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Escape To Memphis Tennessee
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Memphis Tennessee, seat of Shelby County, is in southwestern Tennessee. The largest city in the state, Memphis is located on the Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers. Memphis covers an area of 662.8 sq km (255.9 sq mi).

Located on the Mississippi River, Memphis is intersected by two Interstate highways and seven major U.S. highways. Memphis has a busy river port and many railroad connections also. Due to its location, more major metro areas can be reached overnight from Memphis than any other city in the central U.S making it a major transportation hub. It is linked to West Memphis, Arkansas, by two bridges across the Mississippi River. Memphis International Airport houses the corporate headquarters of overnight shipping company FedEx.

As the commercial center of the Mississippi Delta, Memphis has a rich farming area known for its cotton market and soybean production, as well as being a major manufacturing center of textiles, heating equipment, pianos, and automobile and truck parts. Other products include processed foods, electronic equipment, medical implants and supplies, pharmaceuticals, and wood and paper products. Memphis Light, Gas and Water ("MLG&W") (http://www.mlgw.com/) is also one of the largest municipal utilities in the United States. A United States naval air station is nearby.

The Memphis area was first settled by the Mississippian Culture and then by the Chickasaw indian tribe. European exploration came years later, with Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River near the site of present-day Memphis in 1541. By the 1680s, French explorers led by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle built Fort Prudhomme in the vicinity, the first European settlement in what would become Memphis, predating English settlements in East Tennessee by more than 70 years.

(Strange Room From album Memphis, Tennessee by member steven1626 http://community.webshots.com/album/61730926PyCMCt?start=36)
Built on sacred Chickasaw Indian ground, with slave trading, and the Yellow Fever also thrown into the mix, this room has an extremely dark history. Sealed off in 1972 with stone, it was broken into in later years and finally sealed with steel plates.

The French built Fort Assumption on the bluffs above the river here in 1739. The area passed to Britain in 1763, and a U.S. fort was erected here in 1797. In 1818 the Chickasaw ceded the territory to the United States government.

Despite such early outposts, the land comprising present-day Memphis remained in a largely unorganized territory throughout most of the 18th century, while the boundaries of what would become Tennessee continued to evolve from its parent, the Carolina Colony, later North Carolina and South Carolina. By 1796, the community was the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee.

Memphis was founded in 1819 by Andrew Jackson (later president) and two partners, and incorporated as a city in 1826, taking its name from the ancient capital of Egypt. Early into the American Civil War the city was an important Confederate military center, and it served as temporary state capital in 1862. Memphis was captured by Union forces after a river battle (June 1862) in which federal gunboats sank or captured seven out of eight Confederate vessels, and the city remained in Union hands until the end of the war. The long military occupation and severe recurring yellow-fever epidemics (especially one in 1878) depopulated Memphis and brought bankruptcy; the city's charter was revoked in 1879. Sanitary reforms and renewed activity at the community's natural harbor contributed to its economic recovery, and the charter was restored in 1893.

The Pyramid Arena
(http://www.pyramidarena.com/)

In 1897, Memphis' pyramid-shaped pavilion was a conspicuous part of the Tennessee Centennial exposition.
The Pyramid Arena (http://www.pyramidarena.com/) is one of the most uniquely designed structures on earth. The 32 story Pyramid is the third largest pyramid in the world and soars even taller than the Statue of Liberty or the Taj Mahal. Managed and operated by SMG, this 21,000 seat sports and entertainment facility is home to the NBA Memphis Grizzlies (http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/) and the University of Memphis Men's Basketball Program (http://gotigersgo.cstv.com/) and is well known for hosting national basketball tournaments, concerts and family shows. From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a hotbed of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump.

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The city was at the center of civil rights issues during the 1960's, notably as the location of a sanitation workers' strike. Memphis is also known as the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel. (http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/Kingfuneral.html)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/Kingfuneral.html)

Memphis is governed by a mayor and thirteen council members, six elected at large from throughout the city and seven elected from geographic districts. In the 1980s community leaders and government officials launched economic reforms, marketing Memphis as a distribution center. In 1991 W. W. Herenton became the city's first black mayor. In 1995, the council adopted a new district plan which changed council positions to all districts. This plan provides for nine districts, seven with one representative each and two districts with three representatives each.

In recent years, there has been discussion of the potential of a merger of county and city government of Shelby County and City of Memphis into a metropolitan government, similar to that in Nashville.

The city is served by Memphis City Schools while surrounding suburbs in other areas of Shelby County are served by Shelby County Schools. Several colleges and universities are also located in the city, including the University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University), Rhodes College (formerly Southwestern at Memphis), LeMoyne-Owen College, and Christian Brothers University. Some smaller specialty colleges are also located in Memphis, including Harding University Graduate School of Religion, Memphis College of Art, and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. The major community college is Southwest Tennessee Community College. Memphis is also home to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a world class medical research facility. There are also several other major medical teaching institutions in the city, including the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences), the Southern College of Optometry and the Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences.

Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the American south, including musical and culinary offerings. Many notable blues musicians grew up in and around the Memphis and northern Mississippi, and performed there regularly from the early 1900's onward. These included such musical greats as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, and Howlin' Wolf. The first African American formatted radio station, WDIA, was founded in the city in 1947 by Bert Ferguson and John Pepper, and included a young B.B. King as disc jockey. B.B. King's moniker was derived from his WDIA nickname 'Beale Street Blues Boy', a reference to Memphis' Beale Street on which many nightclubs and blues venues were located. For more on the Blues go to (http://www.memphistravel.com/).

The Memphis in May Festival (http://www.memphisinmay.org/) In addition to a rich musical heritage, Memphis also boasts a long culinary legacy dominated by regional barbeque. Memphis barbeque is rendered distinct by its sole usage of pork (as opposed to beef), focus on rib and shoulder cuts of meat, and multiple locally-owned barbeque restaurants. Celebration of this local dish reaches its climax each year in May, when the Memphis in May Festival (http://www.memphisinmay.org/) holds its annual international Memphis in May Barbeque Cookoff.

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