2000 Old Oak Dr. Memphis, TN/ 1973 moved to another part of the property and restored
Circa 1835. 2-story Greek Revival with front portico
Reportedly the earliest example of Greek Revival style in Memphis
Photo by Jim Roberts
The Wilks Brooks House on a 640 acre plantation, was originally about 13 miles east of Memphis in Germantown on Old Poplar Pike and on the Cherokee Trace. Wilks Brooks (1785-1849) and Agnes Brooks came from North Carolina in 1834 with their teenage son Joseph and purchased the land. The property was primarily a cotton plantation and also had log cabins, a smokehouse, a sawmill, among other buildings. The property was adjacent to the Cherokee Trace (now Poplar Ave.). Brooks family members lived in the home until 1900.
The area was originally called Pea Ridge, then became Massey, and now Ridgeway.
Joseph "Jo" Brooks (1819-1897) married Agnes Nelson Dandridge Brooks (1828-1911), inherited the property and was the last family member to reside there. His family built a home further east in Germantown and had a cotton gin. Tenants then rented it for most of the twentieth century until 1973.
By 1973, Dorothy Kirby Wills (1923-2006) and Walter Douglas Wills, Jr. (1915-2000) owned the home. They moved the home a short distance to a corner of the original property to enable residential development of the remainder and kept ¾ acre. Dorothy was a Brooks descendant - her parents were Joseph Brooks and Dorothy Walker Kirby. She was involved with the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Descendants of Early Settlers of Shelby County, West Tennessee Historical Society, The Germantown Arts Alliance, and past president of the Suburban Garden Club. The couple began restoration which was completed in 2002. NR1980 See Nelson-Brooks House (Kirby Farm House)
Sources:
Elmwood 2002: In the Shadows of the Elms, Perre Magnusss, p. 55
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