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Memphis City Historical Markers

Map of Tennessee State Historical Marker Locations in the City of Memphis
 

Memphis City Historical Markers

Memphis Historical Marker

6310 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, TN, USA

Latitude & Longitude: 35° 6' 3.249648", -89° 51' 11.645604"

Memphis-Shelby County Founded 1819, by Andrew Jackson, John Overton and James Winchester; the latter named it. Incorporated, 1826, population less that 500 and area less than 1 square mile. It has since its original foundation absorbed seven other towns, is now the state's largest city, one of the country's largest inland ports and the world's largest cotton market.
6310 Poplar Avenue
Image Gallery

Memphis Churches
Beale Street Baptist Church
Founded in the late 1840s by Rev. Morris Henderson and four other blacks, Beale Street Baptist Church is the oldest, continuous Negro congregation in ... [click for more]

Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church
The oldest public building in Memphis and the first Episcopal Church in Shelby County. Organized August 6, 1832 by the Reverend Thomas Wright. The chu... [click for more]

Church Park Auditorium
Established in 1899 Church's Park and Auditorium was the
only such facility in the United States owned entirely by a Black man and
conducted i... [click for more]

Church Park
At this location Church Park and Auditorium was established in 1899 by Robert R. Church, Sr., a Memphis businessman and former slave, to provide recre... [click for more]

Collins Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
A "Daughter" of Wesley Chapel (later, the First United Methodist Church), Collins Chapel was organized in 1841 and purchased this site in 18... [click for more]

Eastland Presbyterian Church
Sunday school held in a schoolhouse led to the
formation of Eastland Presbyterian Church November 11, 1906 with Dr.
W.H. Gragg, Sr., E.H. Port... [click for more]

Emmanuel Protestant Episcopal Church
The first Negro Episcopal Church in Shelby County was organized by the Right Rev. Charles T. Quintard in 1873 with 5 men: Vernon Chalmers, W.B. Miller... [click for more]

Eudora Baptist Church
Organized October 19, 1850 on two acres of land donated by
Col. Eppy White, using the Greek word “Eudora” signifying “good gift&... [click for more]

First Baptist Church ~ Mt. Olive CME Church
First Baptist Church


The First Baptist Church was designed by architect R. H. Hunt and built in 1906. I... [click for more]

First Baptist Church
The First Baptist Church was designed by architect R.H.
Hunt and built in 1906. It is constructed of yellow bricks along a
Georgian-architectu... [click for more]

First Baptist Church
First Baptist Church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

First Baptist Church
On April 3, 1839, 11 Baptists met in the home of Spencer Hall to organize a Baptist church. The next day, the group met to sign the articles of faith.... [click for more]

First Colored Baptist Church
First Colored Baptist Church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

First Congregational Church
Founded 1862, organized 1864 with 25 members, this was the earliest Congregational Church in Memphis and State of Tennessee; known first as Union Chur... [click for more]

First Congregational Church
Founded 1862, organized 1864 with 25 members, this was the earliest Congregational Church in Memphis and State of Tennessee; known first as Union Chur... [click for more]

First Methodist Church
Organized 1826, the first building was of frame, with split log benches, built 1832. A new building was erected in 1845. During Federal occupation, a ... [click for more]

First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesReligious Resources of Memphis, Shelby County, TN MPS ... [click for more]

Grace - St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
St. Luke's Church, founded 1894 at Idlewild and Union, moved to this location in 1912 where the Right Rev. Thomas F. Gailor, 3rd Bishop of Tennessee, ... [click for more]

Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
St. Luke's Church, founded 1894 at Idlewild and Union, moved to this location in 1912 where the Right Rev. Thomas F. Gailor, 3rd Bishop of Tennessee, ... [click for more]

Historical Tablet First Methodist Church
In 1826, the First Methodist Church of Memphis was organized by the Reverend Thomas P. Davidson with three members, Mrs. Pauline Perkins, Elijah Coffe... [click for more]

Idlewild Presbyterian Church
Architect George Awsumb designed the Gothic Revival sanctuary, including stone figures on the tower representing workers for God, wood carvings in the... [click for more]

Martin Memorial Temple CME Church
Martin Memorial Temple CME Church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)
Born in Memphis in 1863, Mary Church Terrell was
noted as a champion for human rights. The daughter of millionaire Robert
Church, Sr., she was... [click for more]

Mt. Moriah Baptist Church
Mt. Moriah was founded in 1879. The oldest church in the area, it was relocated to this site in 1883, predating the Orange Mound Community by seven ye... [click for more]

Mullins United Methodist Church
Mullins United Methodist Church, named for its first
minister, the Reverend Lorenzo Dow Mullins, was established July 15, 1845,
in a one-room ... [click for more]

Robert R. Church, Sr.
1839-1912
Pioneer businessman, first citizen to buy bond to restore city charter after
yellow fever epidemics of 1878-1879 had reduced Memphis... [click for more]

Salem Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (2)
Salem Associate
Reformed Presbyterian Church


Organized June 19, 1836, by Rev. Henry Bryson, D.D., ... [click for more]

Sara Roberta Church (1914-1995)
In 1952, Roberta Church became the first black woman
in Memphis to be elected to public office and to the Tennessee Republican
State Executive... [click for more]

Second Congregational Church
Founded by the American Missionary Association in 1868, Second Congregational
Church was originally at 239 Orleans. It was a chapel for LeMoyne No... [click for more]

Second Presbyterian Church
This church was founded on Dec. 28, 1844, on Front St. near Gayoso. It has since become the parent of ten daughter churches. It erected its first owne... [click for more]

Second Presbyterian Church
Second Presbyterian Church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

St. John’s United Methodist Church
Ancestors of this church's members were among the founders in 1832 of Methodism in Memphis. This congregation established in 1889 as Central Church Mi... [click for more]

St. Mary’s (Episcopal) Cathedral Chapel and Diocesan House
This church was founded on this site as an Episcopal Mission in 1857 and consecrated on Ascension Day in 1858 by James Otey, the 1st Bishop of Tenness... [click for more]

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Chapel, and Diocesan House
St. Mary's Cathedral, Chapel, and Diocesan House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Parish founded in 1852 by German Catholics desiring ministry in their native tongue. Cornerstone laid 30 September 1864 at this site while Union soldi... [click for more]

St. Peter Catholic Church
St. Peter's was founded in 1840, the first Roman Catholic Parish in West Tennessee and given to the Dominican Order in 1846. The present church was bu... [click for more]

St. Thomas Catholic Church and Convent
St. Thomas Catholic Church and Convent is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesReligious Resources of Memphis, Shelby County, TN MPS ... [click for more]

The Brick Church
Organized in 1856 the Third Presbyterian Church was completed in 1860. Known as The Brick Church, it was a reference point in early Memphis directorie... [click for more]

