# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Memphis (Tenn.)

Edition of 1920. See also Memphis, Tennessee on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., city, county-seat of Shelby County, on the Mississippi River, at the
head of all-the-year-round navigation, is the largest city in Tennessee, the fifth in size of the cities on the Mississippi River and the most important commercial centre and distributing point between New Orleans and Saint Louis.
2 Down on the Levee :
* 3 Memphis Terminal Corporation Plant, covering an area of 170 acres of ground, and handling annually 1,000,000 bales of cotton |
Communications.— Steamer transportation on the Mississippi River and its tributaries reaches all the river and gulf ports, connecting with New Orleans, 394 miles; Mobile, 383 miles; Galveston, 661 miles; Savannah, 665 miles; Charleston, 726 miles; Norfolk, 961 miles; New York, 1,158 miles. Ten trunk lines operating 17 railroads, with two bridges over the Mississippi River, include the Illinois Central; Frisco Railroad; Louisville and Nashville; Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis; Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad; Southern Railway; Missouri Pacific Railway; Saint Louis and Southwestern Railway; Mobile and Ohio Railway; and the Rock Island Railway. The principal inland cities reached by direct lines are Birmingham, 251 miles; Saint Louis, 305 miles; Louisville, 380 miles; New Orleans, 394 miles; Atlanta, 417 miles; Kansas City, 484 miles; Cincinnati, 497 miles; Chicago, 534 miles; Washington, 931 miles. The Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company (Bell System) has 18,547 telephones in Memphis served by three exchanges. There are a total of 133 long distance circuits connected with the Memphis exchange, and subscribers are connected with the lines of the Bell System, which covers the entire United States and Canada.
Topographical Conditions.— Memphis is located in the most rapidly developing agricultural section of the country. It is the trade centre from the famous Mississippi Delta, and Saint Francis Basin, the combined area of which is in excess of some of the Eastern States. It is the home of the first successful Farm Development Bureau, which is doing great work in bringing about diversification of crops. The Memphis territory is no longer a one crop country. It now not only grows cotton successfully as before but most all of the other crops that are grown anywhere in the temperate zone. Suburban truck routes are operated whereby merchandise of various kinds and produce are handled between Memphis and suburban towns and farms in the Memphis district. This materially simplifies the complex national problem of handling freight on short hauls. The food conservation problem is far better taken care of in this territory, farmers not only feeding themselves but being enabled to make convenient and prompt deliveries of their farm products to the city; this being especially true in connection with dairy products, fruits and vegetables.
Industries, Commerce, Banking.— Memphis is the largest inland cotton market handling actual cotton in the world. The receipts run between 700,000 and over a million bales per year, according to the size of the crop. These receipts will be very materially increased when the opening of the 10,000,000 acres of land in the Saint Francis Basin is finished. This basin has been protected by secure levees and is being rapidly developed. As a market for short fibre cotton, such as linters and cotton hull fibre, there is no market that can compare with Memphis. There are more fibre mills in Memphis than in any other city and the trade in linters is far above the trade of any other
market. Over one-half of the total crop of the country is sold through Memphis concerns. This city is the greatest centre for the manufacturing of cotton seed products in the country, including crude and refined cotton-seed oil, meal, hulls and fibre. Memphis also is the largest hardwood producing lumber market. There are in this city 28 hardwood saw mills, with an annual capacity of 370,000,000 feet; 15 lumber yards and 32 woodworking plants. Just outside of the city there are 46 hardwood mills operated by Memphis firms, the capacity of which is 500,000,000 feet. In addition there are many other hardwood mills in the timber districts surrounding Memphis, producing an amount of hardwood lumber equal to the amount manufactured by Memphis firms. Therefore, Memphis may properly be considered as the centre of a production of approximately 2,000,000,000 feet of hardwood annually. A forest products mill has been established in the city, which utilizes slabs, culls and unmerchantable timber into the manufacture of large quantities of wood alcohol and similar products. Charcoal is also produced in large quantities by this mill. The manufacture of sweet feeds is becoming an important industry in Memphis. Cotton-seed products, alfalfa and molasses are produced abundantly in this territory. This industry is being rapidly advanced by the present system of diversified farming. Foreign exports aggregate approximately $100,000,000 yearly, including three-quarter million bales of cotton and 5,000 cars of lumber.
