President's Island

[1] Some years later, Nathan Bedford Forrest contracted with local officials to establish a penal farm on the island to raise corn and cotton.

[1] In the late 1870s the island served as a refuge for many people fleeing the yellow fever epidemics that swept the city, killing thousands.

[1] This created a deep-water harbor (later named McKellar Lake) accessible from the Mississippi by the channel at the south end of the island.

The flood control and industrial development project in the late 1940s dammed the section of river between the island and the eastern bank and created a peninsula.

The island's relative isolation and untamed landscape made it a favored location for illicit activities, including gambling, cockfights, and moonshining.