property. They added
picnic tables, barbecue pits, pavilions, a bowling alley,
playgrounds, snack bar, and a tearoom and named the
complex "Maywood" after Mrs. Woodson.
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From the beginning, Maywood was a great success.
For many in the Memphis area, it was the only beach they'd
ever seen. And it remained largely unchanged throughout
its long history. Water was the key element at Maywood.
The water was cold, clear, with no hint of chlorine. It
was so clear you could see your toes against the white sandy
bottom. The feeling here was often compared to spending
a vacation at a 1930s campground beside a lake. It
was just about the best place a kid from Memphis could go
during the hot-humid summers.
The
Maywood Pavilion was a popular dance arena and is remembered
as a revenue where Elvis Presley played early in his career.
The Maywood Tearoom offered social events for the ladies,
including hat contests. Maywood Beach was considered THE
PLACE for graduating high school classes to hold their senior
picnics.
For
70 years people enjoyed Maywood. And then in 2003 came
the totally unexpected news from the current owner, Hugh
Armistead, that Maywood was closing, and the lake and
surrounding property would be turned into a private
residential development.
What
a sad day this was for Memphis.
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Click on small photos to
enlarge them. |
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Maywood Beach
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Maywood |
Maywood |
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Maywood |
Maywood 1964 |
Maywood 1957 |
Maywood Group Photo |
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Maywood
Fountain |
Elvis 1953 |
Maywood
1930s |
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1951 - It
was a High School tradition for classes to hold their
"Senior Picnic" at Maywood. |
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Maywood Ad |
Maywood Ad |
Maywood
Pass 1980 |
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| Vintage
Maywood |
Vintage
Maywood |
1964 |
Vintage
Maywood |
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We tried
many times to locate the owners of the various vintage photos above.
No one seems to know anything about them or who they belong to.
Nor has anyone come forward to acknowledge them during the 5 years
they've been on this website. |
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Credits |
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The
Historic-Memphis website does not intentionally post copyrighted
photos and material without permission or credit.
On
occasion a "non-credited" photo might possibly be posted because we
were unable to find a name to give credit. Because of the nature of
our non-commercial, non-profit, educational website, we strongly
believe that these photos would be considered "Fair Use. We have
certainly made no monetary gain, although those using this website
for historic or Genealogy research have certainly profited. If by
chance,
we have posted your copyrighted photo, please contact us, and we'll
remove it immediately, or we'll add your credit if that's your
choice. In the past, we have found that many photographers
volunteer to have their works included on these pages and we'll
also do that if you contact us with a photo that fits a particular
page. |
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The "Historic-Memphis" website would like to acknowledge and thank the
following for their contributions which helped make this website
possible:
Memphis
Public Library, Memphis University Library, Memphis Law Library,
Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis Press Scimitar, Shelby County
Register of Deeds, Memphis City Schools, Memphis Business Men's
Club, Memphis Chamber of Commerce, Memphis City Park Commission,
Memphis Film Commission, Carnival Memphis, Memphis Historical
Railroad Page, Memphis Heritage Inc, Beale Street Historic District,
Cobblestone Historic District, Memphis Historic Districts, Vance
Lauderdale Family Archives, Tennessee State Archives, Library of
Congress, Kemmons Wilson Family, Richard S. Brashier, Lee Askew,
George Whitworth, Woody Savage and many individuals whose assistance is
acknowledged on the pages of their contributions. Special
thanks to Memphis Realtor, Joe Spake, for giving us carte blanche
access to his outstanding collection of contemporary Memphis photos.
We do not have high definition copies of the photos on these
pages. If anyone wishes to secure high definition photos,
you'll have to contact the photographer or the collector.
(To avoid any possibility of contributing to SPAM, we do not
maintain a file of email addresses for anyone who contacts us). |
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historic-memphis.com |
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