The Lindenwood Christian Church (Disciples Of Christ)
This congregation began meeting in the home of Simon Bradford at Front and Talbot in 1837. Encouraged by visits from Alexander Campbell, one of the fo... [click for more]

Union Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, South
Union Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, South is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Memphis Schools
Booker T. Washington High School
From a two-room, two-teacher structure known as Clay Street School, Booker T. Washington High School evolved as the first public high school for black... [click for more]

Central High School
Central High School is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Schools of Memphis 1902-1915 TR... [click for more]

Christian Brothers College
At this site, on November 17, 1871, the Christian Brothers purchased what
was the Memphis Female College. Brother Maurelian, who served as the fir... [click for more]

Christian Brothers High School ~ Christian Brothers Band
Christian Brothers High School


Christian Brothers High School, the oldest high school for boys in Memph... [click for more]

Cordova School
Cordova School is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Douglass High School
Douglass High School is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Fairview Junior High School
Fairview Junior High School is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Hutchison School (2)
Mary Grimes Hutchison (1872-1962), a pioneer in rigorous education for
girls in Memphis, opened her school in the Wesley Halliburton home in
1... [click for more]

Hutchison School
Founded in 1902 by Mary Grimes Hutchison as a college preparatory school for girls, it was this first independent school in Memphis accredited by the ... [click for more]

L.C. Humes High School
L.C. Humes High School is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Schools of Memphis 1902-1915 MPS... [click for more]

LeMoyne College Historic District
LeMoyne College Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Lemoyne-Owen College
LeMoyne-Owen College, originally known as LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School, opened its doors circa 1870 on Orleans Street. The school operated und... [click for more]

Lenox School
Lenox School is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Manassas High School
Manassas High School was established by Spencer Johnson and
others in 1899 on the west side of Manassas Street. Originally a two-room
framed s... [click for more]

Market Street School
On this corner the Memphis City School System erected the first publicly owned school building. Previously, rented facilities had been used. Market St... [click for more]

Melrose School
Melrose School is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Schools of Memphis 1902-1915 MPS... [click for more]

Peabody Elementary School
Peabody Elementary School is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Schools of Memphis 1902-1915 TR... [click for more]

Rhodes College
Its progenitor was Montgomery Masonic College, founded at
Clarksville in 1848. Named Stewart College in 1855, it became a college of the
Presb... [click for more]

Rozelle Elementary School
Rozelle Elementary School is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Schools of Memphis 1902-1915 TR... [click for more]

Schools For Freedmen
The first free colored school in the city was opened in early 1863 in a barrack building in South Memphis. In 1864 the U.S. Army issued a general orde... [click for more]

St. Agnes Academy
Founded January 10, 1851, St. Agnes Academy was sponsored by the Dominican Sisters from Kentucky. The school continued to operate during the Civil War... [click for more]

St. Mary’s Episcopal School
St. Mary's Episcopal School is the oldest private school
in Memphis. It has operated continuously since its founding in 1847, and
during most ... [click for more]

The University Of West Tennessee
In 1900, the University of West Tennessee was
established in Jackson by Dr. Miles V. Lynk, M.D. Seven years later,
he moved it to Memphis. A g... [click for more]

The University of Memphis
This public institution of higher learning has grown with the city of Memphis since opening in 1912. Its development went through the following stages... [click for more]

University Of Memphis
From its opening in 1912, this public institution of higher learning has grown with the city of Memphis. Development from normal school to university ... [click for more]

University of Tennesse Research Memorial
This Section Of The Cemetery
Is Dedicated For The Interment Of Those Persons
Who, For The Benefit Of
Mankind, Gave Their Remains
To Th... [click for more]

University of Tennesse Research Memorial
This Section Of The Cemetery
Is Dedicated For The Interment Of Those Persons
Who, For The Benefit Of
Mankind, Gave Their Remains
To Th... [click for more]

Memphis Courthouse
First Courthouse, First Newspaper
Shelby County's first courthouse, a $50 cabin, was built here in 1820. The court moved to Raleigh, and the cabin then housed the first newspaper, the ... [click for more]

Shelby County Courthouse
Designed by Architect James Gamble Rogers and dedicated on January 1, 1910, the Shelby County Courthouse is the largest and most ornate in Tennessee. ... [click for more]

Statuary at the Shelby County Courthouse
Exterior statuary at the Shelby County Courthouse includes, most prominently, six seated figures carved from single blocks of Tennessee marble, repres... [click for more]

Memphis Historic Homes & Houses
Abraham Lowenstein House
Abraham Lowenstein House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Anderson-Coward House
Anderson-Coward House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Boyce-Gregg House
Boyce-Gregg House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Bradford-Maydwell House
Bradford-Maydwell House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Capt. Harris House
Capt. Harris House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Cornelius Lawrence Clancy House
Cornelius Lawrence Clancy House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Dr. Christopher M. Roulhac House
Dr. Christopher M. Roulhac House is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesMemphis MPS... [click for more]

E.H. Crump Home
Edward Hull Crump, Memphis political leader for half a century, constructed this residence for his family and himself in 1909. The landscaping was his... [click for more]

Elam Homestead
Elam Homestead is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Eli Rayner House
Eli Rayner House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

First Lee House
Built in 1869 by James Lee, Jr. (1832-1905) lawyer, riverman and leader in the development of Memphis, the First Lee House was designed by architect J... [click for more]

Forrest’s Early Home
In a house which stood here in antebellum days lived Nathan Bedford Forrest. Born in middle Tennessee, 1821, he spent his early life on a Mississippi ... [click for more]

Fowlkes-Boyle House
Fowlkes-Boyle House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Gayoso House
Opened in 1842, named for the early Spanish governor, this hotel's main entrance was originally here. Capt. William H. Forrest, raiding into Memphis u... [click for more]

George Collins Love House
George Collins Love House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Hunt-Phelan Home
During the Civil War, the house was commandeered by General Ulysses Grant as his Memphis headquarters. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, ... [click for more]

James Lee House
The James Lee House, also known as the Harsson-Goyer-Lee House, is a historic house at 690 Adams Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. It is listed on the Nat... [click for more]

John Alexander Austin House
John Alexander Austin House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

John S. Toof House
John S. Toof House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Joseph Newburger House
Joseph Newburger House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Laurelhill Townhouse
Italianate townhouse built in 1867. The famous stage and screen actress, Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968), lived here as a child.... [click for more]

Lee and Fontaine Houses of the James Lee Memorial
Lee and Fontaine Houses of the James Lee Memorial is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Lt. George W. Lee House
Lt. George W. Lee House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Magevney House
Magevney House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Mallory-Neely House
Built circa 1852, this 25-room Italian villa-style mansion was home to the Isaac Kirtland, Benjamin Babb, James C. Neely, Daniel Grant, and Barton Lee... [click for more]

