Timeline of Memphis, Tennessee

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

Prior to 19th century

 * 1739 – Fort Assumption built by French.
 * 1740 – Fort Assumption abandoned.
 * 1797 – U.S. fort built.

19th century

 * 1819 – Town laid out.
 * 1826 – Town incorporated.
 * 1827
 * Memphis Advocate newspaper begins publication.
 * Marcus B. Winchester becomes mayor.
 * 1836 – Memphis Enquirer newspaper begins publication.
 * 1841 – The Appeal newspaper begins publication.
 * 1843
 * New Orleans-Memphis telegraph begins operating.
 * Memphis Daily Eagle newspaper begins publication.
 * 1844 – Calvary Episcopal Church consecrated.
 * 1849 – Memphis incorporated as a city.
 * 1850
 * Town designated a port of customs.
 * Population: 8,841.
 * 1852 – Elmwood Cemetery established.
 * 1853 – Congregation B'nai Israel founded.
 * 1854 – Jones & Co. chemists in business.
 * 1855 – German Benevolent Society formed.
 * 1857 – Memphis & Charleston Railroad completed.
 * 1858 – Memphis Daily Avalanche newspaper begins publication.
 * 1860 – Population: 22,623.
 * 1861 – Memphis and Ohio Railroad completed.
 * 1862
 * Tennessee capital relocated to Memphis from Nashville.
 * June 6: First Battle of Memphis takes place on Mississippi River near town; Union forces take Memphis.
 * 1864
 * August 21: Second Battle of Memphis.
 * First National Bank of Memphis established.
 * 1866
 * May: Racial unrest.
 * Greenwood School established.
 * Memphis Post begins publication.
 * 1868 – Peabody Hotel in business.
 * 1870
 * Goldsmith's store in business.
 * Population: 40,226.
 * 1871
 * LeMoyne Normal Institute and College of Christian Brothers established.
 * St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral consecrated.
 * 1873 – Yellow fever epidemic.
 * 1874 – Memphis Cotton Exchange founded.
 * 1875 – Southwestern at Memphis (college) established.
 * 1878 – Yellow fever epidemic.
 * 1879 – Yellow fever epidemic.
 * 1880
 * Sewer system construction begins
 * Population: 33,592.
 * 1882
 * Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church established.
 * Chickasaw Cooperage Company incorporated.
 * 1883 – Young Men's Christian Association chartered.
 * 1885 – Peoples Grocery in business.
 * 1887 – Memphis National Bank organized.
 * 1890
 * Nineteenth Century Club formed.
 * Population: 64,589.
 * 1891 – City chartered again.
 * 1892 – Frisco Bridge (a cantilevered through truss bridge) constructed.
 * 1899 – Manassas High School established.
 * 1900 – Population: 102,320.

1900s–1940s

 * 1905 – Madison Hotel built.
 * 1906 – Memphis Zoo and Overton Park established.
 * 1909 – Bureau of Municipal Research active (approximate date).
 * 1910
 * Commission form of government begins.
 * Exchange Building constructed.
 * E. H. Crump becomes mayor.
 * Population: 131,105.
 * 1911 – Urban League branch established.
 * 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.
 * 1917
 * May 22: Lynching of Ell Persons.
 * National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch established.
 * 1919 – Citizens' Co-operative Stores incorporated.
 * 1920
 * City hosts Commission on Interracial Cooperation Women's Interracial Conference.
 * Population: 162,351.
 * 1921
 * Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church established.
 * 1922
 * WREC radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1923 – WMC radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1924 – Lincoln American Tower built.
 * 1925 – WHBQ and WMPS radio begin broadcasting.
 * 1929 – Memphis Municipal Airport dedicated.
 * 1930
 * Memphis Museum of Natural History and Industrial Arts opens.
 * Sterick Building constructed.
 * Population: 253,143.
 * 1931
 * Memphis World newspaper begins publication.
 * Cotton Carnival begins.
 * 1932 – Memphis Times newspaper begins publication.
 * 1936 – Memphis Academy of Art founded.
 * 1937 – Firestone factory in operation in Hyde Park.
 * 1938 – Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception built.
 * 1939 – First Colored Baptist Church built.
 * 1940 – Population: 292,942.
 * 1941 – Mason Temple built.
 * 1945 – Lorraine Motel in business.
 * 1946
 * Douglass High School opens.
 * Tri-State Bank established.
 * 1947 – WDIA radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1948
 * WMCT (television) begins broadcasting.
 * 13 year old Elvis Presley moves to Memphis.

1950s–1990s

 * 1950 – Population: 396,000.
 * 1953 – WHBQ-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
 * 1955 – WHER radio begins broadcasting.
 * 1956 –
 * WREG-TV (as WREC-TV) (television) begins broadcasting.
 * Opera Memphis established.
 * 1957 – Satellite Records in business.
 * 1960
 * 1961 – Thirteen African American first graders join Memphis City Schools
 * Henry Loeb becomes mayor.
 * Population: 497,524.
 * 1965 – 100 North Main building and White Station Tower constructed.


 * 1968
 * January: Henry Loeb becomes mayor again.
 * February 11: Memphis sanitation strike begins.
 * April 3: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers I've Been to the Mountaintop speech.
 * April 4: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
 * April 8: March in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
 * 1969 – Sesquicentennial Celebration
 * 1970
 * Vollintine-Evergreen Community Association organized.
 * Population: 623,530.
 * 1971 – Clark Tower built
 * 1972 – National Bank of Commerce building constructed.
 * 1973 – May: City hosts Rock Writers of the World Convention.
 * Massive white flight occurs in Memphis City Schools.
 * Desegregation busing begins in Memphis
 * 1974 – Women's Resource Center founded.
 * 1975 – Hyatt hotel opens.
 * 1976 – Temple Israel built.
 * 1977 – Memphis in May festival begins.
 * 1978 – Muslim Society of Memphis founded.
 * 1980 – Population: 646,356.
 * 1985
 * Tall Trees (prison) privatised.
 * Morgan Keegan Tower built.
 * 1988 - Memphis tanker truck disaster.
 * 1990 – Population: 610,337.
 * 1991
 * National Civil Rights Museum and Pyramid Arena open.
 * Willie Herenton becomes mayor.
 * 1996 – City website online.

21st century

 * 2002 – June 8: Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson boxing match.
 * 2003
 * Clark Opera Memphis Center opens.
 * 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.
 * 2008 – February 5–6: Tornado outbreak.
 * 2009
 * October: A C Wharton elected mayor.
 * City open government standard enacted.
 * 2012 – Population: 655,155.
 * 2015 – October 8: Jim Strickland elected mayor.
 * 2016 – Raleigh Springs Mall is demolished
 * 2023 – October 5: Paul Young elected mayor.

Published in 20th century

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Published in 21st century

 * Ernest Withers. Memphis Blues Again. Viking Studio, 2001.
 * John Branston. Rowdy Memphis. Brentwood, Tennessee: Cold Tree Press, 2004.
 * Sharon D. Wright. Race, Power, and Political Emergence in Memphis. Taylor and Francis, 2007.
 * John Branston. Rowdy Memphis. Brentwood, Tennessee: Cold Tree Press, 2004.
 * Sharon D. Wright. Race, Power, and Political Emergence in Memphis. Taylor and Francis, 2007.
 * Sharon D. Wright. Race, Power, and Political Emergence in Memphis. Taylor and Francis, 2007.
 * Sharon D. Wright. Race, Power, and Political Emergence in Memphis. Taylor and Francis, 2007.