Completed in 2000, with a seating capacity of 14,320, Autozone Park is home to the Memphis Redbirds, the AAA affiliate of the National League St. Louis Cardinals. Among the first of a wave of minor league ballparks built in center-city locations, Autozone Park is within walking distance of the Beale Street entertainment district and Front Street, the site of Memphis's once-bustling "cotton row" facing the Mississippi River. In the right background is the Peabody Hotel, founded in 1869, and built on a grand scale in its present location in 1925. The hotel closed in 1970 but was refurbished and reopened in 1981. The reopening of the Peabody was the first step in the revival of a city center that was virtually abandoned during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, downtown Memphis is a busy place.

Published: 28 February 2007
© 2007 David Wharton and Southern Spaces