STREETSEEN
Jimmy Ogle Taking It to the Streets
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ou probably walk or drive over manhole covers every day without paying them any notice, however there’s one Memphian who has made a point to stop, study and photograph manhole covers, specifically in the downtown area, since 1998. For Jimmy Ogle, the manhole covers hold aesthetic and historic value, enough so that locals and visitors alike have taken interest in the subject by coming along for Ogle’s free tours. So far, he has found 12 generations of the openings used to access utility vaults and has identified nine foundries, with one in India, utilized for the construction of the roughly 4,000 downtown covers. Ogle says, “Some of the covers are more than 100 years old—I found one from 1897.” Having worked at Mud Island River Park, the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, on a river boat and currently at the Riverfront Development Corporation, Ogle has been immersed in downtown sites and businesses for quite some time, and along the way, he developed into a bona fide storyteller. People began putting in requests for tours, and in 2008, he took his manhole cover tour to the Downtown Memphis Development Commission’s (formerly the Center City Commission) “Downtown Alive” series, though he’d first proposed a river or a boat tour that were both shot down. In three days, he put together a walking tour that spanned from Union to Riverside to Third Street, a stretch that allowed people to not only see manhole covers, but Cotton Row, the Mississippi, the seven flags on Mud Island, Howard’s Row and places of music. “Ninety people showed up for that first Union Avenue Manhole Cover and History Tour, so Leslie [Gower] at the Downtown Memphis Development Commission said I could do a tour on whatever I wanted after that,” he says. Next up was a Mississippi River Tour and a Memphis Land Tour, which bring to light bits of trivia that Ogle delights in telling, like when he points out that Memphis is the highest piece of land on the Mississippi between Cairo, Illinois and Natchez, Mississippi. His crash courses in everything Memphis, which he mainly coordinates on his own now, have grown to include visits to Gayoso Bayou and the Riverfront Trolley Loop, to name a few of the locations he heavily researches before adding them to his schedule (found at jimmyogle.com). He assures, “I always double source or triple source my facts, and I’ve probably read over 300 books on Memphis history. I’m trying to get the stories right because there are a lot of myths out there.” While August brings Ogle to his usual spots, from Cotton Row to Adams, Madison and Monroe Avenues, fans will be happy to know that he’s added a new spot to the mix with the November Sixth Street Tour on November 6 at 2 p.m. First-timers or repeat visitors, just remember not to refer to Ogle as a historian. Ogle insists, “I just want to be called a life-long Memphian.” Story by Leah Fitzpatrick Photo by Steve Roberts