Paul W. Barrett

Paul Barret's power ran through two institutions: the bank he founded at 21 and the Shelby County Quarterly Court, where he sat from 1942 to 1966. Out of Barretville's rural precincts he was generally seen, by 1958, as the leader of E. H. Crump's organization, and the Stewartville precinct reliably delivered its votes. He also owned five cotton gins and a general store and farmed in Shelby and Tipton counties. A 1930 safe-cracking attempt at his bank set the adjoining store on fire. Squire's Rest, his Craftsman house, is on the National Register.

What the plaque says

Paul W. Barrett In the community of Barretville, which had been established in 1852 by his grandfather, Anthony Barret (1827-1910), Paul Weisiger Barret (1899-1976) co-founded Barretville Bank & Trust Company in 1920, when he was only 21. Under his leadership, it survived the Great Depression and became one of Tennessee's largest and most successful rural banking systems, with 10 branches in Shelby County and affiliates in Somerville, Rossyille, and Henderson. He amassed over 3,000 acres of farmland and expanded his family's general mercantile and ginning businesses in southwest Tennessee. An all of E. H. ("Boss") Crump (1874-1954), Barret served on the Shelby County Quarterly Court for 24 years. As a dominant figure in Shelby County politics from the mid-1950s until the early 1970s, Barret championed fiscal conservatism and the Baker vs. Carr lawsuit. In that landmark 1962 case, the United States Supreme Court established the "one man, one vote" standard that led to reapportionment of legislative bodies throughout the nation. Now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, this Craftsman-style house, "Squire's Rest," was built for Barret and his bride, Sarah dickey Barret (1895-1978), in 1920. They lived here for 56 years.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Pillow State Historic Park — 19 mi
  A National Historic Landmark on the Chickasaw Bluffs where, on April 12, 1864, Confederate troops massacred Black Union soldiers who were trying to surrender.
• Hampson Archeological Museum State Park — 21 mi
  A free state museum on the town square in Wilson that holds the Nodena collection, one of the best Late Mississippian pottery collections known, from a palisaded village on the Mississippi occupied from A.D. 1400 to 1650.
• Sun Studio — 22 mi
  The small Union Avenue room where Sam Phillips recorded Rocket 88, Howlin' Wolf, Elvis Presley and the Million Dollar Quartet, now a National Historic Landmark.
• Elmwood Cemetery — 23 mi
  Memphis's oldest active cemetery, a rural garden cemetery of about 1,500 trees opened in 1852, with Black civic leaders, yellow fever victims and the city's whole history in its lots.

More markers nearby

• Bobby Blue Bland (1930-2013) — steps away
• Randolph — 5.1 mi
• Sgt. Walter K. Singleton — 10 mi
• Davies Manor — 11 mi