Mary Galloway Home Memorial
The Mary Galloway Home For Aged Women Was Chartered
By The State Of Tennessee In 1896, And Is The Oldest Home Of Its Kind In
Shelby County Pro... [click for more]

Mosby-Bennett House
Mosby-Bennett House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Newton Copeland Richards House
Newton Copeland Richards House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Patton-Bejach House
Patton-Bejach House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Pauline Cheek Barton House
Pauline Cheek Barton House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Porter-Leath Home
Porter-Leath Home is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Robert M. Carrier House
Robert M. Carrier House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Rowland J. Darnell House
Rowland J. Darnell House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Shellcrest House
Victorian Italianate townhouse, built in 1863.... [click for more]

South Bluffs Warehouse Historic District
South Bluffs Warehouse Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

T.H. Hayes And Sons Funeral Home
Founded in 1902 by Thomas H. Hayes, Sr.,
T.H. Hayes and Sons Funeral Home is Memphis' oldest black business.
Originally on Poplar, the busines... [click for more]

The Hunt-Phelan Home
During the Civil War, the house was commandeered by General Ulysses Grant as his Memphis Headquarters; Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, ... [click for more]

Wilks Brooks House
Wilks Brooks House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Memphis General Interest
1862 Post Office
On June 6, 1862 Memphis surrendered to Federal gunboats. The only resistance by citizens occurred here as a shot was fired at the soldiers hoisting th... [click for more]

91st Bomb Group (Heavy) United States Army Air Corps
“The Memphis Belle” was the first of the many B-17s
assigned to the 91st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, and the first bomber to
comple... [click for more]

Adams Avenue Historic District
Adams Avenue Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Andrew Jackson, 7th President of U.S.
Note: This bust statue first stood in Court Square as a gift to the City by New Orleans. It was damaged during the Civil War and removed to Nashville ... [click for more]

Annesdale Park Subdivision
Developed as an exclusive neighborhood in 1903 by Brinkley Snowden and T.O. Vinton, Annesdale Park was the first subdivision in the South planned upon... [click for more]

Annesdale-Snowden (1906)
The vision of early developers of Memphis is seen in this classic example of a turn-of-the-century neighborhood of American four-squares and bungalows... [click for more]

Annesdale
Annesdale is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Annie Cook Memorial
Annie Cook
Born 1840
Died Of Yellow Fever 1878
A Nineteenth Century Mary Magdelene Who Gave Her Life While Trying To Save The Lives Of Oth... [click for more]

Archbishop James P. Lyke 1939-92
Born on February 18 in Chicago, Illinois, Father James
P. Lyke, OFM, Ph.D. was the first African-American Catholic priest to
serve in Tennesse... [click for more]

Arkansas
Named for the Indian tribe found at the mouth of the river,
which received the same name, by Marquette and Joliet in 1673. The first
settlemen... [click for more]

Armstrong Field
This was the site of one of the earliest airports in the
Memphis area. Named for Lt. Guion Armstrong, a Memphis pilot killed in World
War I, i... [click for more]

Artesian Water
In 1887, the Bohlen-Huse Ice Co. struck, at a depth of 354 feet, artesian water of such purity and abundance it immediately became the city supply, on... [click for more]

Ashburn - Coppock Park
Named for Maj. Gen. Thomas Q. Ashburn (1874-1941) and Paul R. Coppock (1907-1983). In 1918 Ashburn as a war measure revived river transport by organiz... [click for more]

Ashlar Hall
Ashlar Hall is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

B. Lowenstein & Brothers Building
B. Lowenstein & Brothers Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Bank of Commerce and Trust Company Building
Bank of Commerce and Trust Company Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Bartlett
A toll road of 1829 became Stage Road... [click for more]

Beale Street Historic District
Beale Street Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Bell Tavern
Here, south of and adjacent to Toncray's Alley, Paddy Meagher's colorful hostelry, in its heyday, 1823-1828, served such notables as Davy Crockett, Sa... [click for more]

Benjamin Albert Imes
Described as the best-educated minister in all of Memphis in 1880 was a black man, the Rev. Benjamin A. Imes, who was a noted city leader. Imes held t... [click for more]

Benjamin Franklin Booth 1858-1941
Benjamin F. Booth was one of Memphis' earliest and most distinguished African-American lawyers. Starting in 1886, he practiced law for more than 54 ye... [click for more]

Bettis Family Cemetery
Here was the farm of the Tillman Bettis family, the second to settle on the Memphis bluff after the 1818 treaty, even before the town was laid off. Ma... [click for more]

Bishop Charles Harrison Mason 1862-1961
Bishop C.H. Mason founded the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in the late 1890s. Born a slave near Bartlett, Tennessee, Mason served as Senior Bishop ... [click for more]

Blair T. Hunt, Sr.

Blair T. Hunt, Sr. / Blair T. Hunt, Jr. (1888-1978)

Blair T. Hunt, Sr., was an African-American born into slavery in Huntsville,
Alabama. ... [click for more]

Blue Star Memorial Highway
National Council of State Garden Clubs
Blue Star
Memorial Highway
A tribute to the Armed Forces
that have defended the
United Stat... [click for more]

Burkle Estate
In the years immediately preceding the Civil War, Jacob Burkle operated the Memphis Stockyards on this site. Herdsmen seeking shelter and respite at C... [click for more]

Calvary Cemetery
Consecrated in 1867 to serve the booming populations of the Catholic Irish, Germans and Italians, Calvary became the second Catholic Cemetery in Shelb... [click for more]

Cannon-Salute to USA
This gun, one of a battery of eleven, at St. Eustatius, N.W.I., on November 16, 1776, fired the first salute by a foreign power to the Flag of the Uni... [click for more]

Captain Harvey Mathes
Capt. J. Harvey Mathes
37th Tenn. C.S.A.... [click for more]

Captain Kit Dalton ~ 1843 - 1920
He fought for the Confederacy and with Quantrell's Raiders. After the war he rode with Jesse and Frank James and Cole Younger. Over 100 years ago a $... [click for more]

Casey Jones
From a station located on this site the night of Apr. 29. 1900, John Luther Jones, replacing the regularly detailed engineer, took out engine 382, pul... [click for more]

Catfish Bay
At Bayou Gayoso's mouth was a shantytown made of abandoned flatboats, where the name "Pinch" (for "Pinch-gut") started. Here Davy ... [click for more]

Central Gardens Historic District
By 1900, Memphis's growth had pushed the city limits east
of the district to East Parkway. With its convenient access to downtown via
the newl... [click for more]

Cherokee Trace
The main east-west Indian route across Tennessee reached Bayou Gayoso here at Davis Ford, where in 1825 the first bridge was built. The Trace was used... [click for more]

