Midtown is a neighborhood of neighborhoods — Overton Square, Cooper Young, Vollintine Evergreen, and many other distinct communities sit within its borders. Neighborhood identities are strong, but throughout the area, streets are wide and green, hipsters and hundred-year-old houses are commonplace, and politics are generally liberal. Midtown is known for eclectic, local options in food, entertainment, culture, and arts. It’s home to the region’s only art college and the local theater scene, and its main thoroughfares – Cleveland, Cooper, Madison, Poplar, Union, and Young — play host to hundreds of locally-owned businesses to serve any need.
Young entrepreneurs Micah Dempsey and Christopher Galbreath, who learned how to make pottery while in high school at Harding Academy, have turned their passion into a successful business. After opening a pop-up pottery studio and coffee shop earlier this year inside Minglewood Hall, the pair are now moving the business to a permanent spot on the Highland Strip near the University of Memphis.
In 1986, Dorothy Gunther Pugh founded Ballet Memphis with two dancers and a $75,000 budget. Now, the company is home to 26 dancers from around the world. It’s about to formally open a new $21 million facility in Midtown at 2144 Madison Ave. with a community celebration on Aug. 26.
Through an innovative vision, a new charter school set to open in 2018, hopes to prepare students for what lies ahead, with personalized learning plans and a project-based curriculum.
Sarah Baumann illustrates the special pieces of a city in 8x10 or 11x14 prints, including those places that locals call their favorite part of their city.
With public health issues, like Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure on the rise in Tennessee, the Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness launches new urban health program, Healthier Tennessee Neighborhoods, with Memphis as the pilot city.
Projects include restoration of the Universal Life Building downtown, plans for multifamily units in Midtown, a new pedestrian bridge in the Pinch District, a Trader Joe’s in Germantown and the former Justine’s restaurant building in South Memphis.
The benefits of the local MEMFix program, which helps to reinvigorate underutilized areas around the city by redesigning and temporarily activating specific city blocks, have been multifaceted over the past five years.
Launched in 2015, the Rhodes Compassionate Campus Initiative encourages inclusive dialogue and mindfulness both in and outside of the classroom.
LITE Memphis is using its system of local businesses to connect young people to the right network through a new internship program called City of Tomorrow. The nonprofit is placing students in intern positions that will help them garner skills, knowledge and social connections.
Audio coverage brings Memphis events and neighborhoods to life. For more multimedia content, subscribe the High Ground News Sound & Color newsletter.
Our Partners
