Welcome To Memphis
Memphis was founded in 1819 on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff
overlooking the Mississippi. The original town was planned and laid out by three prominent
Tennesseeans - James Winchester, John Overton and future President Andrew Jackson -
primarily as a landsale venture with the name provided by Winchester, who foresaw the
group's fledgling city become as great as its ancient namesake on the Nile. The founders
wanted their city to be more than a profitable land venture, though. In plotting out the
town, they made certain that it would contain ample room for parks and stipulated that the
land along the scenic river bluffs should remain a "public promenade". Their
legacy: a stunning panorama of the mighty Mississippi.
Although its first decades were rocky ones, Memphis' natural
harbor facilities ensured that the city would, eventually, thrive. By the time the Civil
War broke out, Memphis was the sixth largest city in the South, the third largest inland
port in the country and one of the world's largest trading centers for cotton, the crop
which was the backbone of the antebellum Southern economy.
Memphis fell early in the war to Union troops and, as a
result, emerged from the conflict unscathed (when compared with other Southern cities).
But what the war didn't ruin, disease did. During the 1870s, the city was decimated by
several yellow fever epidemics and lost so much of its population that the city charter
was revoked for the better part of a decade. Community financial leaders refused to give
up their homes and led by Robert R. Church, born a slave and the South's first black
millionaire, invested in rebuilding Memphis. In an attempt to ensure that disease would
never have such dire effects on the city again, a vigorous public health foundation was
established in Memphis. In part a direct result of these efforts, Memphis emerged as a
major regional and national medical center.
By the dawn of the twentieth century, Memphis was once again,
and remains today, a thriving trade center. At the same time, it is also one of the
country's most "livable" cities. Incorporating a host of parks, museums, and
similar amenities into its busy structure. The founders' "public promenade" is
still there, stretching along the river bluff. Its a place to sit back and enjoy the many
blessings - natural and man-made - which Memphis has to offer.
