Memphis was built around the cotton industry. Right on the Mississippi River, its location is ideal for trade. Yesterday we visited the Cotton Museum in the old Memphis cotton exchange.
Cotton has been extremely influential in developing our country's history- for good and for worse. In the first half of the museum we got to learn a little about this history and walk around the exchange.
Up high on one wall was the board where they kept track of the market reports, and below were phone booths where quick decisions could be made. Now the booths contain videos with stories from people who used to do business there.
The video I watched was about a man who grew up working alongside his dad buying and selling cotton. He said it was always something he wanted to do primarily because of the comradery formed in the industry.
Those bonds are still there, he said, but there aren't as many people involved. We learned that computers and the Internet make online trading much more popular.
Cotton is still a huge industry, but now like all other business sectors, they have to seriously consider the international market. In cotton that means China. They are the greatest producer of cotton in the world.
The second half of the museum was an interactive look at current cotton production. We learned how a cotton plant develops- from seed germination to the development of the fiber.
We also learned how far production methods have come from picking cotton and processing it by hand to the cotton gin to sophisticated machines.
There was also an exhibit on biotech seeds explaining why they are used- to lessen the damaging effects of weevils, and the basics of how they're made.
One interactive exhibit contained a bag of seeds and asked visitors how many seeds they thought the bag contained. I thought it seemed like a pretty small bag and could plant five acres.
After going through the exhibits, we took an audio walking tour around the neighborhood. We walking down to the river and saw various offices around the exchange where people once worked in grading, buying and selling cotton.
It's been another example of why we should remember America's agrarian roots. Even in the big city of Memphis ag is apparent. You can't understand what makes Memphis tick without going to the cotton industry. The old Memphis Cotton Exchange was an excellent place to learn.
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