The Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center is the first home of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams. The author made history with well-known plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Glass Menagerie.
Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911. He spent his beginning years in an old Victorian home that was the rectory for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Williams’ grandfather, Reverend Walker Dakin, served as a minister for the church.
In 1993, the rectory was in danger of being torn down to make room for a church expansion. In an effort to preserve this historic literary landmark, the yellow and blue gingerbread home was loaded onto flatbed trailers and moved to Main Street, where it was restored. Just three months after opening, Tennessee Williams was honored with a U.S. postage stamp, and a public ceremony was held there. The home was also recently honored with the designation of a National Literary Landmark and it now serves as the official Welcome Center for Columbus.