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John H. McFadden House/ Cedar Hall/ Colonial Hall/ The Avenue

Jay Brothers

3712 Broadway in Barlett, TN (former Ellendale, former Bond’s Station)

Circa 1840. 2.5 story brick home


In 1831, Margaret Ann “Peggy” Bond (1781-1862)and Nicholas Pirtle Bond moved west from Knoxville, TN with their family - first to Madison Co., AL then to Shelby Co., TN. While in Alabama, Nicholas died. Peggy and her two older sons cleared their claimed land in Ellendale and set up their homestead on a land grant of Bond’s father from the Creek Indians - 2,600 acres.


One son, Dr. Samuel Bond, graduated from college and then from medical school in the east. Bond (1804-1862) returned home and married Mary Lucy Tate Bond  in 1829. Tate was the daughter of Jesse Tate from the area. The first house (Cedar Hall) burned a couple years later. They built a second home in 1846 and called it The Avenue. The home is considered the oldest home in Bartlett, TN.


Bond was a cotton planter. Bond served in the 27th General Assembly in the TN House of Representatives. He proposed a bill to establish the Memphis & Holly Spring Railroad, later the Memphis & Ohio Railroad. A station was near the home on Bond St. When the Louisville & Nashville (L&N) Railroad bought the line, the name changed to Ellendale. Bond died bankrupt in 1862. 


In 1870, Edmund Orgill (1899-1983) and Catherine Dean Orgill (1902-1996) owned The Avenue. They wed in 1926. He was an English hardware merchant. His family owned Orgill Brothers & Co., (now Orgill, Inc.), the oldest business in Memphis. It started as a hardwood distributor. He was a Memphis mayor (1955-59) who pushed for better race relations. Ed Orgill Park is named in his honor. His family resided there until 1905. Afterward it was briefly a Masonic Lodge. 

The next owner was Richard C. Bunting & his wife. 


In 1939, John H. McFadden (1850-1921) and Florence DeWitt Bates McFadden (1849-1921) bought the property. He was a Sr. Partner with Geo. H. McFadden & Bros, cotton brokering and known as “America’s Cotton King”. The company was the oldest and the 2nd largest cotton brokerage in the country. McFadden & Bros. had a Philadelphia headquarters and the Memphis office. The home was remodeled in 1940 in Colonial Revival style. McFadden was an advisor with the National Cotton Council from 1940-55. He was very involved in the civic and social community.


At his death, McFadden left the house and 20 acres to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum removed the McFadden art collection (the largest collection of English art outside England) and sold the property to Eric Catmur, another cotton broker. Their son Captain John H. “Jack” McFadden, Jr. and his wife Florence Maguire Ellsworth Wilson McFadden lived in England and served in the American Field Service. He facilitated giving the mansion to the Philadelphia Museum. Florence moved to France. Catmur changed the name to Cedar Hall Farm. There are many cedar trees lining the long driveway. 


In 1971, John Green owned it next and continued the Cedar Hall name. 





By 1994, Jasper "Jay" E. and Jeannette Rainey were owners. They resided there about 30 years. Rainey worked for Archer Daniels Midland Company in IL for years, and in 1970 moved his family to the Memphis area when he moved to work for Cook Industries. In 1978, Rainey founded Rainey Commodities and was also president of Gulf Coast Grain Industries.


Denise Suthoff purchased the farm in 2012. In 2023, Cedar Hall was a special event and wedding venue with 10 acres. 

NR 1994


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