Timeline of Memphis, Tennessee

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Memphis, Tennessee, US.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Prior to 19th century

• 1739 – Fort Assumption built by French.
• 1740 – Fort Assumption abandoned.
• 1797 – U.S. fort built.[1]

19th century

The original plan for Memphis, as surveyed in 1819.

• 1819 – Town laid out.[2]
• 1826 – Town incorporated.[3]
• 1827
  • Memphis Advocate newspaper begins publication.[4]
  • Marcus B. Winchester becomes mayor.
• 1836 – Memphis Enquirer newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1841 – The Appeal newspaper begins publication.
• 1843
  • New Orleans-Memphis telegraph begins operating.[3]
  • Memphis Daily Eagle newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1844 – Calvary Episcopal Church consecrated.[5]
• 1849 – Memphis incorporated as a city.[1]
• 1850
  • Town designated a port of customs.[3]
  • Population: 8,841.[6]
• 1852 – Elmwood Cemetery established.
• 1853 – Congregation B'nai Israel founded.
• 1854 – Jones & Co. chemists in business.[7]
• 1855 – German Benevolent Society formed.[8]
• 1857 – Memphis & Charleston Railroad completed.[3]
• 1858 – Memphis Daily Avalanche newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1860 – Population: 22,623.[9]
• 1861 – Memphis and Ohio Railroad completed.[10]
• 1862
  • Tennessee capital relocated to Memphis from Nashville.[3]
  • June 6: Battle of Memphis takes place on Mississippi River near town; Union forces take Memphis.[3]
• 1864
  • August 21: Second Battle of Memphis.
  • First National Bank of Memphis established.[7]
• 1866
  • May: Racial unrest.
  • Greenwood School established.[11]
  • Memphis Post begins publication.

Historic aerial view of Memphis (1870)

• 1868 – Peabody Hotel in business.[5]
• 1870
  • Goldsmith's store in business.
  • Population: 40,226.[9]
• 1871
  • LeMoyne Normal Institute[12] and College of Christian Brothers[2] established.
  • St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral consecrated.
• 1873 – Yellow fever epidemic.[2]
• 1874 – Memphis Cotton Exchange founded.
• 1875 – Southwestern at Memphis (college) established.[1]
• 1878 – Yellow fever epidemic.[3]
• 1879 – Yellow fever epidemic.[2]

Plan of the Memphis sewer system in 1880

• 1880
  • Sewer system construction begins[13]
  • Population: 33,592.[9]
• 1882
  • Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church established.[14]
  • Chickasaw Cooperage Company incorporated.[7]
• 1883 – Young Men's Christian Association chartered.[8]
• 1885 – Peoples Grocery in business.
• 1887 – Memphis National Bank organized.[7]
• 1890
  • Nineteenth Century Club formed.[8]
  • Population: 64,589.[9]
• 1891 – City rechartered.[2]
• 1892 – Railroad bridge constructed.[6]
• 1899 – Manassas High School established.
• 1900 – Population: 102,320.[9]

20th century

1900s–1940s

Mississippi riverboats (1906)

• 1905 – Madison Hotel built.
• 1906 – Memphis Zoo[15] and Overton Park established.
• 1909 – Bureau of Municipal Research active (approximate date).
• 1910
  • Commission form of government begins.[2]
  • Exchange Building constructed.
  • E. H. Crump becomes mayor.
  • Population: 131,105.[9]

