This Just In ...

It was 20 years ago today

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Nov. 7, 2011

ELVIS

3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee…

From Elvis Australia:


Elvis Buys Graceland - March 17, 1957

The house and farm that became Elvis Presley's Graceland predated his purchase and residence by almost two decades. The Graceland property was originally established as a 500 acre farm during the American Civil War (1861-1865) by publisher Stephen C. Toof (Owner of the Memphis Daily Appeal).

Mr Toof named the property after his daughter, Grace Toof.

Ruth Moore, the granddaughter of Stephen C. Toof, inherited Toof's farm from his daughter, her aunt Grace. In 1939, Mrs.Ruth Brown Moore and her husband, Dr. Thomas D. Moore, built a two-story Classical Revival residence and outbuildings on the land that had been in her family for almost 100 years.

The Moore's had a daughter, Ruth Marie, a musical prodigy who played the piano and the harp at age four.

A prominent Memphis architectural firm, Furbringer and Erhman, designed the house to showcase Ruth Marie's talent, designing the large rooms across the front of the house so they 'could be opened up to seat five hundred people for a musical event'.

Elvis purchased the property from Ruth Marie in 1957, herself to later become a celebrated harpist with the Memphis Symphony. So Ruth Marie sold to another talented musician in Elvis Aaron Presley.

On Saturday, March 17, 1957, Elvis' mother and father called real estate agent Virginia Grant to see what she had to offer. Grant wasted no time. That day she showed them two properties, leaving Graceland to last. By 6 p.m. she had accepted a $1,000 deposit from the Presley's and drawn up a provisional sales contract detailing the terms of sale, including an asking price of $90,000.

At 10:00 a.m. on Monday, March 19, 22-year-old Elvis, accompanied by his parents, met Grant at Graceland. At this time the property was a 13.8-acre 'farm' about 10 miles south of downtown Memphis in Whitehaven, an area that was still largely rural at that time. The property included a large, two-story house, a barn, and rolling pastures. Elvis surveyed the property for a few minutes, then baptized the house by playing some Rock 'N' Roll at a piano. Elvis, Vernon and Gladys Presley signed the sales contract on the spot as purchasers, and a closing date was set for Tuesday, March 26, at 4:30 p.m.

Elvis was fortunate to get Graceland as it had already been sold to the YMCA for US$35,000 when he saw it. By upping the price significantly Elvis finally obtained his 'home'. The purchase was funded by a combination of $10,000 cash deposit, trade of the Presley home on Audubon Drive for $55,000 and mortgage of $37,500.

When Elvis was a poor youngster, he frequently told his parents that some day he would make a lot of money, buy them the finest house in town, and end their years of hard work and financial struggle.

Elvis.com reports:

“Graceland welcomes over 600,000 visitors each year, is one of the five most visited home tours in the United States, and is the most famous home in America after The White House.”

Graceland was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991.

Hit it, Paul!