High Street, Seventh Street was the prime location for expensive homes due to its topographical advantage. Seventh Street follows the line of a Native American trail running north and until 1867 fed the only bridge crossing Bayou Gayoso. George Love, a former Mayor of Memphis, built a grand home on North Seventh Street in 1888, which became the city's Non-Profit Housing Center. Mr. Love also built investment properties, including four "Love cottages" on North Sixth Street in 1890 that were renovated by Memphis Heritage, a preservation nonprofit. In its prosperous years, Greenlaw was inhabited by an ethnically and economically diverse population. First generation Irish, German, Jew and Italian immigrants and second generation Americans from the North and Midwest settled there. By 1890, Greenlaw had a large African American population including owners of neighborhood businesses and professionals. 20th century The 1912 Mississippi River Flood had a major impact on Greenlaw. It was at the epicenter of the flooding, suffering four feet deep floodwaters at North Second Street and Mill Street. 1,200 people fled as floods damaged over 714 homes and 25 manufacturing plants. Gayoso Pumping station was built by the city in 1912 to prevent a recurrence, but in 1913 the levee collapsed displacing over 1,000 families and covering twenty city block with water. The Flood Control Act of 1917 proposed more additional levee construction but changes were not enacted until the 1930s as New Deal construction projects to include permanent concrete box culverts, chamber, and pump stations. By the 1920s, prominent and politically powerful families such as the Walshes, Loves and Guthries had moved out of the neighborhood. This population shift reduced the city's support for the neighborhood; the Wolf River Bridge at the north end of Second Street was washed out in the 1930s and was never replaced. With the rapidly departing wealthy population, Greenlaw lost its political clout and its sense as a "special" neighborhood. Large homes were sold and often redesigned as apartments, rooming houses or businesses. Newly constructed homes were modest, designed to attract blue collar workers who found the neighborhood convenient and affordable. With favorable geography and low property values, Greenlaw was a major location of industrial growth during World War II. By 1945, Philip Belz had built plants in North Memphis for General Motors, Bemis Bag, General Electric, Kroger, U.S. Rubber, and National Biscuit. The neighborhood attracted blue-collar workers and African Americans. Bars, liquor