Why did I choose to come back to the 901 in 2015?
I was 26. We lived downtown, and I served the city on the Council staff. It was the boom times of Choose901, I ❤ ️Memphis, Wiseacre, Overton Square, and more. I’ve been talking lately with folks about all the organizations that we love today that just celebrated their 10 year anniversaries. Something was in the water. Professor Catfish anonymously appeared and saved the Tennessee Brewery. Loflin in 2016. And Railgarten in 2017.
No space felt more Memphis to me at the time. No space better captured the hopes and optimism and the spirit of urban revitalization making it to the 901. Listening to Steve Selvidge, Lucky 7, Marcella. I have barely any photos on my instagram–mostly my wife, my cat, and millennial cringe food photos. But Railgarten is there.
When we moved to Midtown in January of 2020, it was a requirement that we were within walking distance. But yeah, it was January of 2020. Three months later, we were inside. Nine months after that, we had our first little boy. We still made it outdoors, watched the Grizzlies beat Golden State (briefly), and enjoyed the beautiful days in the backyard.
We live in a changed world though. It can so often feel like Memphis is just barely on the tipping point again. The momentum lost but still latent, poking its head out. The passion is still there. But it’s a post-covid world: a world of smart phones and screen time, a world where 75% of restaurant orders are off-premises–a world where everyone is going his own way.
Where do people gather again? Where can we recreate the beautiful kind of community that was Railgarten, now in 2026? How can we reignite Memphis’ physical places?
I have talked along the way to bringing Stomping Grounds to life about my “Boozy Brunch Hypothesis”. We Millennials got a lot of shit for bottomless mimosas and avocado toast, but it was a little true: we did love to be together, in community, and in the amazing spaces that popped up across Memphis in those mid-2010s. Now? We often want the same thing, but with kids in tow. Stomping Grounds is designed to be that Millennial experience of Railgarten, grown up. It’s a legacy we love and respect and want to keep alive in a new form.
Stomping Grounds is built by and for Memphians, by neighbors. Professor Catfish is still there. Our little characters are all inspired by Egyptian gods, here in our city on the American Nile.
So opening on 901 Day is purposeful. This is our attempt to build community right now, to bring people back together, to piece back together one village. Not just for kids, or parents. For bringing brothers and sisters with us; their aunts, uncles, besties, grandparents. For everyone that has a child in their life. For everyone that knows that something is missing right now–that we need to be back together again.
So, thank you, Railgarten. To everyone that birthed it. To everyone that loved it. I hope we can do our part to preserve it, build on it, and make Memphis the kind of place that Railgarten dreamed it could be.
Love,
Stomping Grounds
This blog was written by Andrew Jehl Mathewes
Andrew Jehl Mathewes is the founder of Stomping Grounds, the coming family eatertainment business at Cooper and Central in Midtown (formerly the home of Railgarten). He has also partnered with Wild Beet, which is already up and running in the former site of The Farmer, seven days a week!
A native Memphian, Andrew lives in Central Gardens with his wife, two boys, and a little girl on the way! They attend Grace St. Luke’s Episcopal church, and the kids also attend GSL school, where Andrew serves on the Board of Trustees. In his other day job, he is the founder of Jehl Consulting, having spent eight years in nonprofit fundraising and marketing at the National Civil Rights Museum and ALSAC/St. Jude. Previously, he served two years as a legislative aide for the Memphis City Council.
