New historic marker honors Tom Lee and his Klondike community — then and now

By , Daily Memphian Updated: July 23, 2026 4:00 AM CT | Published: July 23, 2026 4:00 AM CT

The marker unveiled Wednesday is about the past but also the present push to restore and renovate the Klondike area where Lee lived out his life after he saved the lives of 32 people on the Mississippi River in 1925.

Topics

Tom Lee Klondike Smokey City Community Development Corp. Northside Square Ashley Cash Paul Young

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Bill Dries

Bill Dries

Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.


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