Map of Memphis in 1911

• 1911 – Urban League branch established.[16]
• 1912 – Handy's The Memphis Blues (song) published.
• 1914 – Union Avenue United Methodist Church built.
• 1915 – Guthrie Elementary School founded.
• 1916
  • Harahan Bridge opens to West Memphis, Arkansas.
  • Memphis Brooks Museum of Art established.
  • Piggly Wiggly grocery in business.[17]
• 1917
  • May 22: Lynching of Ell Persons.[18]
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch established.
• 1919 – Citizens' Co-operative Stores incorporated.[19]
• 1920
  • City hosts Commission on Interracial Cooperation Women's Interracial Conference.[20]
  • Population: 162,351.[9]
• 1921
  • Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church established.[21]
• 1922
  • WREC radio begins broadcasting.[22]
• 1923 – WMC radio begins broadcasting.[22]
• 1924 – Lincoln American Tower built.
• 1925 – WHBQ and WMPS radio begin broadcasting.[22]
• 1929 – Memphis Municipal Airport dedicated.[23]
• 1930
  • Memphis Museum of Natural History and Industrial Arts opens.
  • Sterick Building constructed.
  • Population: 253,143.[9]
• 1931
  • Memphis World newspaper begins publication.[11]
  • Cotton Carnival begins.[3][24]
• 1932 – Memphis Times newspaper begins publication.[4]
• 1936 – Memphis Academy of Art founded.
• 1937 – Firestone factory in operation in Hyde Park.[25]
• 1938 – Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception built.
• 1939 – First Colored Baptist Church built.
• 1940 – Population: 292,942.[9]
• 1941 – Mason Temple built.
• 1945 – Lorraine Motel in business.
• 1946
  • Douglass High School opens.
  • Tri-State Bank established.[26]
• 1947 – WDIA radio begins broadcasting.
• 1948 – WMCT (television) begins broadcasting.[27]

1950s–1990s

• 1950 – Population: 396,000.[9]
• 1953 – WHBQ-TV (television) begins broadcasting.[27]
• 1955 – WHER radio begins broadcasting.
• 1956 –
  • WREG-TV (as WREC-TV) (television) begins broadcasting.
  • Opera Memphis established.
• 1957 – Satellite Records in business.
• 1960
  • Henry Loeb becomes mayor.
  • Population: 497,524.[9]
• 1965 – 100 North Main building and White Station Tower constructed.

Lorraine Motel, site of the 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination

• 1968
  • January: Henry Loeb becomes mayor again.
  • February 11: Memphis Sanitation Strike begins.[28]
  • April 3: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers I've Been to the Mountaintop speech.
  • April 4: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr..[29]
  • April 8: March in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.[30]
• 1969 – Sesquicentennial Celebration
• 1970
  • Vollintine-Evergreen Community Association organized.[31]
  • Population: 623,530.[9]
• 1971 – Clark Tower built.
• 1972 – National Bank of Commerce building constructed.
• 1973 – May: City hosts Rock Writers of the World Convention.[32]
• 1974 – Women's Resource Center founded.[33]
• 1975 – Hyatt hotel opens.
• 1976 – Temple Israel built.
• 1977 – Memphis in May festival begins.
• 1978 – Muslim Society of Memphis founded.[34]
• 1980 – Population: 646,356.[9]
• 1985
  • Tall Trees (prison) privatised.[35]
  • Morgan Keegan Tower built.
• 1990 – Population: 610,337.[9]
• 1991
  • National Civil Rights Museum and Pyramid Arena open.
  • Willie Herenton becomes mayor.[36]
• 1996 – City website online.[37][38]

21st century

Memphis skyline as seen from Poplar Avenue (2010)

• 2002 – June 8: Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson boxing match.
• 2003
  • Clark Opera Memphis Center opens.[39]
  • July 22: Memphis Summer Storm of 2003, also known as "Hurricane Elvis".
  • December 18: Airplane crash.
• 2007 – Steve Cohen becomes U.S. representative for Tennessee's 9th congressional district.[40]
• 2008 – February 5–6: Tornado outbreak.
• 2009
  • October: A C Wharton elected mayor.[41]
  • City open government standard enacted.[42]
• 2012 – Population: 655,155.
• 2015 – October 8: Jim Strickland elected mayor.[43]

See also

• History of Memphis, Tennessee
• List of mayors of Memphis, Tennessee
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Shelby County, Tennessee
• Timelines of other cities in Tennessee: Chattanooga, Clarksville, Knoxville, Murfreesboro, Nashville
• Timeline of Tennessee[44]

