680 Adams Ave. Memphis, TN
Circa 1870. Grand 5 story French-Victorian mansion
The Woodruff-Fontaine House has its place among Memphis' Adams Ave. "Millionares Row"
Amos Woodruff (1820-1907) and Phoebe High Woodruff (1825-1904) built this grand mansion to showcase their place in society and entertain. The mansion has a central tower, 18 large rooms, 3 great halls and hosted many grand parties. Woodruff and his brother came to Memphis to grow their carriage-making business.
The brother left to return to New Jersey, but Amos stayed. He became a very successful businessman with interests in his carriage-making business, a railroad, an insurance company, a hotel, a cotton compress firm, a lumber company, and two banks. They raised three daughters (Sarah Meeker “Sallie” Woodruff Barnum, Mary Louise “Mollie” Woodruff Henning, Cora Belle Woodruff Hannah) and a son (Frank Leath “Kay” Woodruff) and resided there until 1883. Mary Louise “Mollie” Woodruff Woolridge Henning (?-1917) and Egbert Woolridge lived at the mansion. Mollie lost a child and her husband in the span of a few months who died in the same room. Mollie remarried in 1883 to James Henning and moved to Poplar Ave. Sallie seems to have married and moved to Chicago. Frank had managed the Southern Bell company in Memphis and then moved to Atlanta to do the same.
Because of both the yellow fever epidemic on 1878 and a gold panic, the Woodruff fortunes waned. In 1883, the Woodruff family exchanged homes with the Noland Fontaine family and went to their home at 103 Madison. The Woodruffs eventually sold the home to the Fontaines about a decade later in 1892. Noland Fontaine had married Virginia Worsham Eames Fontaine (184-1928). They wed in 1864 and had ten children. Fontaine owned the very successful Hill-Fontaine Company, the third largest cotton supply company in Memphis. Their daughter, Mollie, wed Dr. Willam W. Taylor in 1886. The Fontaines presented the newlywed couple with the mansion built just across the street - Mollie F. Taylor House!
In 1930, Rose Lee purchased the Woodruff-Fontaine home for use as an art school expansion (Lee Memorial Art Academy) for her next door home Lee House. She was the eldest child of James Lee, Jr. (the Second James Lee House).
The home was deeded to City of Memphis in 1936. Then it was vacant for several years. In the 1950s/60s, the property was nearly razed as part of Memphis' urban renewal project that included older homes and declining neighborhoods as well as the construction and expansion of LeBonheur Hospital faciliites and other healthcare entities; however, through diligent community efforts and investment, the Woodruff-Fontaine House and others were spared. In 1962, The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities purchased the home and began restoration. In 1964, the mansion opened to the public as a museum.
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