Memphis Timeline
This is only a small sampling of Memphis happenings.
1541
Indians living near present-day Memphis encounter the Hernando DeSoto expedition.
French explorers build Fort Assumption on Memphis site.
The Chickasaw Nation signs a treaty ceding West Tennessee to the U.S.
John Overton, General James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson found the city of Memphis on May 22.
Frances Wright founds the utopian community of Nashoba near present-day Germantown.
Memphis is incorporated on December 19.
Mayor Spickernagle's reforms lead to the Flatboatman's War and the establishment of law and order.
The U.S. Government establishes a naval yard in the city.
Memphis and South Memphis merge.
Memphis and Charleston Railroad is completed, linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River.
A Union fleet defeats Confederate naval forces at the Battle of Memphis, and Federal troops occupy the city.
The Memphis Freedman's Bureau is established to assist African-Americans in their transition from slavery to freedom.
The worst yellow fever epidemic in the city's history occurs claiming some 5,000 lives.
Memphis declares bankruptcy, loses its charter, and becomes a taxing district of the state.
Artesian well water becomes available for the first time.
Memphis regains its city charter.
Cossitt, the city's first public library, opens.
The ten story Porter Building, the city's first skyscraper, opens.
Church Park and Auditorium, the city's first park and entertainment center for African-Americans, is built.
Overton Park Zoo (now the Memphis Zoo) opens.
W.C. Handy writes "Memphis Blues."
Memphis adopts the commission form of government.
E.H. Crump becomes the mayor on the reform ticket, boosted by Handy's "Memphis Blues."
Clarence Saunders, the founder of the self-service grocery store, opens his first Piggly Wiggly in Memphis.
Harahan Bridge, with vehicle roadways, opens.
City celebrates its centennial.
The Universal Life Insurance Company, one of the largest African-American owned insurance companies in the nation, is founded.
City plan is designed by Harland Bartholomew.
The present Peabody Hotel opens to the public.
Tom Lee rescues 32 people when the M.E. Norman sinks on the Mississippi River.
The Orpheum Theatre opens; its predecessor was destroyed by fire in 1923.
Municipal airport is completed.
Harbor commission is created.
Municipal museum is established.
Airmail service is started.
First Cotton Carnival is celebrated.
Municipal housing authority is created.
Citizens opt to join TVA electric system.
Community library for African-Americans is opened.
TVA power becomes available to Memphis.
The Naval Air Station at Millington is built.
The Army (later Defense) Depot and the Mallory Air Force Depot are built.
Mid-South cotton crop doubles its 1940 value.
War efforts continue boosting economy, facilities, and population.
Transition to peacetime economy. Construction of four-lane Memphis-Arkansas Bridge is started.
Passage of Flood Control Bill provides for development of Tennessee Chute Project, vastly expanding Memphis harbor facilities.
Construction begins on the Memphis Harbor project.
Population: 296,000.
During the 1950s, Memphis is named the country's quietest, cleanest, and safest city on several occasions.
Kemmons Wilson opens the first Holiday Inn on Summer Avenue.
E.H. Crump, Memphis political leader for 45 years, dies.
Elvis Presley gives his first concert in Memphis and records his first of five recordings at Sun Studio, "That's All Right."
Johnny Cash records at Sun Studio under direction of Sam Phillips.
Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes," also recorded at Sun Studio, becomes the first single in history to top all three charts.
Election ousts many of Crump-faction political figures.
Roy Orbison joins Memphis' Sun Records roster with his release of the smash hit "Ooby Dooby." This sound changed pop vocal stylings.
Memphis State College becomes a university.
Jerry Lee "Killer" Lewis records "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" at Sun Studio, followed with "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless."
Stax Records, creator of the "Memphis sound," organized.
Population: 497,524.
During the decade, Federal court decisions end segregation in the city's schools, parks, and recreational facilities.
Entertainer Danny Thomas opens St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Voters adopt home rule.
Mammoth new metropolitan airport complex is dedicated.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated on April 4, at the Lorraine Motel during the sanitation workers' strike.
Federal Express (now FedEx) Corporation is founded.
Court-ordered busing to eliminate segregation in city schools begins.
The Mid-America Mall (now Main Street Mall) is constructed.
