Originally 6792 Old Poplar PK/ current 6797 Messick Rd. Memphis, TN
Circa 1869-1895. Late Victorian, Vernacular Eastlake
The Kirby Farm House is part of the Brooks-Kirby (Wilks Brooks) network of plantations. The home was on the ancient Cherokee Trail (aka Cherokee Trace) that ran through Alabama and Mississippi to the Mississippi River. Wilks Brooks built the home about 1868 for his son.
Thomas Adderton Nelson (1819-1887) and Miriam W. Mosley Nelson (1823-1912) purchased the home about 1869. He wanted to find a safe, remote place for his family during the 1868 Yellow Fever outbreak in the Memphis area as well as having a country home. He was prosperous businessman in banking (President of the Bank of West Tennessee), cotton and life insurance, and was a key figure in the Memphis/ Shelby Co. commercial development and revival during the Reconstruction era. He was a co-founder of the Memphis Oil Co. and the City Oil Comp. They moved to 81 Adams St. The homestead became more important by 1852 when the Memphis and Charleston Railroad ran past the property - it provided a easy connection between Memphis and Germantown. The railroad was also one of the few rail connections between the mighty Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean.
His daughter Laura T. Nelson Brett (1841-1895) inherited the place, and during her ownership, most of the outbuildings were constructed. Her husband was James Brett (1838-1917). They wed in 1862 and resided at the home until 1890.
The next family was John Louis Ebling (1852-1920) and ??? in 1890, The family remodeled the home with Queen Anne Revival / Victorian style.
In 1898, John Aaderson Kirby (1842-1929) and Ann Eliza Brooks Kirby (1848-1926) bought the property and it has remained in-family. He was a Virginia native who moved to Memphis in 1860 to get into the wholesale grocery business, served with the Shelby Grays, and after the Civil War, wed Ann.. She was the granddaughter of Wilks Brooks. Over the years, the Kirby family has updated the home appropriately. By the early twentieth century, the Kirby family had grown their lands to total about 8,000 acres across three states - Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. In 1926, John A. Kirby arranged for his son Joseph Brooks Kirby (1877-1950) to inherit the home.
In 2014, the land was sold for commercial development, and the home was moved about a mile to the new address on Messick Rd. with 10 acres. Three years later, in 2017, the Kirby Farm House was reopened to the public.
In 2014, the home was moved to new location on the property. The families are remembered by Kirby Parkway, Kirby Trace, Kirby Ridge Cove, Kirby Oaks Dr., Kirby Woods Dr. NR 1986 See Wilks Brooks House
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