On Martin Luther King Boulevard at Ashton Alley, on the right when traveling west on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Front
Aaron Henry (1922-1997), Clarksdale pharmacist, was a major early grassroots activist in the civil rights movement. As local NAACP president, he led the early 1960s Clarksdale boycott campaign, during which he was arrested and . . . — — Map (db m170477) HM
On Sunflower Avenue at Martin Luther King Boulevard, on the left when traveling north on Sunflower Avenue.
Front
The Clarksdale area is famed for its many legendary blues artists who achieved their greatest success after moving away, such as Muddy Waters, Ike Turner, and John Lee Hooker. But there were world-renowned musicians who . . . — — Map (db m90061) HM
On Delta Avenue at 1st Street, on the right when traveling north on Delta Avenue.
In 1909 steel magnate Andrew Carnegie was contacted by local women's club member Liliian Waddell about sponsoring a public library. In 1911 the Carnegie Foundation gave $10,000 to the city of Clarksdale to build and equip a public library, with the . . . — — Map (db m89927) HM
On Desoto Avenue (U.S. 49E) at North State Street (U.S. 61), on the right when traveling north on Desoto Avenue.
County seat of Coahoma County, was founded
in 1869 by John Clark, for whom the town was
named. Situated in one of the most fertile
regions of the world, it has grown into one
of the leading cities of the Yazoo Mississippi
Delta. It . . . — — Map (db m89749) HM
On Sunflower Avenue at 1st Street, on the right when traveling south on Sunflower Avenue.
Founded 1868 at crossing of Indian trails and on possible route of De Soto's expedition. Chartered 1882. Coahoma co-county seat, 1892; sole seat since 1936. Home of Gov. Earl Leroy Brewer. — — Map (db m89925) HM
Front
The Delta Blues Museum, the world's first museum devoted to blues, was founded on January 31, 1979, by Sid Graves, director of Clarksdale's Carnegie Public Library. Originally housed in a room of the Myrtle Hall Elementary . . . — — Map (db m90046) HM
On Martin Luther King Boulevard at Ashton Alley, on the right when traveling west on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Born near Clarksdale, Aaron Henry was an
American civil rights leader, politician, and
head of the Mississippi branch of the NAACP.
He was one of the founders of the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party, which tried to
seat their . . . — — Map (db m170480) HM
On Martin Luther King Boulevard, 0.1 miles west of Yahoo Avenue, on the right when traveling west.
In the late 1880s a group of African Americans established the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church near the Sunflower River, under the leadership of their first pastor Minister A. O. Gaston. The church would be moved to this location in 1918, . . . — — Map (db m90063) HM
On West 2nd Street at Riverside Avenue, on the right when traveling east on West 2nd Street.
Harvey Brown Heidelberg was born in Shubuta, Mississippi, on March 7, 1883. Educated in the Shubuta school system and at Southern University in Greensboro, Alabama, Millsaps College in Jackson, and the University of Michigan, he began his career in . . . — — Map (db m89928) HM
On Yazoo Avenue at Martin Luther King Boulevard, on the right when traveling north on Yazoo Avenue.
Established in 1880 as Haven Memorial and
renamed Haven UMC in 1968, the church was
completed in 1923. Clarksdale's first low-income daycare was opened here in 1965
by Lilian Johnson. In 1958, Rev. Theodore
Trammel and Dr. Aaron Henry hosted . . . — — Map (db m174126) HM
On Delta Avenue north of Sunflower Avenue, on the right when traveling north.
The Hicks-Tarzi Memorial Grotto was built in the
early 1950s out of natural stone from Alabama
and recreates the Grotto of Lourdes, France.
The statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
Bernadette Soubirous were given in memory
of Johnny Tarzi and . . . — — Map (db m235164) HM
On 3rd Street at Yahoo Avenue, on the left when traveling east on 3rd Street.
Front
Rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues pioneer Ike Turner began his career playing blues and boogie woogie piano in Clarksdale. Turner was born less than a mile south-west of this site, at 304 Washington Avenue in the Riverton . . . — — Map (db m90041) HM
Built in 1916, this Italian style villa was designed by Memphis
architect Bayard Cairnes and was the home of local attorney J.W.
Cutrer and his wife Blanche Clark Cutrer, daughter of Clarksdale
founder John Clark. Named Belvoir by the Cutrer . . . — — Map (db m89922) HM
On Delta Avenue north of East 2nd Street, on the right when traveling north.
Born in Jackson in 1944, Richard Ford won critical acclaim with his
first two novels, A Piece of My Heart (1976), and The Ultimate Good Luck
(1981). While he and his wife, Kristina Ford, lived in rural
Coahoma County, Ford wrote The . . . — — Map (db m235140) HM
On Sunflower Avenue, 0.2 miles south of Martin Luther King Boulevard, on the right when traveling south.
Front
Since 1944 the Riverside Hotel has provided lodging for traveling musicians. It was home to some, including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Ike Turner, and Robert Nighthawk. Before that, the building served African Americans of the . . . — — Map (db m90062) HM
On Issaquena Avenue, 0.1 miles north of Martin Luther King Boulevard, on the right when traveling south.
Front
The golden voice of Sam Cooke thrilled and enchanted millions of listeners on the hit recordings “You Send Me,” “Shake,” “A Change is Gonna Come,” “Chain Gang,” and many more. . . . — — Map (db m90050) HM
Front
The Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival, a preeminent showcase for homegrown Mississippi talent, began in 1988 as a promotion to draw area shoppers to downtown Clarksdale. The festival's dedication to presenting authentic . . . — — Map (db m90047) HM
On Delta Avenue, 0.1 miles north of 1st Street, on the right when traveling south.
Originally named Kehilath Jacob, Clarksdale’s first synagogue was
built here in 1910. In celebration of the new temple, a Torah was
shipped from New York City and carried to the temple by members of
the congregation. In 1929, a larger temple was . . . — — Map (db m89923) HM
On Clark Street at Yazoo Avenue, on the left when traveling east on Clark Street.
Williams famously remarked that "home is where you hang your childhood", and for the world renowned playwright, that place was the Mississippi Delta, specifically Clarksdale, where he set some of his greatest dramas, including Summer and . . . — — Map (db m154862) HM
On Martin Luther King Boulevard at Harrison Avenue, on the right when traveling east on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Front
This neighborhood, known since the turn of the twentieth century as the New World, was a breeding ground for ragtime, blues, and jazz music in Clarksdale's early days as a prosperous and adventurous new cotton town, when . . . — — Map (db m90060) HM
On Issaquena Avenue at Blues Alley, on the right when traveling south on Issaquena Avenue.
"Father of the Blues" composer and family lived at this site 1903-05. In
Clarksdale Handy was influenced by Delta blues which he collected
and later published as well as his own famous and influential music. — — Map (db m89929) HM
On Issaquena Avenue at Blues Alley, on the right when traveling south on Issaquena Avenue.
Front
One of Clarksdale's most talented and renowned blues musicians, Wade Walton (1923-2000) chose to pursue a career as a barber rather than as a professional entertainer. Walton never lost his love for blues, however, and often . . . — — Map (db m90049) HM
On Delta Avenue, 0.1 miles south of East 2nd Street, on the right when traveling south.
Front
WROX, Clarksdale’s first radio station, went on the air on June 5, 1944, from studios at 321 Delta Avenue. From 1945 until 1955 the station was headquartered here at 257 Delta. Legendary disc jockey Early “Soul Man” . . . — — Map (db m90033) HM
