Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of articles about Bartlett’s historical preservation. (For links to enlarged versions of the above photos, click here.)
[dropcap]Through[/dropcap] the Bartlett Historic Preservation Commission, the City of Bartlett has recognized more than two dozen landmarks, including individual, interior, exterior and scenic landmarks in addition to the Historic District. The commission is continuing the mission to recognize even more.
Some of the better known local landmarks include the Gotten House (site of the Bartlett Museum), Cedar Hall, Davies Manor and the Blackwell House. But there are some others that you might not know about.
Bartlett Baptist Church
The historic Bartlett Baptist Church building is at 5868 Stage Road. The group that founded the church was once part of the Egypt Baptist Church in Raleigh. In 1852, the congregation bought a lot in Greenbottom (an early name for Bartlett) for $5, built a small building and went by the name of Prosperity Baptist Church.
By 1870, they had raised the funds to build a larger building in the Gothic architectural style and paint it yellow with green shutters. It contained some materials from an older church, Warren Chapel (Methodist) in Ellendale. They dedicated the new structure in April 1871.
In May 1877, they paid $100 for a church bell. On March 8, 1896, they changed the congregation name to Bartlett Baptist Church. The brick veneer that you see today was added in 1932, along with an addition to the north side.
In 1946, they added Sunday School rooms to the east. The large sanctuary between the 1870 building and the current library was built in 1964.
After the congregation moved to the new site on Yale Road, the City of Bartlett bought the property and renovated it into the Bartlett Station Municipal Center.
Barteau-Dickey House
The Barteau-Dickey House is at 2943 Sycamore View Road. It started out as a two-room cabin built circa 1860 on the G.M. Bartlett plantation. Bartlett sold the one-acre lot to Alexander Munn (a close friend) in January 1866.
In July 1869, Munn sold it to Albert Shotwell, who had moved to Union Depot (another early name for Bartlett) to be the local Presbyterian minister. In January 1877, the Shotwells sold the house to Colonel Clark Russell and Mrs. Barteau.
Colonel Barteau fought under General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Second Tennessee Calvary and moved to Bartlett in 1870. He practiced law here and also served as the local prosecuting attorney (there was a courthouse on the site of the current Bartlett High School). He died in his home in 1900, his widow moved in with their daughter in Memphis and the house was sold to James Tandy Dickey, an engineer.
In 1906, Mrs. Dickey became a widow and remained in the house with her children. Her youngest daughter and son-in-law inherited the home and sold it in 1949 to another sister, Sarah Barret, wife of Paul Barret. Mrs. Barret sold it in 1959 and it passed through several owners until 1977.
It was then purchased by Judge Freeman Marr and used as rental property until being sold in 2005 to the current owners. They did a full restoration and have tried to keep the original building close to the Victorian style of the 1870s.
Moser House
You might not see it tucked off the road at 3192 Sycamore View Road, but the Moser House has pretty much looked the same since it was new around 1890. Built by Henry Clifton Sr., this house was constructed of 12 by 18 hand-hewn logs from the property’s yellow poplar trees.
The Clifton family ran a dairy farm for many years from that location. While Bartlett was known for produce (mainly strawberries) and flowers in the 19th Century, it was mostly dairy farms by the mid-20th Century. There were around 20 dairy farms operating in Bartlett in the 1930s, the most well-known being Klinke Brothers.
For more information on Bartlett landmarks, visit https://www.cityofbartlett.org/88/Historic-Preservation-Commission and click on “historical landmarks.”
KEVIN QUINN, a guest writer for The Bartlett Express, has lived in Shelby County since 1989 and in Historic Bartlett since 2005. He’s married and has three children (ages 2, 6 and 10). Quinn worked in broadcast television for 21 years and currently works for Memphis Museums Inc. (the Pink Palace) doing video and social media. He’s an appointed member of the Shelby County Historical Commission, the Bartlett Historical Preservation Commission and the Davies Manor Association; a member and Technical Advisor for the Bartlett Historical Society; a former board member of the Downtown (Fogelman) YMCA, New Pathways (MIFA), Vance Avenue Youth Development Center and St. Patrick Community Development Corporation. He has loved history since he could first read and spends his spare time trying to learn more history than he knows what to do with. An offshoot of his love for history is his dedication to preserving historic places. He’s owned several historic homes, including his current one, a Bartlett Historical Landmark, that he and his wife fully restored. Contact him at bartlettmediaguy@gmail.com.
