1929 Concrete-Lined Lake in Memphis's Founding-Era City Park
Overton Park, 1928 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN 38104
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public city park; free access.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths around a 2-acre concrete-lined lake within a 342-acre city park
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1929 · George Kessler Park Design · Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe (1971) · Midtown Memphis Historic Park
Rainbow Lake is a 2-acre, concrete-lined, curvilinear lake forming the eastern boundary of the Greensward in Overton Park, Memphis. It includes a water cascade on its east side and is the only remaining water feature from landscape architect George Kessler's original early-twentieth-century park plan. The lake takes its name from the rainbow effect created by a series of spray-type fountains installed in 1929.
Overton Park comprises 342 acres in midtown Memphis. The park was at the center of a major 1960s and 1970s controversy when highway planners slated 26 of the park's 342 acres for demolition to route Interstate 40 through Overton. A grassroots midtown group called Citizens to Preserve Overton Park challenged the plan in court, and the case rose to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of preserving the park in the landmark 1971 case Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe — an important precedent in U.S. environmental and administrative law.
The park remains an active midtown Memphis institution and is managed by the Overton Park Conservancy.
Sources
Local Memphis retellings of Rainbow Lake describe a figure of a woman approximately 35 years old in a long light blue dress seen walking near the lake at night, most often on the south side, with an outstretched arm asking for help. When approached, the figure is reported to vanish.
Regional retellings connect the figure to a 1960s discovery of a woman's body near the lake who, in local tradition, was reported to have died violently. The specific case is treated as local tradition rather than verified citation; current publicly indexed Shelby County news archives do not surface a clear corroborating record from the period referenced. Researchers seeking documentation would be best served by consulting the Memphis Public Library's local-history collection and Shelby County coroner's-office archives.
The Overton Park Conservancy's interpretive material focuses on the park's design, ecology, and the 1971 Supreme Court case rather than on paranormal retellings.
Notable Entities
Walk the paths around Rainbow Lake, the 2-acre concrete-lined lake that forms the eastern boundary of the Greensward in Overton Park. The lake is the only remaining water feature from George Kessler's original park plan and is named for the rainbow effect created by 1929 spray fountains.
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