Elvis Presley dies at Graceland on August 16.
After being refurbished, the historic Peabody Hotel is reopened as the "South's Grand Hotel."
Mud Island, America's only Mississippi River Museum and Park, opens.
A renovated Beale Street opens as a tourist attraction.
A celebration is held for the lighting of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge.
Wonders: the Memphis International Cultural Series begins with the "Ramesses the Great" exhibition.
City and county governments approve the funding for construction of The Pyramid arena.
The National Civil Rights Museum and The Pyramid arena open.
Downtown trolley system construction begins.
Memphis elects its first Black mayor, Dr. W.W. Herenton.
Founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and ALSAC, Danny Thomas, dies.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Alex Haley, dies.
Two of best-selling author John Grisham's novels, The Firm and The Client, were filmed on location in the city. Tom Cruise, Susan Sarandon, and Tommy Lee Jones were a few of the movies' castmembers.
Downtown trolley begins operation.
Population (metropolitan area): 1,056,135.
Memphis' airport truly becomes international with its new KLM Royal Dutch Airlines direct, non-stop flight to Amsterdam.
AutoZone constructs its new international headquarters downtown.
The Hunt-Phelan Home, built between 1828-1832, opens to the public as Memphis' newest tourist attraction.
New Tennessee State Welcome Center opens in Memphis.
A restaurant and nightclub bearing Elvis' name opens on Beale Street in the original Lansky's building where Elvis once bought his clothes.
Worldwide media attention surrounds Memphis in August for the 20th Anniversary Elvis Tribute Week.
The Wonders Series "Titanic" exhibit draws a record-breaking attendance of 634,935.
The expanded Trolley Loop Extension Project is completed.
The Hard Rock Café, the first in the world to feature live entertainment, opens on Beale.
The Fire Museum of Memphis and the Peabody Place Museum and Gallery open to the public.
MTV chooses Memphis and Tom Lee Park as the site of its 2nd "Sports and Music Festival."
Memphis chosen as the "Great American Place" by American Heritage magazine.
Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel opens across the street from Graceland.
The $100 million expansion and renovation of the Memphis Cook Convention Center breaks ground.
Central Station reopens to the public following a multi-million dollar facelift.
Memphis is featured in the nationally-acclaimed ABSOLUT Vodka ad campaign. Rendition features Elvis' blue suede shoes.
Construction begins on Peabody Place's Jillian's Entertainment Center, featuring a 21-screen movie theater and 3-D IMAX.
Autozone Park opens on the corner of Union Avenue & Third Street downtown.
Northwest Airlines announces a major service expansion to Memphis International Airport, the company's single-largest in its 75-year history.
Memphis International Airport opens new world runway.
The Gibson Guitar Plan nears completion.
The Memphis Rock'n' Soul Museum, the Smithsonian exhibition, "Rock'n'Soul: Social Crossroads," opens.
Construction continues on Peabody Place Retail and Entertainment Center, which will feature a 21-screen movie theater, 3-D IMAX, Jillian's Entertainment Center and Tower Records.
W.C. Handy Performing Arts Park & Beale Street Visitors Center and Retail Store open.
Lichterman Nature Center completes its expansion and renovation.
The National Civil Rights Museum begins its expansion.
Peabody Place Retail and Entertainment Center opens.
Memphis Grizzlies (NBA) played their inaugural season at the Pyramid.
Gibson Beale Street Showcase opens.
Soulsville, USA /STAX Museum of American Soul Music and the STAX Music Academy break ground.
Graceland celebrates its 50th anniversary.
SpringHill Suites and Madison Hotel open in downtown area.
New Memphis arena, the FedExForum, breaks ground downtown at 149 Linden Avenue.
The famed New Orleans bar Pat O'Brien's opens a location in Memphis on Beale Street.
The Memphis Zoo gets its own pair of giant pandas, Le Le and Ya Ya.
The Memphis Marriott Downtown breaks ground for a 204-room expansion.
Soulsville USA: The Stax Museum of American Soul Music and Music Academy opens to the public.
Memphis' antique trolley expands into the Medical Center/Midtown area.
Memphis CELEBRATES the 50 th Anniversary of Rock’n’Roll with a yearlong tribute to the sound that forever changed the music industry!
