Historic Sites - Beale Street Historic District
05 Beale Street Historic District
- A night on Beale Street, the heart of blues country.
It was here in the early 1900s that W.C. Handy first popularized and published the blues, a unique African-American contribution to American music. Handy (1873-1958) was the son of an Alabama Methodist minister. He came here as a young man and played at Pee Wee’s Saloon, while another blues pioneer, Bessie Smith, was singing at area nightspots. In 1909, mayoral candidate E. H. Crump hired Handy and his band for his campaign, and Handy’s song Mr. Crump made him famous overnight when Crump won the election. Handy later turned the song into the Memphis Blues, the first blues ever published. It was followed by Beale St. Blues and St. Louis Blues. The site includes Handy’s home at 352 Beale Street, the Memphis Blues and Music Museum, the Palace and Daisy theaters, Hole-in-the-Wall Saloon, parks, shops, restaurants, and night clubs.
Beale Street Historic District
168 Beale Street, Memphis, TN 3810
(901) 526-0110
