MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The city of Memphis has dedicated a new plaque honoring Aretha Franklin at her childhood home.
Mayor Jim Strickland and other city leaders are scheduled to attend the ceremony on Wednesday.
Franklin, known as the “Queen of Soul,” was born in the house on Lucy Avenue in South Memphis in 1942. Her family moved away from Memphis about two years later.
The dilapidated house has been vacant for years, and there has been no historical marker indicating its significance.
Lawyers, community leaders and Shelby County Environmental Court Judge Larry Potter have been trying to find ways to preserve the house, which sits empty with its windows boarded up.
It was declared a public nuisance back in 2012, but since then it’s condition continue to get worse.
Potter had ordered the house demolished, but he put that order on hold in June 2016 after volunteers stabilized the crumbling structure.
