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Farish Street

After the end of the American Civil War Farish Street became the heart of a thriving middle-class African American community. The street became notable for live and recorded music. The neighborhood was abandoned by the middle-class with the coming of suburbanization and the end of legal segregation.

In 1983, architect Steven Horn initially presented a plan for redeveloping Farish Street. In 1995 the street was designated as an endangered historic place by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In the 1990s, Performa Entertainment Real Estate, who had redeveloped Memphis' Beale Street was brought in to take charge of the redevelopment. In 2008, The Farish Street Group took over the project with plans for a B.B. King's Blues Club to anchor the entertainment district.

When I visited in 2011 and 2012, the redevelopment was stuck in limbo and had been limited to repaving of the street, stabilization some of the abandoned buildings and demolition of many of the rest (Jackson Free Press).

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