Chew C. Sawyer (1918-1973)
Chew C. Sawyer was a mid-twentieth century African-American
entrepreneur. He founded Sawyer Realty Company, which later became Cornette
Realt... [click for more]

Chickasaw Heritage Park
Chickasaw Heritage Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Chickasaw Trail
The main trail of the Chickasaws from their towns in Pontotoc, Mississippi, here reached the Bayou Gayoso after following roughly the line of Highway ... [click for more]

Christopher Columbus Statue
This park is dedicated in honor of the Italian American community of Memphis and to their contribution to the heritage and growth of the city. Plaque ... [click for more]

Chucalissa Indian Town
The site of an ancient ceremonial center which flourished from
1000-1600 A.D., may have been one of the towns visited by DeSoto when he first saw ... [click for more]

Civil War Capitol
After the fall of Nashville, Governor Isham Harris convened the Tennessee Legislature on this site February 20-March 20, 1862. The state archives were... [click for more]

Civil War Monument
(no text)... [click for more]

Civil War Post Office
On June 5, 1862, Memphis surrendered to Federal gunboats. The only resistance by citizens occurred here as a shot was fired at the soldiers hoisting t... [click for more]

Clarence Saunders’ Pink Palace
Clarence Saunders, whose self-service groceries were followed by modern supermarkets, started construction of this building for his home in 1922. It w... [click for more]

Clayborn Temple
This building designed by architects Long and Kees with E.C. Jones
supervising, was dedicated to the worship of God on Jan. 1, 1893. It was the se... [click for more]

Columbian Mutual Tower
Columbian Mutual Tower is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Confederate History Of Memphis
This bluff was fortified by Gen. Pillow May 1862. Thirty seven companies were equipped here for the Confederate service. The Confederate Ram, Arkansas... [click for more]

Confederate Soldiers Rest
Confederate Soldiers Rest is located in the Fowler Section of Historic Elmwood Cemetery. Over 1000 Confederate Soldiers and Veterans are buried here. ... [click for more]

Confederate States of America
When Southern states seceded from the union in 1861, the Mississippi River became not only a vital commercial waterway, but also a strategic route thr... [click for more]

Congregation B’Nai Israel
Congregation B'Nai Israel
(Children of Israel)
First Permanent Jewish House of Worship in Tennesee

Jews have bee... [click for more]

Cooper-Young Historic District
Cooper-Young Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Cotton Carnival Memorial
“To live in the hearts of those we leave behind, is not to
die” John Crump-Ted Northington-George Stokes
Especially chosen for the... [click for more]

Cotton Exchange
Front Street
You're Not A Very Tidy
Place, Front Street,
And You Have A Dirty Face,
Front Street,
But In Your Buildings
Bleak ... [click for more]

Court Square Bible
In Memoriam
Jimmy Stroud
1915-1976
Founder And
Superintendent
Memphis Union Mission
Founded 1945
Erected 1948
Rededica... [click for more]

Court Square Fountain
Electric illumination in memorial of Thomas A. Edison.
Sponsored by the Good Earth Garden Club. Mrs. P. Avila McPhillips, President,
May, 1949... [click for more]

Court Square
This green spot in the heart of downtown Memphis has been a mark of distinction to residents and visitors for generations. It also became the traditio... [click for more]

Crystal Shrine Grotto
A unique cave was constructed by Memoral Park founder E. Clovis Hinds and Mexican artist Dionicio Rodriquez in 1935-38. Natural rock and quartz crysta... [click for more]

DeSoto Park
In memory of Hernando DeSoto, discoverer of the Mississippi River, May 15, 1541. Erected by the Good Earth Garden Club, 1961.
When first visited b... [click for more]

Deaderick Family Cemetery
George Michael Deaderick in 1807 established and was president of the Nashville Bank, the first bank in the state. His son, John G. Deaderick, owned 5... [click for more]

Defense Distribution Depot (1941-1997)
The Memphis Defense Depot was created in 1941 for the Army
Quartermaster Corps and located here due to the availability of access to the
Frisc... [click for more]

Delmar-Lema Historic District
Delmar-Lema Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Dermon Building
Dermon Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Desoto Mounds
This ancient Indian Village may well have been visited by DeSoto in 1541 and may have been one of the towns he called Quiz Quiz. The two large mounds ... [click for more]

Dixie Greyhound Bus Lines Complex
Dixie Greyhound Bus Lines Complex is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Doc Hottum
Doc Hottum, who ran a saloon here around 1915, dove off the Frisco Bridge into the Mississippi
River in 1892 just to prove it could be done. In t... [click for more]

Dominican Hero Priests
Under This Sanctuary
Lie The Bodies
Of
Three Dominican Hero-Priests
James Hyacinth Clarkson,
O.P.
Good Samaritan Of
Smallp... [click for more]

Doughboy World War I Statue
Honor Roll
1917 1919
To The Memory Of
Memphis And Shelby
County Men
Who Gave Their Lives To
Their Country In
The World War... [click for more]

Dr. D.T. Porter Building
Dr. D.T. Porter Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Dr. Joseph Edison Walker (1880-1958)
In 1923, Dr. J.E. Walker co-founded and was the first
president of Universal Life Insurance Company, established in Memphis. A
physician by tr... [click for more]

E.H. Crump
To The Great Public
Benefactor Edward Hull Crump
Memphis Dedicates This
Tribute
Erected By The People
Of The City Of Memphis
I... [click for more]

E.W. Hale, Sr.
(Jan.4,1875 - Dec.16,1959)
Elected magistrate of the 12th Dist of the Shelby County Court in 1906, Whitehaven merchant E.W. Hale, Sr. received an ... [click for more]

Early (1798) Fort Pickering
Built in 1798, it replaced Fort Adams two miles to the north, which was a poor military location. Pickering was garrisoned until 1813, having Zachery ... [click for more]

East Buntyn Historic District
East Buntyn Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Edward Shaw
In 1870, Edward Shaw became the first Memphis black to run for U.S. Congress.
Though he did not win, he was active in politics, serving on the Cou... [click for more]

Egyptian Stones
Fragments from the entrance to the Temple of Ptah, Memphis, Egypt. Erected by King Amasis, 26th Dynasty, 550 B.C. Presented by Robert Galloway, City o... [click for more]

Elizabeth Avery Meriwether (1824-1917)
Born in Bolivar, Elizabeth Meriwether spent much of her life in Memphis. A noted author, her more famous works include The Master of Red Leaf, Black a... [click for more]

Elmwood Cemetery Office and Entrance Bridge
Elmwood Cemetery Office and Entrance Bridge is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Elmwood Cemetery
Elmwood Cemetery was established on August 28, 1852. Buried here are Memphis pioneer families; 14 Confederate generals; victims of the Yellow Fever ep... [click for more]