There are 800 manufacturing industries of all kinds in Memphis and its suburbs. These include cotton-seed-oil mills, ice factories, grain elevators, wholesale grocery houses, wholesale dry goods houses, wholesale drug houses, furniture factories, woodworking establishments of all kinds, foundries, machine shops, flour mills, pulp and paper mills, fibre plants, saddlery and harness factories, potteries, car works, pump works, wagon and carriage shops, pure food products, bread, cracker and candy factories, patent medicine works, sugar plantation machinery works, barrel and skewer factories, spoke factories, golf stick works, shuttle block works, trunk, screen door and window factories, basket and box factories, egg case works, horse collar factories, engine and boiler works, electric supplies, refrigerator and cold storage machinery works, cotton gins, stove and range factories, handle and coffin factories, shaft and pole works, cider presses, distilleries and breweries. Memphis has the largest automobile wheel factory in the world. Memphis also is one of the great horse and mule markets of the world.
There are 18 commercial and savings banks in Memphis; also two industrial loan banks and two private banks. The deposits in the 18 commercial banks at the time of the last report amounted to $75,000,000. The total amount of transactions for the year 1918 amounted to $3,441,112,365. The two largest banks carry deposits of $23,500,000 and $17,000,000 respectively.
Civic Conditions.— The city is well laid out and well built. The wide, well-shaded and well-paved streets, the fine public and private buildings, the parks with numerous large trees, all make the city most attractive. The streets are paved with asphalt, vitrified brick, macadam
and gravel. There are 1,056 miles of paved roads in Shelby County. The steel cantilever bridge 1,895 feet in length across the Mississippi, costing $3,000,000, opened 12 May 1892, has been supplemented by another bridge costing $5,000,000, which combines an interurban trolley service, double railroad tracks, pedestrians' walks and a free wagon way. Memphis has 160 churches. Its superior educational advantages include three departments of the University of Tennessee, Tennessee State Normal School, Christian Brothers College, business colleges, high schools, 40 public schools, vocational schools, art galleries, libraries and museums, free endowed circulating library (Cossitt) with 15 branches; endowed (Goodwyn) Institute, with auditorium and reference library. Its free lyceum lecture course attracts the world's leading artists, thinkers, men and women of letters. Outside of the public schools, there are 19 parochial and miscellaneous schools and a number of private schools for boys and girls; coeducational, such as the University School, The Misses Hutchinson School and others.
The largest hospitals are the Baptist Memorial, the new Methodist hospital (built in 1919), Saint Joseph's, Presbyterian, Lucy Brinkley, the United States Marine Hospital and numerous small hospitals, sanitaria and homes. The Y.M.C.A. occupies its own building, which is the largest in the central South. This building is equipped with a splendid library, gymnasium, swimming pool, club-rooms, dining-rooms and all other features going with the highest class of Y.M.C.A. work. The leading theatres are the Orpheum (capacity 2,250), Lyric (capacity 1,780), Lyceum (capacity 1,400) There are numerous other show houses and film theatres in the heart of the city and in the suburbs of various capacities from 200 to 900. The leading clubs are the Tennessee, the Chickasaw, the Rex, the old Business Men's Club, which is now the Memphis Chamber of Commerce — The Memphis Chamber of Commerce continues the club features. The country clubs are The Memphis Country Club, with a membership of 450, and the Colonial Country Club with a membership of 30O. The B. P. O. Elks occupy a very fine home here, centrally located. The Khaki Club for the exclusive use of soldiers is located in spacious rooms on Second street in the heart of the city, and there are numerous smaller clubs. The leading hotels in Memphis are Gaysos, 300 rooms; Peabody, 310 rooms and Chisca, 400 rooms. There are about 50 hotels in all, mostly located in the down town district — a few in the vicinity of the depots.
