As many monuments look back, A Monument to Listening celebrates Tom Lee’s heroic legacy by asking Memphians to look around (and listen).

The Life on the River playground in Tom Lee Park on the Mississippi River in Downtown Memphis has been named one of the 11 Most Unique Playgrounds in the U.S. by Mental Floss.

When faced with the opportunity to reimagine an existing public space, the Memphis River Parks Partnership and the City of Memphis focused on bringing to life more than a refresh – leveraging Tom Lee Park to foster an inclusive, shared experience among all residents. 

In “Inclusive Placemaking: Tom Lee Park, Memphis,” researchers from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins explore four key lessons from Memphis that can aid other cities in putting equity commitments into action.

Through strategic investments, partnerships, gradual placemaking, and strong focuses on public art, landscape design, and communications, Tom Lee Park has become a living embodiment of how a City’s commitment to inclusivity can help build a stronger city.

Alex Bozikovic | Toronto Globe & Mail

On a recent sunny Sunday, the people of Memphis, Tenn., found common ground...That is just what the designers of the 31-acre park, architects Studio Gang and landscape architects SCAPE, had been hoping for: a group of people young and old, Black and white, enjoying a grand public space. The revitalized park is part of a larger effort to bring the city’s riverfront back to life and bring new public space to this historic – and historically segregated – city.

Ryan Waddups | Surface Magazine

Studio Gang and Scape transform an underused section of the Memphis riverfront into a thriving public park replete with biodiversity that honors an overlooked hero.

Jack Murphy | The Architect’s Newspaper

“While the city continues to struggle with poverty and the spatial consequences of racism in the American South, it shows encouraging signs of rebirth: Yes, there’s the Bass Pro Shop pyramid in the nearby Pinch District, but Tom Lee Park is bigger and better...Tom Lee Park is a major infrastructure investment for the city, but it is meaningful for Black Memphians in particular. The amenity is blocks away from several historically Black neighborhoods, and park access was segregated in earlier eras.”

GRAMMY-winning hip hop poet J. Ivy’s new poem Tom Lee Park pays tribute to the new park and its namesake.

Ian Volner | The Slowdown Magazine

Once a sterile expanse of dust and grass intended chiefly to act as a flood-prevention dyke, the site where the park now stands is in the heart of the city in more ways than one. As Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland put it, speaking to visitors on the new park's opening day, ”This is where it all began: Memphis and the river.”

Nate Berg | Fast Company Magazine

In Memphis, Tennessee, a remarkable new public park has just opened. Filling 3O acres along the edge of the Mississippi River with active, social, ecological, and architectural spaces, it could reframe the city’s fading connection to the riverfront. It could also set a new standard for what waterfront parks can do.

Nour Fakharany | ArchDaily

At its core, the design aims to strengthen the connection between downtown Memphis and the river. It offers the first accessible access to the river, compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), at the Cutbank Bluff. Additionally, it provides safer pedestrian crossings at Vance, Huling, and Butler Streets on Riverside Drive.

Memphis' history and heritage are tied to the Mississippi River. From riverboat cruises to canoe adventures to the Big River Crossing, there are so many ways to connect to the river here, including exploring the newly reimagined riverfront at Tom Lee Park. Now open, the park recently underwent a $61 million facelift to better connect visitors like you to our mighty river. Now it’s your turn to explore Tom Lee Park.

Beth Broome | The New York Times

“The reinvention transforms a barren swath of patchy grass into an environment animated by native plantings and trees.”