References

1. Leon E. Seltzer, ed. (1952), Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World, New York: Columbia University Press, p. 1183, OL 6112221M
2. Britannica 1910.
3. Federal Writers' Project 1939. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFFederal_Writers'_Project1939 (help)
4. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
5. Reilley 1883.
6. Angelo Heilprin and Louis Heilprin, ed. (1906). "Memphis". Lippincott's New Gazetteer. Philadelphia.
7. Memphis Merchants' Exchange 1888.
8. Young 1912.
9. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
10. "List of Manuscript Collection Finding Aids". Tennessee State Library and Archives. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
11. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art 2008.
12. Hamilton 1908.
13. "History - Memphis Storm Water". City of Memphis Storm Water Program. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
14. James T. Haley, ed. (1895), Afro-American Encyclopaedia, Nashville: Haley & Florida
15. Vernon N. Kisling, Jr., ed. (2001). "Zoological Gardens of the United States (chronological list)". Zoo and Aquarium History. USA: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-3924-5.
16. National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes (1912), "Establishment of Branch Organizations in the Several Cities", Bulletin, 2, hdl:2027/chi.14025482
17. Walter Sumner Hayward (1922), Chain stores: their management and operation, New York: McGraw-Hill, OL 7157624M
18. "Memphis, May 22, A.D., 1917". The Crisis. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 14 (3 (supplement)). July 1917.
19. "(Roddy's Citizens' Co-operative Stores)". The Crisis. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 19 (2). December 1919.
20. Thomas Dublin, Kathryn Kish Sklar (ed.), "Chronology", Women and Social Movements in the United States, Alexander Street Press (subscription required)
21. "History :: THE BLVD, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church". www.theblvd.org. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
22. Jack Alicoate, ed. (1939), "Standard Broadcasting Stations of the United States: Tennessee", Radio Annual, New York: Radio Daily, OCLC 2459636
23. "Our History". Memphis International Airport. Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
24. George William Douglas (1948), American Book of Days, New York: H. W. Wilson Co., OL 23248320M (fulltext)
25. Honey 1993.
26. Christopher Silver; John V. Moeser (1995), The Separate City: Black Communities in the Urban South, 1940–1968, Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, ISBN 0813119111
27. Charles A. Alicoate, ed. (1960), "Television Stations: Tennessee", Radio Annual and Television Year Book, New York: Radio Daily Corp., OCLC 10512206
28. Aaron Brenner; Benjamin Day; Immanuel Ness, eds. (2015) [2009]. "Timeline". Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-45707-7.
29. "On This Day", New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2014
30. "Memphis, Tennessee". Global Nonviolent Action Database. Cases: United States. Pennsylvania: Swarthmore College. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
31. Michael Kirby (1998), "Vollintine-Evergreen, Memphis", Cityscape, 4 (2): 61–87, JSTOR 41486477
32. R. Serge Denisoff (1975). Solid Gold: The Popular Record Industry. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-3479-7.
33. Gilmore 2003.
34. Pluralism Project. "Memphis, Tennessee". Directory of Religious Centers. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
35. Martin P. Sellers (1993). "Privately Contracted Penal Facilities". History and Politics of Private Prisons. Associated University Presses. ISBN 978-0-8386-3492-9.
36. Ebony 2002.
37. "County, city crank computer Internet sites", Commercial Appeal, November 2, 1995
38. "City of Memphis". Archived from the original on October 1996 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
39. "History and Mission". Opera Memphis. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
40. Civic Impulse, LLC. "Members of Congress". GovTrack. Washington, D.C. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
41. "About the Mayor". City of Memphis. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
42. "Open Data Policies at Work". Washington DC: Sunlight Foundation. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
43. "2015 Memphis Election Results". www.commercialappeal.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
44. Federal Writers' Project (1939), "Chronology", Tennessee: a Guide to the State, American Guide Series, New York: Viking, hdl:2027/mdp.39015066068928 – via Hathi Trust