July 5th officially marks the “Global Moment in Time” as radio stations across the globe simultaneously play “That’s All Right”, the first recorded single by Elvis Presley at Sun Studio.
50th Anniversary of Soul Music.
25th Anniversary of the W.C. Handy Blues Award.
Completion of $250 million arena—FedExForum, opens to public.
Downtown Marriott Hotel completes $14 million expansion of its new 200 room Tower.
The historic Residence Inn by Marriott opens in Downtown.
Renovation and restoration project begins to restore Court Square Gazebo to its original 1912 design.
Elvis Presley’s teenage apartment in Uptown Square open for scheduled tours.
U.S. Highway 61 in Tennessee renamed B.B. King Highway. The 79-year-old famed bluesman was on hand for the ceremony, but without the guitar he calls Lucille. “I’m not very good at talking and Lucille is asleep on the bus,” King said. “Thank you Memphis. Thanks to all of you, God bless you.”
Memphis proved to be a hot commodity in the movie industry. Films such as "Hustle & Flow," "Forty Shades of Blue" and "Walk the Line" were added to the ever-growing list of films shot in Memphis.
Memphis assisted many Hurricane Katrina evacuees as they found their way to safety.
Ride The Ducks gives visitors a way to see Memphis by land and water aboard one amazing vehicle while discovering the history, humor and heroes of Memphis on the Mighty Mississippi.
Lisa Marie Presley's birthplace, the old Baptist Memorial Hospital, was subject to demolition to make way for newer research facilities. The hospital was founded in 1912.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) announces a construction commencement on a $40-million 203-room Westin Beale Street Hotel located directly across from FedExForum. The Westin Beale Street will be Tennessee’s first Westin and the first upper-upscale branded hotel to be built in the Memphis metro area in more than twenty years.
Craig Brewer's "Black Snake Moan" is filmed in Memphis.
The Memphis Zoo got its beginnings when Natch, a black bear mascot for a Memphis baseball team, was kept chained to a tree in Overton Park. The Zoo celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Opera Memphis turns 50!
Memphis Motorsports Park celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Memphis Zoo's Northwest Passage exhibit which will house polar bears, seals and sea lions opened in March.
January 16 - A Groundbreaking ceremony was held for Lee's Landing Retail, Entertainment and Parking, a complex that will include Ground Zero Blues Club, a Clarksdale, Mississippi-based juke-joint and restaurant partly owned by Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman.
The sweet sounds of soul music officially took center stage as Memphis celebrated 50 years of soul. The city that helped put soul on the map engaged visitors with sights, sounds, attractions and events inspired by one of the world's most universally beloved styles of music.
COGIC Bishop G.E. Patterson died on March 20th. As the head of Temple of Deliverance, Patterson became one of the most well-respected church officials in the country. Bishop Patterson's sermons were broadcasted internationally on a weekly basis on networks that included Black Entertainment Television and Trinity Broadcasting Network.
On Saturday, April 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. Mud Island River Park opened its gates to welcome in visitors for its 25th year.
EP Delta Kitchen opened its doors on Beale Street.
Despite record-breaking heat that has averaged over 100 degrees for six consecutive days, Elvis Week 2007 attracted more than 75,000 fans to Memphis for the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.
November, 2007 marks the 100th Anniversary for the Church Of God In Christ Holy Convocation in Memphis, TN.
2008
40th Anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr.
On the 40th anniversary of his death, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is to be honored as a champion of peace in the city where he died. Presidential candidates, civil rights leaders, labor activists and thousands of citizens came together in Memphis to honor King for his devotion to racial equality and economic justice.
60th Anniversary of the Germantown Charity Horse Show
The Germantown Charity Horse Show which features 800 horses, including Show Jumpers, Hunters, Gated, Walking horses and Hackney ponies celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2008.
75th Anniversary of the Peabody Hotel Ducks
What started as a mischievous prank in 1933 is still a Peabody tradition 75 years later.
In 2008, the Orpheum Theatre will celebrate its 80th anniversary.
University of Memphis Tigers
University of Memphis Tigers have a sensational year with a 30-1 regular season, through a C-USA Tournament title and to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA South Regional. The Tigers' 75-68 NCAA championship-game ended in an overtime loss to Kansas.