| Memphis | |
| City in the United States | |
| Location | |
| State | Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 35°7’3″N, 89°58’16″WL |
| General | |
| Surface | 839.2 km² |
| – country | 816 km² |
| – water | 23.2 km² |
| Residents (April 1, 2010) |
646,889 (793 inhabitant/km²) |
| Politics | |
| Mayor | Jim Strickland (D) |
| Website | memphistn.gov |
| Skyline of Memphis | |
According to ehuacom, Memphis is the second largest city in the US state of Tennessee, named after Memphis (Egypt). Memphis is located on the Mississippi River in far southwest Tennessee, near the Mississippi and Arkansas states border.
Memphis is also known as the music city of the world, along with Nashville. This has to do with the fact that many styles of music have arisen, including rock and roll. The blues also plays an important role.
Martin Luther King was shot dead on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel is now a civil rights museum.
History
The city was founded in 1819. Tennessee was the last state to formally join the Confederates during the American Civil War. In practice, the state was very divided. The heart of the people of Memphis as the most important southwestern city was with the South. On the Mississippi just before the city, a river battle was fought in 1862 in which the southerners lost out. Nearly 200 were killed in this battle. Meanwhile, rail & supplies to the other Confederate states were interrupted after the siege and capture of Corinth, Mississippi. Control over the city of Memphis was therefore no longer of strategic importance for the remainder of the battle. Memphis was placed under the military administration of the Northern States (the Union) until the end of the war.
Demographics
Of the population, 10.9% is older than 65 and 30.5% is single -person households (2000 census figures).
The population increased from 618,894 in 1990 to 690,571 in 2000, but was only 674,028 in 2007. [source?] In 2012, it was 655,155. Since the year 2000, the population has been on a declining trend. This has to do with the growing crime in the suburbs of Memphis. In 2013, the population was estimated at 653,450.
Climate
In January the average temperature is 4.3 °C, in July it is 28.1 °C. Annual average rainfall is 1323.3 mm (data based on the measurement period 1961-1990).
Tourism and Recreation
Museums and places of interest
Memphis tourist attractions include Graceland, the former estate of legend Elvis Presley, the Memphis Zoo, one of thirteen zoos in the world that houses giant pandas outside of China, and Beale Street, a street with many entertainment options, including ” BB Kings Blues Club”.
The Sterick Building is an office building that has 29 floors and is 111 meters high. This building was the tallest building in the city until 1965. Below is a small selection of the many museums that Memphis has.
Sun Studio
Sun Studio
The Sun Studio is where rock and roll was born. The Sun Records label has hosted artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. These artists have grown up here. Other artists like BB King and Roy Orbison have also recorded many songs here. The studio is also often seen, alongside rock and roll, as the birthplace of today’s dominant pop music.
Lorraine Hotel
National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum is located in the former Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead. The museum has a permanent exhibit and chronicles the civil rights struggle of African Americans from the arrival of the first black slaves in the British colonies in 1619 to King’s assassination in 1968.
Brooks Museum of Art
Founded in 1916, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is the oldest and largest art museum in the state of Tennessee. It holds large collections from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, among other things.
Brooks Museum of Art
Children’s Museum of Memphis
The Children’s Museum of Memphis is a museum that is completely focused on children.
Beale Street
Graceland
Graceland is the former home of Elvis Presley. It is one of the most visited homes in the United States, attracting more than 600,000 people each year. The house is in exactly the same condition as the day Elvis Presley died. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991.
Pink Palace
The Pink Palace Museum is a museum that focuses on archeology and chemistry.
Memphis Walk of Fame
The Memphis Walk of Fame is a public exhibit on Beale Street. It is specially designed for Memphis musicians only. It honors artists such as WC Handy, BB King, Bobby Blue Bland, and Alberta Hunter.
Stax Museum
Victorian Village
Victorian Village is a historic place in Memphis that is home to old houses. Some now serve as museums.
