317 South Highland St. Memphis, TN
Circa 1919. A very large 2.5 story in Italian-Mediterranean style
Photo by Christ6320
C. R. Boyce (?-1930) purchased 6 lots of Country Club Place subdivision to build a country mansion. Boyce erected the large home on South Highland St. The National Register of Historic Places description notes the huge mansion “ was typical of the affluence of cotton men” in Memphis at the turn of the century. Boyce was a successful cotton buyer. He was a partner in Boyce Kausler, a cotton buyer. In 1920, Boyce purchased the McCall Building to provide space for fellow “cotton men.” Boyce died in Peru in 1930.
After Boyce died, the family remained for 6 more years until 1936. They sold the property to Russell Cravens Gregg (1893-1986) and Ethel Irene Calhoun Gregg (1895-1977) in 1936. They wed in 1918. He was the Memphis territory manager of Anderson-Clayton Co. - at the time the world’s largest cotton firm. Gregg’s youngest daughter Mary Letitia was the Memphis Cotton Carnival queen in 1950. She married Henry Loeb III who was a 2-term mayor of Memphis, 1960-63, 1968-72. In 1973, Ethel left the home. The Boyce-Gregg home was purchased by their son-in-law C. Wrede Petersmeyer (wed to Frances Gregg) who turned around and put it on the market. It was almost demolished for federal-assistance high rise apartments for the elderly.
In 1978, Clarence Cearns Day, Jr. (1927-2009) purchased and remodeled the home for his business headquarters for Day Companies, Inc. It had 2.5 acres remaining. He was married to Mary Vincent “Ga-Ga” Terry Day (1925-2003). He was a Mississippi native who enlarged his family business holdings into timber, plywood and oil and gas exploration. He had investments in Patterson Transfer Company, a Missouri cattle ranch, and residential and commercial development projects. In 1960, he founded the Day Foundation to assist youth and youth programs in Memphis and the mid-South. In 1986, Day restored an antebellum mansion, The Magnolias, in his hometown of Aberdeen, MS and donated it to the city of Aberdeen.
In 1991, the property was bought by the Junior League of Memphis, and is now called the Jr. League Community Resource Center. The home sits just west of the Memphis Country Club. NR 1979
Sources: