# Timeline of Memphis, Tennessee

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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.
* 1795 -1797 – Spanish Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas.
* 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.

## 20th century
### 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.