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Historic Tony's Fruit Stand |
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...Memphis Main and Beale |
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Tony Bova, an Italian truck farmer, opened a little stand at
the corner of Main and Beale in 1905 and it became a Memphis
institution. The stand was the daily stop for
those on their way or those hurrying to work - a spot where
they could pick up bananas, apples, candy, cigarettes, gum, or
sodas.
Tony
rented the space for his stand from the owner of the building
behind him and the sign above the stand read "Toney's
Fruit Stand". Since he had acquired the sign for free
and never bothered to change it says a lot about Tony.
He was steady and on that corner daily during the heat and
humidity of Memphis summers, the cold and sleet of the
winters, plus the rain throughout the year. It seemed
that all Memphis knew Tony. |
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Tony Bova died in 1954 and his nephew, Joe Cianciola,
took over the business. Joe had worked at the
stand for his uncle since he was 11 years old.
In 1963, a "problem" occurred when the Memphis
Health Department notified Joe that the fruit stand
was considered a restaurant and therefore needed
public restrooms. Eventually Mayor Henry
Loeb intervened and told the Health Department to
"back off". However by 1971 the "urban
renewal" of Beale Street finally marked the end of the
historic Tony's Fruit Stand.
Joe Cianciola moved to an indoor location at 25 S.
Second. It wasn't the same for him and he
wasn't happy at the new location. He retired in 1987 and the
little stand went through several owners but
soon closed for good. The original Beale
Street location is now the site of Tri-State Bank. |
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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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