Elvis Aron Presley
Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935, the son of Vernon and Gladys Presley. He moved to Memphis in 1948. Soon after signin... [click for more]

Elvis Presley And Sun Records
Front
In July 1954 Sun Records released Elvis Presley's first recording. That record, and Elvis' four that followed on the Sun label, ch... [click for more]

Elvis Presley Statue
To the memory of
Elvis Aron Presley
January 8,1935-August 16,1977
by the
City of Memphis
Wyeth Chandler, Mayor
and the
Me... [click for more]

Erected By Chickasaw Guards Of Memphis In Memory Of Their
Comrades Who Died On The Field Of Battle In World War I
First Lieut. Henry Guion Armstrong, killed in
Meuse-Argonne Battle, France, October 4, 1918 Corp. Jesse G. Hunt,
killed on the Somme, France... [click for more]

Eugene Magevney
Born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, 1798; immigrated to the United States, 1826; settled in Memphis, 1833. His home was the scene of three important re... [click for more]

Evergreen Historic District
Evergreen Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Fayette County
Established 1824; named in honor of Marquis de LaFayette a
French nobleman, patriot and distinguished soldier who rendered invaluable
service ... [click for more]

Fire Company No. 5
(The Invincible)
“We Devote Ourselves To The People. When Duty Calls, It Is Ours To Obey.”
The 21 Firefighters Buried Here Devoted ... [click for more]

Fire Museum Of Memphis
This site had been, from 1837 to 1911, fire headquarters of
the town's earlier Engine House No. I. In those 74 years our chief fire
center had... [click for more]

Fire, Police And Sheriff’s Department Memorial
In Honored Memory Of Those
Brave Members Of The Memphis and
Shelby County Police, Fire and
Sheriff's Departments Who Have
Since 1819 D... [click for more]

First Cotton Gin
Just north of this marker, Thomas D. Carr built the first cotton gin in the Memphis area at some date between 1819 and 1821. ... [click for more]

First Holiday Inn
The original Holiday Inn was opened here August 1, 1952 by
Kemmons Wilson. He undertook to do better than motels he had experienced the
year b... [click for more]

First Memphis Waterfront
From here north to Auction Avenue steamboats landed; flatboats used the mouth of Gayoso Bayou above. Paddy Meagher, associated with this bluff as earl... [click for more]

First Tavern
In 1820, several log cabins were built here to provide for the land office opening. Samuel Brown, first sheriff, later kept tavern on the same site. A... [click for more]

Flags Over Memphis
In a memorial ceremony on May 9, 1967 the Flags of the Nations which have claimed the land on which the City of Memphis is located together with the S... [click for more]

Former Criminal Courts Building
Designed by Jones & Furbringer, Architects, this building opened in 1925 as the Criminal Courts Building, housing two divisions of criminal court, a 3... [click for more]

Forrest’s Artillery Positions
August 21, 1864. In this locality, the highest in Memphis, a section (2 guns) of Forrest's artillery was emplaced under Lt. Sale, supporting his raid ... [click for more]

Fort Adams ~ Fort Pike (1797-98)
With Chickasaw approval, Army Captain Isaac Guion erected the United States' first garrison in the mid-Mississippi Valley here in October of 1797. Ini... [click for more]

Fort Assumption
Near this point, at the highest part of the bluff, on Assumption Day, August 15, 1739, this fort was erected by Bienville, French Governor of Louisian... [click for more]

Fort Pickering
A fort named for Timothy Pickering, U.S. Sec. of State, stood near here 1799-1814. Zachary Taylor was a commandant. Here in 1801 the U.S. signed with ... [click for more]

Fort Prudhomme
In this section of the Clarendon Grant on the Chucaqua portion of the Mississippi River, LaSalle, the French explorer, built Fort Prudhomme in 1682. E... [click for more]

Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas (1795-97)
Louisiana's lieutenant governor, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, erected Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas near this site in May of 1795. He named the struct... [click for more]

Fountain Court Historic District
Fountain Court Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesMemphis MPS... [click for more]

France
France was the first nation to settle and develop the Lower Mississippi. Although they governed it for only 80 years, the French left a lasting impres... [click for more]

G.P. Hamilton
Born in Memphis in 1867, G.P. Hamilton was the author of The Bright Side of Memphis, one of the earliest books on Black residents of Memphis.... [click for more]

Galloway - Speedway Historic District
Galloway - Speedway Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesMemphis MPS... [click for more]

Gaston Park Historic District
Gaston Park Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesMemphis Park and Parkway System MPS... [click for more]

Gayoso-Peabody Historic District
Gayoso-Peabody Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Gen. James M. Kennedy Hospital
A U.S. Army hospital on this site treated more than 44,000
combat veterans during World War II. Opened Jan. 23, 1943, it was named for the
lat... [click for more]

George Jackson
In 1893 George Jackson established on Beale Street the Jackson Drug
Store, also known as the New Era Pharmacy, the first drug store to be owned an... [click for more]

George W. Lee (1894-1976)
Political, business and civic leader, Lee was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Expeditionary Force. Heroic in W.W.I., he was an active black combat offic... [click for more]

Goodwyn Street Historic District
Goodwyn Street Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Graceland
The famous home of Elvis Presley. Preserved much as it was when El... [click for more]

Great Britain
As early as the 1730's, a few British traders lived among the Chickasaw in this area, but Great Britain's brief ascendancy on the Lower Mississippi d... [click for more]

Green Meadows-Poplar Glen Historic District
Green Meadows-Poplar Glen Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Greenlaw Addition Historic District
Greenlaw Addition Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Greenstone Apartments
Greenstone Apartments is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Greenwood
Greenwood is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Harahan Bridge (1916-1930)
This Tablet Erected By
City Of Memphis
To Commemorate
The Services Rendered By
Kenneth McKellar
Repesentative
U.S Conress
... [click for more]

Hein Park Historic District
Hein Park Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Heiskell Farm
Joseph B. Heiskell obtained a farm surrounding this location about 1867. He was Chairman of Code Commission of 1858 establishing first official Code o... [click for more]

High Point Terrace Historic District
High Point Terrace Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesResidential Resources of Memphis MPS... [click for more]

Hilderbrands’ Trading Post
Near this spot in 1819, Benjamin Hilderbrand, a trader from Natchez, Miss., built an outpost to trade with the nearby Chickasaw Indians and with numer... [click for more]

Hollis Freeman Price, Sr (1904-1982)
Hollis Price was the first African-American president of
LeMoyne College. In 1968, he guided the college's merger with Owen Junior
College. ... [click for more]

Hooks Brothers Photography ~ Established in 1907
front
Established by Henry A. Hooks, Sr. and his brother Robert B. Hooks, Hooks Brothers Photography Studio was the second oldest conti... [click for more]

