The Wm. C. Ellis building off S. Front St. in downtown Memphis. The building is one of the oldest machining shops in Memphis and is slated to be torn down.
On this day in 1983, the W.C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks & Machine Shop was added to the National Register of Historic Places as one of the earliest, longest-running businesses in Memphis.
Founded in 1879, the W.C. Ellis & Sons shop originally started off producing parts for horse and carriages but eventually expanded into agricultural machinery and railroad equipment.
Interestingly, the company also provided a majority of the manhole covers that lined Memphis streets and helped to build the first sanitary sewer systems to avert another Yellow Fever epidemic from occurring in the Bluff City.
Tragically, W.C. Ellis & Sons closed shop in December of 2016, but the core structure still survives today at its Front St. location, with the restaurant Amelia Gene’s injecting new life into part of the property while respecting the building’s history.
