On February 6, 1955, Elvis and his two-man band performed at Memphis’s Ellis Auditorium. In between sets, across the street at Palumbo’s restaurant, history was made as Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker met for the first time. 

It was the start of a relationship that would transform both their lives. 

For over two decades, until Elvis’s death in 1977, Colonel Parker would oversee the singer and actor’s career from his home and office in Madison, Tennessee. During that time Elvis visited many times, frequently staying overnight. In 1956, the legendary Fan Club building was added behind the house. 

On February 1, 2017, a team led by music historian Brian Oxley set out to save what they could of Colonel Parker’s Complex before it was demolished and replaced by a modern car wash. 

This is the story—in pictures and words—of their 120-day labor of love to save and preserve the historic materials and memories of Colonel Parker and provide them a new home at the Storytellers Museum in Bon Aqua, Tennessee.