On May 3, 1938, Bill Terry, former manager of the New York Giants baseball team, bought an estate from Clarence Saunders, founder of Piggly Wiggly.
Saunders also built the Pink Palace Mansion itself, where the Pink Palace Museum started in 1930. Bill Terry sold the property six years later, in 1944, to Ira Lichterman and William Lowenburg.
The land remained in the estate of the Lichterman and Lowenburg families until it was given to the Memphis Park Commission. The area was dedicated as a park in 1972 and became the Lichterman Nature Center in 1983.
Saunders' original Adirondack-style wooden house served as the visitors center until it burned down in February of 1994.
The Lichterman Nature Center is part of the Pink Palace Family of Museums. It is located at 5992 Quince Rd. and is open Tuesday through Saturday.
To learn more about all of our region's history, visit the Pink Palace Family of Museums, or on Facebook, or at http://www.memphismuseums.org.
