All of Elvis Presley’s major changes began in Memphis. When the Presley family left Tupelo in November 1948, Elvis was nearly fourteen years old. It meant leaving behind the only home, friends, and childhood he’d ever known. His eyes may have stung as they drove away, but something about Memphis stirred a new kind of excitement in him from the moment they arrived. The city just had that kind of magic.
Elvis had only visited Memphis once before—a day trip to the zoo at Overton Park. His great-uncle, Noah Presley—once mayor of East Tupelo and the generous owner of the neighborhood grocery store—had driven the children up in the school bus. Noah, known for giving away groceries and candy bars to Elvis and others in need, had also taken them down Riverside Drive to see the mighty Mississippi River and the bridge to Arkansas. For the small-town kids, Memphis had seemed dark and overwhelming then, with its towering cotton warehouses and busy streets.
But no place stays scary for long when it becomes home.
At first, Gladys was uneasy in the city, homesick and anxious. But Elvis quickly adapted. Within weeks, he had learned his way around. It wasn’t like moving to Chicago or New York—Memphis in the late 1940s was smaller, more intimate. The core neighborhoods around Front Street and nearby blocks were all that really mattered, and that’s where Elvis found his footing.
Their first months were rough. The family lived in small boarding houses, packed into single rooms where they cooked on a hotplate and shared bathrooms—none with a tub. Then things began to improve. Vernon found work at the United Paint Company. Gladys returned to her old trade as a sewing machine operator. When her brother, Travis Smith, and his wife Lorraine also moved up from Tupelo in search of work, the city began to feel more like home.
Eventually, the Presleys were allotted an apartment in Lauderdale Courts—a government-subsidized New Deal housing complex. It wasn’t much, but it was theirs. And in that modest space, in the heart of Memphis, the boy who would become the King began to grow into his future.
