Cobblestone landing
Nobody in the U.S.A. has an authentic, usable waterfront or riverfront cobblestone landing anymore except Memphis.
"It is the last remaining stone-paved landing on interior waterways. There used to be others, especially at St. Louis and Cincinnati‚ but those have been destroyed," says archaeologist Guy Weaver.
When the shore at the foot of the bluffs was paved with cobblestones back in the 1800s, Memphis became a center of commerce. This is one reason FfOR and other civic groups ardently promote preservation of Memphis Cobblestone Landing and restoring its usability for boating and enjoyment for everybody, locals and visitors.
"The cobblestones are one of the most significant historic sites in this area," says Guy Weaver. Actually, Americans (and other nationals) spend thousands of dollars each year to visit European and South American cities that preserve their sites' cobblestones. Think about it!
The Riverfront Development Corp. has proposed to restore the cobblestone landing that symbolizes Memphis' history as a busy river port.
The Historic Cobblestone Landing in Memphis is one of the nation’s largest remaining, intact cobblestone landings. Located on Riverside Drive between Beale Street and Jefferson, the landing was created by the commerce of incoming ships using cobblestones as ballast, exchanging them for loads of cotton, lumber and other products.
Sadly, the historic cobblestones have fallen into disrepair as they settled and sloughed at the toe.
The result is extremely unsafe walking conditions resulting in injuries, lawsuits and even one death from a fall. The current walking surface also creates a large barrier to pedestrian movement north and south along the Mississippi Riverfront at Memphis. However, the problems can be solved by restoring the landing, preventing further deterioration, making repairs throughout the cobblestones’ surface, and providing adequate walking surfaces constructed in a manner respectful of historical significance.
The landing was built between the late-1850s and 1890s by immigrant laborers who laid stone from quarries across the Midwest and South.
Today, mud and weeds have laid claim to significant portions of the landing, and patches of unsightly asphalt cover gaps in the stone. The surface has further deteriorated as a result of erosion and settling. And, most ominously, stones at the bottom of the landing have been sloughing off into Wolf River Harbor.
A 1996 survey by Weaver's firm estimated there were more than 800,000 cobblestones left at the landing, which is listed as part of the Cotton Row Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
Controversy because the proposed restoration would keep steamboats from being able to use the landing -
the City hired paving contractor John Loudon to initiate 'paving the wharf with limestone or granite" between Adams and Union avenues to cover a width of 100 feet and length of 3,300 feet. Amendments to Loudon's contract set the thickness of the paving at 12 inches and extended its length to Beale Street. The stone used in the project was quarried in Illinois; contrary to popular and longstanding myth, it did not originate as ballast stones in sailing ships.
Loudon began the work in 1859; by August 1860 the City Engineer reported that Loudon had completed 19,558.27 square yards of paved surface. The project was halted soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. Loudon resumed the project in July 1866. Subsequent contracts with Loudon's sons and other contractors brought the Landing to completion in 1881. Analysis of the remaining pavement fabric on the Landing strongly suggests that at least portions of each of these paving projects remains in place today.
2009: After over 150 years of continuous, thriving use, the City of Memphis plans to decommission our Cobblestone Landing. Tourists and Memphians might never again see those majestic riverboats docked at the foot of the Cobblestones - much less board a boat there to take a scenic Mississippi river cruise.