Hotel Claridge
Hotel Claridge is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)
Ida B. Wells crusaded against lynchings in Memphis and the South. In 1892
while editor of the Memphis Free Speech, located in this vicinity, she w... [click for more]

Idlewild Historic District
Idlewild Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesResidential Resources of Memphis MPS... [click for more]

Illinois Monument
When President Abraham
Lincoln Called
For Volunteers To Defend
The Life Of
Our Imperiled Nation
These Valiant
Sons Of Illinois... [click for more]

Irving Block Prison
The building opposite known as the Irving Block was used as a prison by the Federal Government from 1862-65. Much needless suffering was imposed upon ... [click for more]

Isaac Hayes
Known as “Black Moses” after his album of the same
name, Isaac Hayes was born 20 August 1942, in Covington, Tennessee. A
graduate ... [click for more]

Isaac Rawlings
At nearby Fort Pickering this native of Maryland was U.S. Factor for the Chickasaw Indians from May 1814 to August 1818, after serving on the extreme ... [click for more]

J. Millard ’Jack’ Smith (1895-1976)
Born at Stantonville, Tennessee, J. Millard Jack Smith was president of Memphis State College from 1946 until 1960 and was the first alumnus of the co... [click for more]

James A. Hyter, &lquo;Ol’ Man River&rquo;
Born in Athens, Alabama, on February 2, 1922, James Alfred Hyter moved to Memphis with his family when he was one week old. From 1978 to 1998, he sang... [click for more]

James H. Malone
Oct.31.1851-June 29,1929
The 35th Mayor of Memphis, 1906-1910. Author of “The Chickasaw Nation”.
He shared a legal office on the l... [click for more]

Jane Terrell Hospital
The Negro Baptist Association founded the Jane Terrell Baptist Hospital at 698 Williams in 1909 under leadership of Dr. C. A. Terrell. At his death, i... [click for more]

Jefferson Davis (2)
In a house which stood here, the only President of the Confederacy lived from 1875 to 1878, while president of a life insurance company. Born in Kentu... [click for more]

Jefferson Davis Park
The River Bank - The plants and wildlife found along The River
banks at Memphis are a product of The climate and
The rise and fall of The rive... [click for more]

Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis President Of The Confederate States Of America 1861-1865. Before The War Between. The States,
He Served With Distinction
As A ... [click for more]

John James Audubon
On Friday, Dec. 1, 1820, this naturalist and artist landed nearby, on his way by flatboat from Cincinnati to New Orleans. He kept a diary and sketched... [click for more]

John Peter Salling
To the intrepid John Peter Salling, 1742. Captured on the Mississippi, imprisoned in New Orleans, returned on foot home to Virginia via South Carolina... [click for more]

John Willard Brister Library
John Willard Brister Library is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Josiah T. Settle ~ 1850 - 1915
After a noted legal and legislative career in Mississippi, Settle came to Memphis in 1885 During the late 1880s, he served as Assistant Attorney Gener... [click for more]

Lauderdale Courts Public Housing Project
Lauderdale Courts Public Housing Project is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Housing Projects in Memphis MPS... [click for more]

LeMoyne Gardens Public Housing Project
LeMoyne Gardens Public Housing Project is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesPublic Housing Projects in Memphis MPS... [click for more]

Leslie M. Stratton YMCA
Leslie M. Stratton YMCA is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Libertyland
Honoring the nation's Bicentennial, Libertyland theme park opened near this spot on the Mid-South Fairgrounds on July 4, 1976. History buffs reveled ... [click for more]

Lowenstein Mansion
Born in Germany in 1835, Elias Lowenstein emigrated to Memphis in 1854. The firm which he headed, B. Lowenstein and Bros. Department Store, was promin... [click for more]

Lucie Eddie Campbell
Composer, Educator and Activist 1885-1963
Born in Duck Hill, Mississippi, in 1885, the youngest of seven children,
Lucie E. Campbell moved to ... [click for more]

Luke Edward Wright (1846-1922)
A Confederate officer cited for gallantry at Murfreesboro, he served under Theodore Roosevelt as first Governor-General of the Philippines (Act of Con... [click for more]

Madison-Monroe Historic District
Madison-Monroe Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Malcolm Rice Patterson (1865-1935)
A native of Somerville, Alabama, Patterson moved to Memphis with his parents in 1872. Educated at Christian Brothers College and Vanderbilt University... [click for more]

Marcus Winchester
On this corner Marcus B. Winchester in 1819 set up the first store in Memphis, and in 1821 the first post office. Son of General James Winchester, he ... [click for more]

Marion Scudder Griffin Memorial
1879 - 1957
First Woman Lawyer
In Tennessee
1907
First Woman Elected
To The Tennessee
House Of Representatives
1922... [click for more]

Marion Scutter Griffin (ca. 1879-1957)
Marion Scudder Griffin, although qualified, was refused a
Tennessee law license for seven years solely because she was a woman. In 1907,
she b... [click for more]

Market Square
Before selling Memphis lots, developers set aside this park as Market Square in 1819. Facing it was the first courthouse, built in 1820, which was als... [click for more]

Martin Luther King (Main St.)
I Have Been To The
Mountaintop
The Monumental Movement
For The People Of Memphis
A Tribute
To The Memory Of The Late
Dr. Marti... [click for more]

Martin Luther King Historical Marker (Mulberry St.)
I Have Been To The
Mountain Top
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr.,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jan.15,1929-Apr.4,1968
Founding Presi... [click for more]

Martin Stadium
Martin Stadium, formerly known as Lewis Park, was home of
one of the most enduring teams of the Negro Leagues-the Memphis Red Sox
(1920s-1950s... [click for more]

Mary Magdalen Hodges
In This Plot Is Interred Mary Magdalen Hodges, A
Consecrated Resident Of The Good Shepherd Convent And School. In 1913,
She Was Afflicted With... [click for more]

Mason Temple
Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his prophetic Mountaintop speech in this church
in Memphis, Tennessee, on the eve of his assassination--April 3... [click for more]

Maxwelton (Circa 1855- 1860)
Judge John Louis Taylor Sneed (1820-1901) named this house which is built of native poplar and cypress. Only a few of this “Victorian piano-box&... [click for more]

Medical Arts Building and Garage
Medical Arts Building and Garage is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Memphis And Arkansas Bridge
Memphis and Arkansas Bridge
Erected 1949 A.D.
through the efforts of
The Memphis and Arkansas Bridge
Commission
E.H. Crump, Chairm... [click for more]

Memphis City Hospital
In 1836, the state authorized building a brick hospital on this site, chiefly for river travelers. In 1873 it became a municipal institution. After it... [click for more]

Memphis Martyrs
In August 1878, fear of death caused a panic during which 30,000 of 50,000 Memphians fled this bluff city. By October, the epidemic of yellow fever ki... [click for more]

