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William R. Moore |
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...and the Wm. R. Moore School of Technology |
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Many Memphis historians have called William Robert Moore
"one of the outstanding Memphians of his time". Born
March 28, 1830, near Huntsville, Alabama, his father died 6
months after his birth, followed by the death of his mother
when he was only 12 years old. After her death, Moore
was forced to work as a farm worker. At 15 he began working
as a sales clerk in Nashville, and later moved to New York and
spent 3 years as a wholesale dry goods salesman. By
1859, he had saved his money and moved to Memphis and opened a
wholesale dry goods company at 271 Main Street.
During the Civil War, Moore continued to run his business and
was quite clever. He felt that the South would lose the
war and that Confederate money would be worthless, so he spent
all he earned, buying downtown property. When the war
was over, he found himself a wealthy landowner and one of the
richest men in the city. From 1881 to
1883, Moore served as a United
States Congressman and then two years in the
Tennessee
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House of
Representatives from 1889-1891. When he was 58, he
married Charlotte Blood and moved into a grand home at 106 Union
Avenue.
As he grew older
Moore became obsessed about his legacy. After his
retirement in 1902, he decided he wanted people to remember
him for building one of the finest vocational schools in the
South. From then until his death, his time was filled
with dreaming and planning for his college. His dream
became reality in 1939, when the Wm. R. Moore School of
Technology opened at 1200 Poplar Avenue. |
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Click on small photos to see enlargements |
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Charlotte Blood Moore |
Wm. R.
Moore |
Wm. R.
Moore |
271
Main |
Moore Catalog 1940 |
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1865
Ad for WRM |
1865
Daily Appeal |
1883
Review of WRM |
Amer
Ed Review 1910 |
Moore Monument |
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The Wm R Moore Bldg
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1922 Ad |
1872 Ad |
1896 Book by WRM |
Delivery Truck |
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| 1906
Billhead |
1906
Envelope |
Employee Button |
Moore Home
Demolished |
1st
Building |
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W. R. Moore 1887 |
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Odds and Ends Poems... by
Wm. R. Moore . This
220 page book of poems was written by William R. Moore
and was published
November 8, 1900. The book sold for $1.00.
All proceeds were donated to charity. |
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Cover
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Selected pages from Wm. R.
Moore's "Odds and Ends Poems" ...
From the Collection
of Dave French |
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In 1913 the Hein Realty Company constructed a grand
building at 183 Monroe Avenue, which became the permanent
home of Wm. R. Moore Dry Goods Co. It was a 200,000
square foot, eight story facility. After the company
sold the business and moved out, the building sat vacant,
and abandoned for two decades. But that building
still exists and was added to the National Historic Registry
in 1982. Recently it was beautifully restored, and
is now known as Toyota Center. It is the recipient
of several prestigious Preservation-Renovation Awards. |
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WRM Dry Goods |
Renovated Dry Goods |
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Wm. R. Moore School of Technology |
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Wm.
R. Moore's life long dream was to establish a vocational
college. After his retirement in 1902, Moore spent most
of his time and efforts planning for this trade school.
He died in 1909 and the bulk of his estate was left to
establish this school, but the $500,000 fell short of the
goal. A group of Memphis businessmen formed a board of
trustees and began investing the money. Moore's wife
died in 1919, and with the balance of her estate plus 30 years
of investments, land was purchased and construction began for
the school in 1938. The Wm. R. Moore School of
Technology opened April 11, 1939 at 1200 Poplar Avenue.
The school was three stories high and included classrooms,
auditorium, library, and a museum. The third floor was
for the mechanical - architectural drawing rooms. Wings
along the sides held workshops for the technical programs.
Tuition was free. The only expense was incidental costs
for equipment and or uniforms. The first class graduated in January 1940.
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Moore had wanted a school where boys could get training that
would enable them to make a good living. The original
curriculum consisted of drafting, electricity, machine shop,
internal combustion engines, welding, carpentry,
cabinet-making, and metalworking. The
school continues to specialize in many of the same areas - Industrial Electricity, Air
Condition-Refrigeration-Heating, Machine Shop, Welding and
Maintenance Technology.
Today the Moore School of Technology is one of the nation's
oldest vocational institutions and is considered one of the
finest. Now called Moore Tech, the college has evolved
over the years to keep on top of the growing needs of a
changing job market. The school is a non-profit
institution that receives no funding from local, state or
federal government. Financial aid is provided through
the college's trust funds. Although tuition is no longer free,
65% of each student's tuition is currently paid by the school's
Trust Fund. The placement record of all
graduates is in the 75-80% rate.
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Wm R. Moore School of
Technology c.1940
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Wm R. Moore Today |
Aerial View
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Electric Shop c.1949 |
Machine Shop c 1949 |
Welding c.1949 |
Products c.1949 |
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Wm R. Moore .
Vintage Drawings and Photos of the school |
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Wm. R. Moore Memorabilia ... |
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C.A. French 1940 |
School Seal |
School Patch 1940 |
School Ring 1963 |
1963 Diploma |
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1909-1949
40th Anniversary Yearbook?
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We believe this book was published in 1949 as a "40th
Anniversary Yearbook" of the death of founder WIlliam R.
Moore. The complete yearbook is posted below.
It is quite rare and may be the only time the school
printed a yearbook? It was found by Hugh Robert
McVeigh in an estate sale in Memphis. Hugh is a
1961 graduate of The Moore School of Technology in
Architectural Drawing. Thanks Hugh, for allowing
us to scan the yearbook and to publish it on the
Historic-Memphis.com website.
(Note: New evidence that similar books were
published . See below) |
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Hugh
McVeigh |
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Thanks to
Maureen Thoni White for researching and writing this page.
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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:
Collier
County Museums, Woody Savage, 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 Commision, 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, 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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