Parks, Public Buildings, Etc.— Memphis has 1,200 acres in improved parks, and has highly improved fair grounds containing 111 acres. Belting the city on three sides is a magnificent parkway system — the most extensive in the South. The largest park is Riverside Park on the east bank of the Mississippi River, just south of the city, containing 427 acres highly improved and a splendid specimen of landscape gardener's skill. Next to the largest is Overton Park, the finest park in the South, in the northeastern portion of the city, containing 335 acres. Within its boundaries is located the Memphis Zoological Garden which is as complete as that of Chicago, and the largest
free zoological garden in the United States. Both Overton and Riverside parks have free municipal golf links. There are several other parks scattered throughout the city. Memphis has more space in proportion to its total area in parks and parkways than any other city in the South. Adding to recreation afforded by the parks may be mentioned the Alaskan Roof Garden with a capacity of 1,500 and pleasure excursion boats up and down the Mississippi River. Notable among the city's fine buildings are the union station, the city hall and court-house, the police station, the exchange building, custom-house and post office, Goodwyn institute, Masonic temple and Scottish rite cathedral.
Modern sanitary methods obtain in Memphis, the sewer system being the Waring, the same as in New York. The water supply of the city is obtained from 64 artesian wells, the depth of which reaches 600 feet. The present pumping capacity of the water supply is 30,000,000 gallons per day, and the daily consumption is 15,000,000 gallons. Among the cities of the United Slates with a population of 100,000 or over, Memphis ranks second in general healthfulness. The death rate is 13.07.
History.— The history of Memphis begins almost with the history of the United States. It was a landing and tenting place for the early explorers and missionaries. It was the home of the Chickasaw Indians, and the bluffs on which the city is located, 40 feet above high water and 80 feet above low water, have always been known as the Chickasaw Bluffs. In 1698 the French built forts on the site of what is now the city, and in 1794 the Spanish erected forts at a time when Spain was claiming exclusive right to lower Mississippi. Some of the foremost men in the United States owned lands in this vicinity and were interested in holding for their own country a right to free navigation on the Mississippi to the Gulf. Andrew Jackson, James Winchester and John Overton sent to Memphis in 1819 a small colony who established the first permanent settlement. In 1826 there were 500 persons in the settlement which was then incorporated a a town, and in 1849 a city charter was granted. The Union and Confederate forces tried to gain possession of the city at the beginning of the Civil War. On 6 June 1862 a Federal fleet under Commodore Davis conquered a Confederate fleet under Commodore Montgomery, thus placing Memphis in possession of the Union forces. General Forrest in command of Confederate forces entered the city in August 1864 and took several hundred prisoners. Memphis has always progressed commercially except during the Civil War, and when visited formerly by yellow fever epidemics. The great growth industrially has come within the last three decades. The location has made the city a great railroad centre; the surrounding forests made it a great industrial centre; and the alluvial lands of the Saint Francis Basin, Yazoo Delta and the valley of the Mississippi River will always make it a great commercial centre. In 1855 yellow fever attacked the city, and again in 1867, 1873, 1878 and 1879. The epidemics of 1878 and 1879 so paralysed the industries of the city that in 1879 Memphis was unable to liquidate the
current indebtedness and the charter as a city was revoked. The former city was designated by the State legislature as "the taxing district of Shelby County." The control of the district was vested in a board of public works composed of five members, and a governing council composed of three commissioners. The council instituted the sewerage system, which practically eliminated the recurrence of yellow fever, improved civic conditions, liquidated the debts and in 1891 the place was reincorporated and again chartered as a city.
Population.— After the Federal census of 1890 the city limits were extended; but the population as given in 1890 included both urban and suburban districts, and the increase from 1890 to 1900 was remarkable. The growth of the city may be seen from the Federal census reports. Pop. (1850) 8,841; (1860) 22,623; (1870) 40,226; (1880) 33,592; (1890) 64,495; (1900) 102,320; (1910) 131,105; (1918) 175,000. Within a radius of 50 miles of Memphis there is a population of 800,000, according to Dun's 1917 report. The foreign born population does not amount to over 1 per cent throughout the whole territory and a careful estimate of the white race is 54 per cent and of blacks 45 per cent. Consult Davis, ‘History of the City of Memphis’ (1873); Keating and Vedder, ‘History of the City of Memphis’ (1888).