Good Morning POU!
Today, the Yellow Fever outbreak of 1878 and how Robert Reed Church survived.
The summer of 1878 was muggy and hot and beset by swarms of mosquitoes. On the first day of August, a steamboat worker slipped out of a yellow fever quarantine in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and sat down to eat at a restaurant by the docks operated by a woman named Kate Bionda. He infected Bionda, who died just over two weeks later, but not before infecting numerous others.
This was the beginning of a yellow fever outbreak in Memphis. The infection resulted in vomiting blood and the developing of jaundice. It spread quickly and could kill within weeks. In Memphis, there were more than a thousand infections and 200 deaths in the first few weeks.
When Robert heard of the first cases, he rushed home and packed his children’s things. He then took Thomas and Mary to the train station. At the station, people who were departing were weeping, as were those they abandoned. “You are leaving us poor folks behind” a voice shouted from the crowds. “You better watch out! Death can find you where you are going just as easy as it can find us here with yellow fever!”
Church’s father also left Memphis during the outbreak, moving to Monmouth Arkansas with is wife and daughter. Shortly after arriving Captain Church died of a brain aneurysm.
Robert had no time to grieve his father’s death. The outbreak worsened and the death toll rose. As he walked to his saloon every day, he saw bodies lining the streets. Each day he worked he heard funeral bells chiming nearly every hour as deaths mounted to more than 200 a week. Just as blacks had fled Memphis after the race riots, whites fled Memphis in even larger numbers during the outbreak, leaving behind whites without means to relocate and the African American population.
As the outbreak wore on, African Americans who were infected died at a lower rate than whites, perhaps due to the resistance developed by African Americans from increased exposure to yellow fever during slavery.
One day Robert noticed a rickety plank used to pave the roads. He took a closer look and found a pool of filthy foul smelling water under the rotted wood. He theorized that the unsanitary condition of the streets had to be responsible for the spread of the sickness. He came to believe that once the streets were safely paved over, the yellow fever epidemic would subside.
The pools of water under the streets were indeed the culprit, as they served as breeding ground for mosquitoes, which scientists would later learner were the vector for the yellow fever virus.
Church began to buy up houses for pennies on the dollar from fleeing families leaving Memphis, knowing that if the city rebounded, he would become rich. He also increased his purchase order for whisky which he sold has an antiseptic during the worst days of the plague.
In 1879, when the epidemic begin to abate, the city of Memphis emerged bankrupt. After years of people fleeing and businesses closing, the city was out of money. In order to pay its debts, the local government issued bonds. The first bond was sold for $1,000 ($27,092) to Robert Reed Church.
To the surprise of many, Memphis’ most hated black citizen was the first to step up and try and save it. After his bond purchase, other prominent businessmen and families followed suit.
Church’s actions helped Memphis to survive the outbreak and rebuild.
Late in the afternoon of July 29, 1885, a hot day, Robert Reed Church was at work behind the bar when he smelled smoke. He was now 46 years old and wore a bowler hat to cover the words he had sustained in the attack on his shop during the Memphis race riots. He went outside and saw that the lumber factory up the street was on fire and that the flames were moving in his direction. He didn’t panic. He yelled out for three of his employees and sent them to the rook with buckets of water and fire hoses. He then rallied the rest of his staff and customers to start carrying the pool tables and furniture outside into the street.
By that time the fire engulfed the entire block and panic ensued. Men and women evacuated their homes, Shopkeepers emptied their stores. When the flames reached Church’s billiard hall, a strong gust of wind weakened the fire. A few minutes later, firefighters arrived to put out the blaze. His billiard hall sustained minor damage, The rest of the block wasn’t so fortunate, the fire burned out dozens of homes and businesses, causing $125,000 ($.3. million) of damage
Just as he had during the yellow fever outbreak, Church used the disaster as an opportunity. He swooped in and bought out dozens of homes. He owned nearly half of downtown Memphis after the fire. He renovated the properties sparring no expense. He rented the new homes to African Americans at affordable rates. In doing so, he offered them an alternative to the slumlike conditions and high rents of white landlords in the area. Church was a charitable landlord, often letting black tenants who fell on hard times, go months without paying rent.
He was less charitable with his commercial holdings. Having control of the majority of commercial real estate in Memphis, he could set his own price. Many of his new tenants were gambling houses, saloons, concert halls, and brothels. The black enclave of Beale Street became a vice district. Some would denigrate Robert for bringing such business to Memphis, even calling him a pimp. He’d reply to such accusations “Whatever my tenants do in their property is their business.”
Church capitalized on the new traffic and his pool hall began to function as a casino, pawnshop and moneylender. Inside, high stakes card, dice and billiard games took place. From behind the bar, Church made high interest loans and bought clothing, diamonds and other jewelry for pennies on the dollar. Church had a net worth near $300,000 ($8 million) and growing rapidly. As he was expanding his empire, his marriage to Lou was falling apart. (Continue to page 2)