Memphis Merchants Exchange
Memphis Merchants Exchange is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Memphis National Cemetery
Memphis National Cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesCivil War Era National Cemeteries MPS... [click for more]

Memphis Navy Yard
In 1844 the U.S. Government located a military shipyard on the Memphis waterfront between Auction and Market streets. The facility completed outfittin... [click for more]

Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel
Memphis Queen II Floating Vessel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Memphis State Eight
In the fall of 1959 some 4,500 students enrolled at Memphis State University. Among them were eight African Americans, the first to break the Universi... [click for more]

Memphis Trust Building
Memphis Trust Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Memphis-Shelby County (2)
Founded 1819 by Andrew Jackson, John Overton, and James Winchester; the latter named it Incorporated 1826, population less than 500 and area less than... [click for more]

Memphis-Shelby County
Founded 1819 by Andrew Jackson, John Overton, and James Winchester; the latter named it. Incorporated 1826, population less than 500 and area less tha... [click for more]

Memphis City Historical Marker
Memphis-Shelby County Founded 1819, by Andrew Jackson, John Overton and James Winchester; the latter named it. Incorporated, 1826, population less tha... [click for more]

Methodist Hospital
This is in recognition and appreciation for the stewardship of
Methodist Episcopal Church South members who were present at the first meeting of <... [click for more]

Mid-South Coliseum
Mid-South Coliseum is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Minnesota Monument National Cemetery
Erected 1916 By The
State Of Minnesota
In Memory Of Her Soldiers
Here Buried Who Lost
Their Lives
In The Service Of The
United... [click for more]

Mississippi
Named for the river which is its western boundary.
DeSoto is reported to have died within its border in 1542. Once owned by the
Spanish and la... [click for more]

N.B. Forrest Camp 215 - Sons of Confederate Veterans
On Jun 28, 1900, a group of over 100 sons and grandsons of
Confederate Veterans met in Memphis to organize a local chapter, or “camp,”... [click for more]

Nashoba (2)
To the south lay this plantation. Here, in 1827, a Scottish spinster heiress named Frances Wright set up a colony whose aims were the enforcement of c... [click for more]

Nat D. Williams
In 1948, Nat D. Williams became the first black radio announcer in Memphis when he began broadcasting for WDIA. He was a co-founder of the Cotton Make... [click for more]

Nathan Bedford Forrest (2)
Nathan Bedford Forrest
July 13, 1821
October 29, 1877
Those Hoofbeats Die Not
Upon Fame's Crimsoned Sod.
But Will Ring Through Her ... [click for more]

Nathan Bedford Forrest III, Airman
(obverse)
Brigadier General N.B. Forrest, III, U.S. Army Air Force, was born in Memphis on April 7, 1905 and was the was the first Amer... [click for more]

Nathan Bedford Forrest
In a house here, home of Col. Jesse Forrest, his brother, the man who had risen from private to Lieutenant General in the Confederate Army, died Oct. ... [click for more]

Naval Battle of Memphis, 1862
On these bluffs in the early morning hours of June 6, 1862, the
citizens of Memphis gathered in excited anticipation as the Confederate River Defe... [click for more]

Navy Yard
The waterfront between Auction and Market Streets, which includes the mouth of the Wolf River, was occupied, from 1844 to 1857, by an inland shipbuild... [click for more]

New Winchester Burying Ground
New Winchester Burying Ground was established in 1828 by
deed from the original proprietors of Memphis. It occupied almost 11 acres
within an ... [click for more]

Normal Depot
Southern Railway's Normal Depot was completed in
time for the dedication of the West Tennessee
Normal School on September 10, 1912. A brick
... [click for more]

North Carolina
In the 1700s, the western boundary of the British Crown Colony of North Carolina extended, in theory, to the Mississippi River. Much of this was acade... [click for more]

North Memphis Driving Park
The southwest corner of this mile harness track was here; its long axis ran northeastward. It was developed mainly by C.K.G. Billings. Here Ed Geers b... [click for more]

Orange Mound
Orange Mound, developed as a Negro subdivision at the turn of the century, was formerly a 5000 acre plantation owned by John George Deaderick. Bounded... [click for more]

Orpheum Theatre
Orpheum Theatre is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Overton Park Miscellaneous Plaques
A Gift To The
People Of Memphis
By
Judge Louis Burchette Mcfarland
First Chairman Of Park
Commission. Founded In 1898... [click for more]

Overton Parkway Historic District
Overton Parkway Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesResidential Resources of Memphis MPS... [click for more]

Overton Park
The 342 acre Lea Woods was bought in 1901 as the first project
of Memphis Park Commission on advice of Olmsted Brothers, noted landscape
archi... [click for more]

Paisley Hall
Paisley Hall is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Peabody Hotel
Peabody Hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Pee Wee Saloon
Pee Wee's Saloon was the favorite meeting spot for Memphis
musicians in the early 20th Century. W.C. Handy used the cigar counter to write
out... [click for more]

People’s Grocery
Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart, all African-Americans and co-owners of People's Grocery (located at this site), were arrested in conne... [click for more]

Pigeon Roost Road
Leading to a large roost of the now-extinct passenger pigeon, Avenues, and on Lamar Boulevard. Before settlement days it was a dry-weather trail used ... [click for more]

Piggly Wiggly
With a brass band, a beauty contest, flowers for the
ladies, and balloons for the children, Clarence Saunders of Memphis
opened the first Pigg... [click for more]

Pinch-North Main Commercial District (Boundary Increase)
Pinch-North Main Commercial District (Boundary Increase) is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Pinch-North Main Commercial District
Pinch-North Main Commercial District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Piomingo Statue
Piomingo (c.1750-1797) was chief of the Chickasaw Nation in 1786. It was he who signed the first treaty between the Chickasaws and the new American na... [click for more]

Plough Chemical Company
On March 8, 1908, Abe Plough, 16, borrowed $125 from his
father and founded the Plough Chemical Company at this location, 83 North Second.
Nam... [click for more]

Porter-Leath Children’s Center
An orphan asylum founded by Sarah Leath was chartered in 1850 and moved to this site in 1856. After surviving the hardships of the Civil War years, th... [click for more]

Raleigh (2)
5 miles. From 1827 to 1867, this was the county seat of Shelby County. Aaron Burr was imprisoned here for a short time. About 1867, the courthouse was... [click for more]

Raleigh Cemetery
Here are buried some members of the generation that settled Shelby County. The County Court had been formed less than five years when, in 1824, Raleig... [click for more]

Raleigh
This was the Northeast Corner of Market and North Street in the city of Raleigh. From 1827-1867 Raleigh was the county seat and the courthouse stood 2... [click for more]

