Ida B. Wells Plaza in Memphis to undergo renovations. Here's a look at what's planned.

One year ago — on Ida B. Wells’ 159th birthday — a statue of the journalist, educator and civil rights activist was unveiled in Memphis at the intersection of Fourth and Beale streets.

On Saturday, people gathered to celebrate Wells’ 160th birthday with a large cake and cups of champagne as they looked ahead to fundraising for the second phase of Ida B. Wells Plaza.

Rychetta Watkins, a member of the Ida B. Wells Memphis Memorial Committee, said the $300,000 renovation will include more educational placards to share Wells’ story and accomplishments with tourists. There will also be more greenspace and sitting areas that were shown in renderings to event attendees.

“Wells was not born in Memphis, but she became a Memphian,” Watkins said. “That’s the story of so many people today. We want people to be able to come here and read that story that they like Wells can come here, become a Memphian and have an impact that can change not only this city because Wells did and that can touch the world and leave a legacy that resonates 160 years later.”

Watkins anticipates the plaza renovations to be completed this winter or by early spring 2023 at the latest.

The Memphis Memorial Committee, in partnership with the Neshoba Community Resource Center, was the driving force behind Ida B. Wells Plaza. Earlier this year, the city renamed part of Fourth Street Ida B. Wells Street in honor of her.

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The street runs past her new bronze statue and First Baptist Church, the site of her newspaper.

Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862, and moved to Memphis in 1882 and began teaching at Woodstock School in Shelby County.

In 1892, three friends of Wells’, grocery store owners in South Memphis, were lynched. Wells, who also taught school, began to document lynchings in the United States.

In retaliation, the white power structure in Memphis, destroyed her Memphis Free Speech and Headlight office and forced her to relocate, ultimately to Chicago. Wells died at age 68 in 1931.

At the birthday celebration, Tennessee House Minority Leader Karen Camper, D-Memphis, also presented legislation passed this year declaring July 16 Ida B. Wells Day in the state.

Omer Yusuf covers the Ford project in Haywood County, residential real estate, tourism and banking for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached via email Omer.Yusuf@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @OmerAYusuf.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ida B. Wells Plaza in Memphis to undergo renovations. What's planned?