Graceland
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47-48000 [6] Website. City of Memphis. Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County, in the southwesternmost part of the state, and is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, [7] Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville .
- Overview
- History
- The contemporary city
Memphis, city, seat (1819) of Shelby county, extreme southwestern Tennessee, U.S. It lies on the Chickasaw bluffs above the Mississippi River where the borders of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee meet. Memphis is Tennessee’s most populous city and is at the centre of the state’s second largest metropolitan area. Aside from West Memphis, Arkansa...
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visited the area in 1541. French (1739) and Spanish (1795) forts briefly existed on the site, and in 1797 the United States built Fort Adams there. Memphis was founded in 1819 on land previously inhabited by Chickasaw Indians. Andrew Jackson, later U.S. president, was one of its founders. Memphis was named for the ancient Egyptian city (meaning “Place of Good Abode”).
Memphis grew rapidly with the expansion of cotton growing in the South and because of its transportation facilities by railroad and river. It was incorporated in 1826. A Confederate military centre early in the American Civil War, it was captured by a Union gunboat force on June 6, 1862, and remained occupied until the end of the war. One of the country’s worst race riots took place there in May 1866.
Memphis’s central location has helped make it one of the largest distribution centres in the United States. Its international airport is the world’s second busiest cargo airport (after Hong Kong’s), and the city is among the nation’s largest inland river ports. Extensive rail and highway facilities and the headquarters of major freight corporations contribute to the importance of the industry. Memphis is a major world cotton market and a world leader in hardwood trading and processing and soybean processing. The city serves an agricultural area noted for livestock, cotton, soybeans, corn (maize), feed grains, and forest products and has agricultural research and food processing industries. It is an important wholesale centre. Manufactures include electronics, medical products and equipment, and paper products. Services (including health care, banking and finance, government, and education), tourism and convention business, and high-technology industries also contribute to the economy. Educational institutions in Memphis include Rhodes College (1848; Presbyterian), LeMoyne-Owen College (1871), Christian Brothers University (1871; Roman Catholic), University of Memphis (1912), Southwest Tennessee Community College (established in 2000 by the merger of the State Technical Institute at Memphis and Shelby State Community College), Memphis College of Art (1936), and the health science centre of the University of Tennessee.
Memphis is one of the birthplaces of blues music and is associated particularly with composer W.C. Handy, who immortalized the city’s Beale Street in one of his songs. Handy’s home is preserved as a museum, and modern Beale Street is a popular entertainment district, with nightclubs, restaurants, shops, live music, and other attractions. B.B. King also occupies a central place in the history of the blues in Memphis. A blues festival is held annually in August, and other events throughout the year celebrate the city’s musical heritage. Memphis has also been called the birthplace of rock and roll. Elvis Presley was one of many musicians who launched careers from Memphis’s Sun Studio. After Presley’s death in 1977, his city mansion and burial site, Graceland, became a shrine (opened to the public for tours in 1982). Memphis made a huge contribution to the development of soul music as well, with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and Al Green being just a few of the significant soul artists who recorded in Memphis or called it home.
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Memphis has a symphony orchestra, ballet troupe, and opera company, as well as several theatre organizations. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (1916) is the state’s oldest; the Memphis Pink Palace Museum includes a planetarium and cultural and historical exhibits. Historic sites include the Hunt-Phelan Home (1828) and the Burkle Estate/Slavehaven (1849), a station on the Underground Railroad. The Center for Southern Folklore is devoted to the people and culture of the South. Sun Studio offers tours, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is located on the site of the Stax recording studio and operates an adjacent music school. Also located in the city is the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, which was developed in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. A park on Mud Island, in the Mississippi, includes a five-block-long scale model of the river. The 32-story stainless-steel Pyramid Arena hosts sports events, concerts, and shows. FedExForum (opened 2004) houses the Grizzlies, the city’s professional basketball team. The Memphis in May International Festival is an annual month-long event devoted to a different country each year. Africa in April is an annual festival celebrating African American culture.
A U.S. Navy facility is located in Millington to the north. Chucalissa, a prehistoric Native American village and archaeological museum, is in T.O. Fuller State Park in southwestern Memphis, and Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park is north of the city.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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- National Civil Rights Museum. The Lorraine Motel. The National Civil Rights Museum is an extremely moving experience as one might expect. If you arrive without doing much research, you may think the focus will be on that fateful day in April of 1968.
- Graceland. The Home Of Elvis Presley. Graceland, the pride and private home of The King of Rock and Roll, is today a complex of buildings filled with his memorabilia.
- Sun Studio. The Birthplace Of Rock And Roll. You don’t need to be a music fan to get goosebumps when you walk into Sun Studio. Elvis, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Roy Orbison first recorded here.
- Stax Museum Of American Soul Music. The Stax Museum details the history of soul music. Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas, The Mar-Keys, and others collaborated here.
- Bustling Beale Street at night. Craig Thompson.
- A glam night out at the Orpheum Theatre. Phillip Parker.
- An array of Elvis costumes at Graceland. David Meany.
- Outside historic Sun Studio. Brand USA.
- Graceland. Graceland is the name of the nearly 14-acre estate the "King of Rock'n'Roll," Elvis Presley, once called home. While touring the mansion and grounds, you can visit the property's living room, TV room, office, "Jungle Room," and more, all of which have been preserved in their 1970s state.
- National Civil Rights Museum. One of the most important Tennessee facts is that Memphis played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement.
- Shelby Farms Park. At 4,500 acres, this park is one of the largest in Shelby County. In fact, while it's considered part of the greater Memphis area, Shelby Farms Park is actually located a few miles east of the main city area, where there's enough land for it to sprawl.
- Victorian Village Historic District. The Victorian Village Historic District is one of the most enduring Memphis historical sites.
Oct 8, 2017 · Memphis acquired a mixed reputation in the early decades of the century. On the one hand, it became recognized as the nation’s murder capital. On a more positive note, the city lobbied for the Tennessee ratification of woman suffrage, promoted blues music, and initiated the self-service supermarket, the Piggly-Wiggly stores of Clarence Saunders.
Jul 1, 2018 · TRAVEL. Discover the Best of Memphis. Discover live music, diverse dining, and the arts in this soulful city. By Holly Whitfield. July 01, 2018. • 5 min read. Dive deep into Southern culture with...