Stax Museum
Stax Museum is a museum that is located at 926 McLemore Avenue. The building first served for Stax Records. Artists such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the MG’s, Sam & Dave and many others recorded songs there. Songs were recorded from the 1960s to the 1980s. It is the only museum devoted entirely to soul music.
Sports
Memphis Grizzlies Basketball Club is Memphis’s premier sports club. It is the only team in the city to compete in one of the top four American professional sports.
Notable residents of Memphis
Born
- George Snedecor (1881-1974), statistician
- Maude Fealy (1883-1971), actress
- Walter Lang (1896-1972), film director
- Memphis Slim (1915-1989), boogie-woogie pianist
- Bill Black (1926-1965), musician
- Anita Kerr (1927-2022), singer and composer
- Johnny Ace (1929-1954), rhythm and blues singer
- Jack Clement (1931-2013), music maker and filmmaker
- Hal Needham (1931-2013), stuntman and film director
- Dorsey Burnette (1932-1979), rockabilly artist
- Johnny Burnette (1934-1964), rockabilly artist
- Anne Haney (1934-2001), actress
- Dickey Lee (1936), singer and songwriter
- Morgan Freeman (1937), actor
- Jon Hassell (1937-2021), jazz trumpeter
- Paul Craft (1938-2014), singer and songwriter
- Harold Mabern (1936-2019), jazz pianist and composer
- William Bell (1939), singer
- George Hamilton (1939), actor
- Maurice White (1941-2016), singer and music producer
- Aretha Franklin (1942-2018), gospel, soul and R&B singer
- Carla Thomas (1942), soul singer
- Spencer Wiggins (1942), gospel and soul singer
- Frank McRae (1944-2021), actor
- Booker T. Jones (1944), musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger
- William Sanderson (1944), actor
- Judith Lang Zaimont (1945), pianist, composer
- Kathy Bates (1948), actress
- Michael Beck (1949), actor
- Steven Williams (1949), actor
- Alex Chilton (1950–2010), singer and rock musician (Box Tops, Big Star)
- Cybill Shepherd (1950), actress
- Linda Thompson (1950), actress and songwriter
- Michael Baker (1953), astronaut
- Billy Burnette (1932-1979), singer
- Rocky Burnette (1953), singer
- Leslie Jordan (1955), actor
- Adriane Lenox (1956), actress
- Anita Ward (1956), singer
- Dave Catching (1961), musician
- Elise Neal (1966), actress
- Dan Schneider (1966), actor, writer and producer
- Lisa Marie Presley (1968), singer and daughter of Elvis
- Katherine Kendall (1969), actress
- Shannen Doherty (1971), actress
- Kali Rocha (1971), actress
- Nelson Frazier Jr. (1972–2014), wrestler, better known as Big Daddy V. (WWE)
- Juicy J (1975), rapper
- John Landrum Cooper (1975), singer
- Ashley Jones (1976), actress
- Sarah Jane Morris (1977), actress
- Robert Baker (1979), actor
- Justin Timberlake (1981), singer and actor
- Three 6 Mafia (various), rap group
- Michael Oher (1986), American football player
- Lucy Hale (1989), actress and singer
- Jackson Wilcox (1989), swimmer
- Julien Rose Baker (1995), guitarist, singer
- NLE Choppa (2002), rapper
Died
- Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877), general, cavalry and guerrilla leader
- Bill Black (1926-1965), musician
- Martin Luther King (1929-1968), pastor, political leader and civil rights activist
- Memphis Minnie (1897-1973), blues singer, composer, songwriter and guitarist
- Elvis Presley (1935-1977), pop singer and actor
- Albert King (1923-1992), blues guitarist and singer
- Jeff Buckley (1966-1997), singer-songwriter
- Cary Middlecoff (1921–1998), golfer
- Rufus Thomas (1917–2001), soul singer
- Shawn Lane (1963-2003), guitarist and pianist
- Sam Phillips (1923-2003), record executive, founder of the Sun label
- Isaac Hayes (1942–2008), actor and musician
- Red West (1936-2017), actor, stuntman and friend of Elvis Presley
