Continued commercial growth along Germantown Parkway, including the Wolfchase Galleria, complements the residential development. The community began its rapid growth in the early 1980s. Memphis voted to annex the community in 1987, thereby igniting an 11-year legal battle that ended when Hickory Hill agreed to become part of the city. The city will provide guaranteed services, schools and parks to the area. Two new fire stations being built by the city in Hickory Hill are scheduled to open later this year, and work has begun on four new city schools.
Homes are mostly middle-class dwellings of relatively recent vintage.
One of the community's most recognizable and earliest landmarks, Central Church, is preparing to relocate to Collierville next year. Southeast Shelby County Hickory Hill's growth has spilled over into the rest of southeastern Shelby County outside the Memphis city limits. Residential and commercial development has crept east along the Winchester corridor to Hacks Cross Road and beyond, all the way to the annexation reserve areas of Germantown and Collierville. A technology corridor is envisioned between the new Federal Express Corp. headquarters under construction at Southwind, scheduled to open later this year, and FedEx's World Technology Center on Bailey Station in Collierville. Bill Morris Parkway has been a major catalyst in the growth, making southeastern Shelby County more easily accessible.