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 CaryW
Gender: Male
 |  | Memories of growing up in Memphis
< on 12/13/2008 6:26 PM >
|  | | | I learned of the death this summer of an old friend from HS. It stirred my memories of the coolest thing in Whitehaven..Yes even cooler than Elvis.
In the early 80's my friends family came into some money and bought and restored Hoyt Wootens Mansion on Hwy 51. It was the perfect UE place. Growing up we had always wanted to sneak onto the property and had made up wild legends about the grounds and its contents.
Well now it was wide open for us. The stucco mansion had stood empty for almost the entire time I was alive and it had an underground movie theater. But that was nothing compared to what was outside in the thing that looked like a giant concrete tent. Yep, Mr Wootens Bomb Shelter. Supposedly the largest private one in the world.
We had it all to explore and hang out in. The morgue, the radio room, the kitchen and the dorm rooms.
It is all still there in the Lions Gate neighborhood but not a great area surrounding it. Some quotes and maybe a picture.
" What was possibly his most interesting work came in 1963, when he designed the interior of Memphis businessman Hoyt Wooten's underground bomb shelter, a structure so expansive it ranks today as the largest private bomb shelter in the world. Wooten, an engineer and entrepreneur, designed the 5,600-square-foot underground bunker and built it underneath his Whitehaven house at a cost of $120,000. Its vast array of high-tech features included a worldwide radio communications center, a refrigerated morgue, special generators and seven-and-a-half watt light bulbs designed and built by Wooten himself "
"Constructed at a cost of some $200,000, the 13-room underground complex on the grounds of his estate included sleeping quarters for 50 guests, a dining hall, recreation room, communications center, and even a morgue for anybody who didn't survive whatever attack Wooten feared.The only part above ground was a set of modern-looking concrete "sails" that concealed the entrance to the shelter.
Wooten never used it for its intended purpose. After his death in 1969, his property was converted into a subdivision called Lion's Gate, and for many years the old bomb shelter served as a community center. It's been empty for years now, but it's still standing as a remarkable reminder of our city's "radio electric" man. "
I have to disagree with the last part. Except for maybe a party or two trying to get underage drunken girls into the morgue I dont recall many community events. The development never really took off.
It is visible on Google earth. I will try and post a link. I cant find one damn picture
Cary
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CaryW
Gender: Male
| | Re: Memories of growing up in Memphis
<Reply # 1 on 12/13/2008 6:32 PM >
| | | | Google Earth #'s
35 00'46.87N
90 01'24.11 W
It is the long white rectangle.
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Metaprogrammer
      
Location: San Rafael, CA & Memphis, TN
Gender: Male
(Re)programming your mind and my own
| | Re: Memories of growing up in Memphis
<Reply # 2 on 12/16/2008 6:50 AM >
| | | | Thanks for your post. It seems like even Memphians are not too familiar with the more southern parts of the city. Every time I go back, it occurs to me to go out to Whitehaven, South Memphis, and Capleville to look for new abandonments, but somehow I rarely get out there.
By the way, what's the current status of the bunker and it's environs? It appears that the are is one of those rare leftover nice developments in what a now bad areas of town.
"You have to let other people be right. It consoles them for not being anything else."
-Andre Gide |
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CaryW
Gender: Male
| | Re: Memories of growing up in Memphis
<Reply # 3 on 12/16/2008 3:06 PM >
| | | | Last thing I heard, it was always gonna have a musty smell and they pretty much have locked it up and left it but that was a long time ago.
The development got a late start and was just beginning to take shape when "white flight' went into high gear.
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CaryW
Gender: Male
| | Re: Memories of growing up in Memphis
<Reply # 4 on 1/24/2009 3:38 PM >
| | | | Found one pic for you cold war fans.
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