Memphis: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Three thousand years ago, the Loess bluffs on the eastern shore of the Mississippi River were occupied by Native American tribes. In 1541, the locals came in contact with the troops of Hernando de Soto when he first encountered the great Mississippi River. The town was abandoned soon thereafter, and the area came under Chickasaw domination.

The earliest European settlement on the site of Memphis was the French Fort Assumption established in 1739. In 1818, a US treaty edged the Chickasaw nation out of western Tennessee, and Andrew Jackson helped found the settlement he named Memphis. The city was incorporated in 1826 and prospered on the expanding cotton trade of the fertile Mississippi Delta directly south. Early in the Civil War, a Union fleet defeated Confederate naval forces at the Battle of Memphis, and federal troops occupied the city.

Though there was little physical destruction, recovery from the war was hampered by a crippling epidemic of yellow-fever in 1878 that claimed more than 5000 lives. The disproportionate toll on the white population was attributed to a genetic predisposition, and surviving whites virtually abandoned the city. The following year, Memphis officially declared bankruptcy, and its city charter was revoked until 1893.

The black community took over daily operations and brought the town back to its feet. A former slave named Robert Church became a prominent landowner, civic leader and millionaire by buying real estate at bargain rates. Emigrants from the Delta arrived in great numbers, and the city thrived as the center of the cotton trade.

White citizens (mostly entrepreneurs) moved back to the city as the cotton and logging industries rallied. During the 1890s, Memphis was the world's biggest hardwood market.

Modern History

In its heyday in the early 1900s, a long stretch of Beale St was the hub of social, civic and business activity for the large African-American community, not only in Memphis but across the mid-South. The street gained a provocative reputation for drinking, gambling and other shady pastimes associated with riverboat towns. The Delta cotton industry was ravaged by the boll weevil in 1914, forcing many people to look for work in Memphis. Some found their feet in the city and stayed; many others pressed farther north to Chicago.

During the Great Depression, many businesses closed while others moved out to east Memphis, but industry was boosted during WWII: cotton prices were high, and two military depots were built in the area. Postwar, this more prosperous Memphis constructed the speedy four-lane bridge to Arkansas and expanded the harbosr.

In the early 1950s, music visionary Sam Phillips opened Sun Studio and began producing records by now-famous blues legends such as Howlin' Wolf and Rufus Thomas. This paved the way a few years later for white rockabilly artists. For Phillips to record both black and white musicians indiscriminately was a radical concept in the South at the time. Just as daring was equally renowned local WHBQ disc jockey Dewey Phillips, who had the gall to play the records cut at Sun. Following Sun's lead, more studios began springing up around Memphis, recording soul music, R&B and rock that peaked in the 1960s and 70s. Stax Records, a local soul label, became a legendary home for rhythm and blues.

With the Civil Rights movement of the early 60s came racial integration. This prompted the affluent white population to move and to expand suburban development east. In 1968, city sanitation workers walked out on strike, and Martin Luther King Jr came to town to lend his support. He was assassinated in Memphis on April 4.

Recent History

By the 1970s, the historic downtown had been largely abandoned, and Beale St was in such a state of disrepair that city planners hoped to bulldoze the whole strip. Objections by preservationists grew loud enough for the city to commit US$500000000.00 to restoration instead of complete redevelopment. A new entertainment district was sculpted out of the old commercial buildings and storefronts along the few central blocks of Beale St.

In recent times, Memphis has continued its efforts to get with the program. Along with the new baseball stadium for the Memphis Redbirds minor league baseball team, new retail and hotel developments are springing up nearby, and plans for more riverfront development demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the downtown Memphis area.

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