Old Forest
During the development of Interstate 40 through Memphis in the 1960s, 26 acres of the Old Forest were slated to be destroyed to make way for the new highway, which would have also severed the Memphis Zoo from the rest of Overton Park. A grassroots organization, the Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, rallied to protect the forest. In "Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe" the U.S. Supreme Court finally saved the Old Forest from highway construction plans in 1971. In 1987, the Tennessee Department of Transportation deeded the 26-acre corridor back to the City of Memphis.