168 E. Parkway South and Union Memphis, TN
Circa 1912. 3-story Beaux Arts style
The Newburger name seems to be synonomous with Jewish philanthropy in Memphis and the Newburger Home was supposedly the largest mansion in Memphis.
Joseph Newburger (1858-1926) was married twice. In 1907, he wed Hedwig Cahan “Hettye” Kosman Newburger (1884-1957); they divorced in 1922. The next year, in 1923, he remarried to Rose Cohen Newburger (1877-1962). Newburger was a very successful businessman, philanthropist, and important international figure in the cotton industry. He was the founder in 1893 of Newburger Cotton Co. in Mississippi. Three years later, in 1896, the company expanded to Memphis and became important to the economics of the Mississippi Valley. Newburger Cotton Company had agencies in England, France and Holland and offices all across Europe and Russia. He was also president of Memphis Packing Corp., Memphis Rice Mills, and the Joy Rice Milling Company. He was a director of Methodist Hospital, and principal owner of more than 26 of the largest Federal Compress companies in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
In the 1920s, Newberger was considered the greatest philanthropist in Memphis. Joseph died three years after his marriage to Rose, and she remained in the mansion until her death.
In 1962, Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Arkansas was searching for an appropriate building to serve as a campus and purchased the Newburger Home. The next year, in 1963, it opened the Memphis Theological Seminary. The church renamed the home Founders Hall. NR 1982
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