1318 Lamar Memphis, TN
Circa 1915. Huge 3.5 story stone mansion
John Thomas Fargason II (1875-1939) and Annie Brinkley Snowden Fargason (1878-1924) constructed this monumental stone mansion in 1915. They wed in 1902. John’s parents were John T. and Sarah Ann M. Fargason of Memphis. Fargason Sr. was a wholesale grocer and cotton factor, president of National Bank of Commerce and of Memphis Trust Company. He was vice-president of American Surety Company and owned Clover Hill Plantation in Mississippi. Annie’s parents were Col. Robert B. and Annie Overton Brinkley Snowden of Memphis. He built his fortune in the early 1900s in the wholesale grocery business. There is a notice in a 1903 Memphis business directory.
His family was prominent, and they resided there for thirty years. The property was sold after the death of Fargason II. Two daughters, Anne Snowden F. Ward and Imogene Snowden F. Hudson, married and remained in Memphis. J. T. Fargason III moved to the Clover Hills Plantation and ran J.T. Fargason & Son, Inc.
The mansion was vacant for about a decade. In 1940, the Phi Rho Sigma medical fraternity at the University of Tennessee-Memphis purchased it as a chapter house. They moved out a decade later because of huge maintenance costs. Sitting empty, the property was abused by vagrants.
In 1960, it was demolished. An emerging Howard Johnson Motor Coach Motel put up a motel on the property about 1964. The property is across from the University Club of Memphis. According to a post from Creme de Memph, the Howard Johnsons became a Coach and Flour which was then vacant. Then the site was redeveloped as a Fred's . That business ended, and new owners are repurposing the building.
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