1039 Delmar Ave. Memphis, TN
Circa 1860. 1-story altered shotgun house
The home was built in what became a historically African-American neighborhood north of the Memphis Medical District. Gladys Millie Crawford Bennett (1911-?) was the most notable owner. Her famed nickname was “MaDear.”
She opened Gladys’ School of Domestic Arts in the 1940s. It was one of the early Memphis schools for African-Americans to learn professional skills.
Bennett purchased the home about 1955 and housed the school there from 1955-1970 with her husband Harvey Bennett. In the basement was her seamstress business. Her sister Cora Crawford had “Subway Beauty Salons” there as well.
The home was in the neighborhood of the Dixie Homes Projects, one of the earliest African American public housing projects in Memphis. The Dixie Homes were torn down in 2006 to make way for new townhouse apartments, Legends Park. The Bennett home remains and has been substantially remodeled. NR 2020
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