Bibliography

See also: History of Memphis, Tennessee § Further reading

Published in 19th century

• "Memphis", Kimball & James' Business Directory for the Mississippi Valley, Cincinnati: Printed by Kendall & Barnard, 1844
• "Memphis". Tennessee State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1860–61. Nashville: John L. Mitchell.
• Denson's Memphis Directory, for 1865. A. Clark Denson.
• "Memphis". Commercial Directory of the Western States. St. Louis: Richard Edwards. 1867.
• "Mississippi River: Memphis". James' River Guide ... Mississippi Valley. Cincinnati: U.P. James. 1871.
• Joseph Buckner Killebrew; Tennessee Bureau of Agriculture (1874), "Shelby County; County Seat: Memphis", Introduction to the Resources of Tennessee, 2, Nashville: Tavel, Eastman & Howell
• William T. Avery (1876), City of Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, OL 23355267M
• "Memphis". Tennessee State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1876-7. Nashville: R.L. Polk & Co. 1876.
• Commercial and Statistical Review of the City of Memphis, Reilley & Thomas, 1883
• Directory of the Taxing District of Memphis. Memphis, Tenn.: C.F. Weatherbe. 1883.
• J.M. Keating (1888). History of the City of Memphis Tennessee. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co.
• Memphis, Merchants' Exchange of (1888), Annual Statement of the Trade and Commerce of Memphis, Tenn. ... Reported to the Memphis Merchants' Exchange
• James Phelan (1888), "Memphis", History of Tennessee, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin

Published in 20th century

• G.P. Hamilton (1908). Bright Side of Memphis: A Compendium of Information Concerning the Colored People of Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis.
• "Memphis", United States (4th ed.), Leipzig: K. Baedeker, 1909, OCLC 02338437
• "Memphis", Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.), New York, 1910, OCLC 14782424 – via Internet Archive
• John Preston Young, ed. (1912), Standard history of Memphis, Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn: H.W. Crew, OCLC 850900, OL 6553910M
• Federal Writers' Project (1939), "Memphis", Tennessee: a Guide to the State, American Guide Series, New York: Viking, hdl:2027/mdp.39015066068928
• Tennessee Historical Records Survey (1941), "Shelby County (Memphis)", Directory of Churches, Missions, and Religious Institutions of Tennessee, Nashville (79)
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Memphis", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M
• Michael K. Honey (1993), Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0252020006
• George Thomas Kurian (1994), "Memphis, Tennessee", World Encyclopedia of Cities, 1: North America, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO – via Internet Archive (fulltext)
• "The South: Tennessee: Memphis", USA, Let's Go, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999, OL 24937240M

Published in 21st century

• Ernest Withers. Memphis Blues Again. Viking Studio, 2001.
• "Memphis: Mecca on the Mississippi", Ebony, Johnson Publishing Company, October 2002
• Stephanie Gilmore (2003). "Dynamics of Second-Wave Feminist Activism in Memphis, 1971–1982: Rethinking the Liberal/Radical Divide". National Women's Studies Association Journal. 15 (1): 94–117. JSTOR 4316946.
• John Branston. Rowdy Memphis. Brentwood, Tennessee: Cold Tree Press, 2004.
• Richard Pillsbury, ed. (2006). "Memphis". Geography. New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. 2. University of North Carolina Press. p. 176. OCLC 910189354.
• David Goldfield, ed. (2007). "Memphis, Tennessee". Encyclopedia of American Urban History. Sage. ISBN 978-1-4522-6553-7.
• Sharon D. Wright. Race, Power, and Political Emergence in Memphis. Taylor and Francis, 2007.
• Photographs from the Memphis World, 1949–1964. Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. 2008. ISBN 978-0915525102.
• Wanda Rushing (2009). "Memphis: Cotton Fields, Cargo Planes, and Biotechnology". Southern Spaces. doi:10.18737/M7MW37.
• Raj Chetty; Nathaniel Hendren (2015), City Rankings, Commuting Zones: Causal Effects of the 100 Largest Commuting Zones on Household Income in Adulthood, Equality of Opportunity Project, Harvard University, archived from the original on 2015-05-06, Rank #93: Memphis
• Gail Schmunk Murray (2017). "Taming the War on Poverty: Memphis as a Case Study". Journal of Urban History. 43.

External links

• "Memphis History: A Chronology". Memphis Public Library. Archived from the original on 2013-09-18.
• "Memphis Chronology". City of Memphis.
• "Memphis". Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. University of Tennessee Press.
• Digital Public Library of America. Items related to Memphis, TN, various dates
• Tennessee State Library and Archives. Memphis City Directories, various dates (digitized)
• Bibliography of Tennessee Bibliographies: Local History, Nashville: Tennessee Secretary of State