Revolutionary War Soldiers Interred In Shelby County
Major Joseph Hardaway
Captain Nathaniel Moore
Lieutenant John Bolton
Lieutenant Clement McDaniel
James Avery
Joseph Ballew
Joh... [click for more]

Richard Halliburton
Traveler-Author-Lecturer
Born 1900-Lost at sea 1939
This tower is dedicated to
memorialize
his wonderful life of action,
romance a... [click for more]

Rufus Thomas, Jr.
Born March 26, 1917, in Cayce, Mississippi, this
legendary entertainer known worldwide, began his career in the 1930s
with the Rabbit Foot Min... [click for more]

Russwood Park
Originally Red Elm Park,
Russwood Park was home to Memphis professional baseball from 1899 to 1960.
Primarily home to the Memphis Chicks, a ch... [click for more]

Scimitar Building
Scimitar Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez at Memorial Park Cemetery
Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez at Memorial Park Cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Second U.S. Army
Second U.S. Army headquarters, during World War II was
located in Memphis from 15 December 1940 to 11 June 1946. At the time of the
attack on ... [click for more]

Sgt. Walter K. Singleton (1944-1967)
Born in Memphis and a graduate of Bartlett High School,
Singleton was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by Congress for heroism
during c... [click for more]

Shadowlawn Historic District
Shadowlawn Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Shelby County Archives And Hall Of Records
After the Shelby County criminal courts and jail moved from
here in 1982, this National Register Historic District building stood empty
until ... [click for more]

Shelby County Hospital
Completed in June of 1935, the Shelby County Hospital at
Shelby Farms was built here as a replacement for both the much older Shelby
County Ho... [click for more]

Shelby County ~ Memphis
Shelby County
Established 1819; named in honor of
ISAAC SHELBY


who, along with... [click for more]

Shelby County
Established 1819; named in honor of
Isaac Shelby
who, along with Andrew Jackson, was appointed United States Commissioner; together they arran... [click for more]

Sherman’s Headquarters
On becoming commandant at Memphis in July, 1862 General William T. Sherman made his headquarters here in a house which stood just outside Fort Pickeri... [click for more]

Shrine Building
Shrine Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Site Of First Memphis Telephone
On October 18, 1877, at residence of Col. Mike Burke, 673 Shelby,
Superintendent of Miss. and Tenn. RR, which was connected only with RR office an... [click for more]

Solvent Savings Bank
The Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company founded by Robert
Church, Sr., first Negro bank established in Memphis, opened at this site,
392 Be... [click for more]

South Main Street Historic District
South Main Street Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

South Parkway-Heiskell Farm Historic District
South Parkway-Heiskell Farm Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Southwestern at Memphis Historic District
Southwestern at Memphis Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Southwestern at Memphis Sorority Row Historic District
Southwestern at Memphis Sorority Row Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Southwestern at Memphis
Its progenitor was Montgomery Masonic College, founded at Clarksville, 1848, with Dr. W.M. Hopkins president. Renamed Stewart College, 1855, when the ... [click for more]

Spain
The Spanish were the first Europeans to discover the Lower Mississippi, but 260 years of shifting international politics allowed them only occasional ... [click for more]

Spanish American War
Spanish War Veterans 1898-1902
Philippine Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S.A.
The Hiker
Typifying The American
Volunteer
Who Fought... [click for more]

Speedway Terrace Historic District
Speedway Terrace Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesResidential Resources of Memphis MPS... [click for more]

St. Paul Avenue Historic District
St. Paul Avenue Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesMemphis MPS... [click for more]

Stage Coach Road
IN 1829, THIS PIONEER TRAIL BECAME
TENNESSEE'S STAGE COACH ROAD NUMBER FOUR
FROM NASHVILLE TO MEMPHIS THROUGH
SOMERVILLE, MORNING SUN AND RAL... [click for more]

Stax Recording Studios
On this site stood Stax Records, Inc. which boasted such stars as Otis Redding, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Albert King, ... [click for more]

Steele Hall
Steele Hall was erected in 1914 when LeMoyne Institute, which began in 1862 and opened as LeMoyne Normal and
Commerical School in 1871, was moved ... [click for more]

Sterick Building
Sterick Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Stonewall Place Historic District
Stonewall Place Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Strathmore Place Historic District
Strathmore Place Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesMemphis MPS... [click for more]

Sultana
In memory of those who died on the ill-fated passenger steamer - Sultana on April 27, 1865, just north of Memphis, the luxury steamer Sultana's massiv... [click for more]

Sun Records
In the early 1950's Sun Records was a small recording studio
located here at 706 Union. Owned and operated by Sam C. Phillips, Sun Records
bec... [click for more]

Tennessee Brewery
Tennessee Brewery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Tennessee Club-Overall Goodbar Building
Tennessee Club-Overall Goodbar Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Tennessee Trust Building
Tennessee Trust Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Tennessee Williams (I)
In the spring of 1935 while visiting his grandparents, the
Rev. and Mrs. Walter F. Dakin, at 1917 Snowden, Tennessee Williams first
encountere... [click for more]

Tennessee Williams (II) (First Performance)
On the evening of July 12, 1935, in the garden behind this house, the Garden Players under the direction of Arthur Scharff performed Tennessee William... [click for more]

Tennessee
Although eastern Tennessee was settled in the 1770's, Western Tennessee was still wilderness when the state was admitted to the Union in 1796. Fort Pi... [click for more]

The Blues Trail From Mississippi to Memphis
The bright lights of Beale Street and the promise of musical stardom have lured blues musicians from nearby Mississippi since the early 1900s. Early M... [click for more]

The Commercial Appeal
This newspaper began in 1839 as The Western World and Memphis Banner Of The
Constitution. In 1840 Col. Henry Van Pelt bought and renamed it The Me... [click for more]

The First Railroad In West Tennessee
The LaGrange And Memphis Railroad
Organized in 1835, the LaGrange and Memphis Railroad operated the first train from Memphis 4 1/2 miles on March ... [click for more]

The Gayoso In Confederate History
Gen. Forrest seeing his inability to oppose the Federal Army of 24,000 men, whose orders were “to keep Forrest out of West Tenn.” with onl... [click for more]

The Gillis Brothers
Starting business in 1900, Clarence Gillis and his brothers Andrew and Cornelius were noted entrepreneurs. They adopted the name “Gillis Brother... [click for more]

The Grey Squirrels Of Court Square
On May 1849 a pair of grey squirrels were donated to Memphis by a resident of Bolivar, TN, who said he hoped the squirrels would add to animation of C... [click for more]

The Lorraine Motel
Originally the Windsor Hotel (c. 1925) and later one of only a few hotels for Blacks, it hosted such entertainers as Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Co... [click for more]

The Memphis Daily Appeal
From this spot, press and type of the Appeal were loaded on a freight car at Main and Madison in early morning, June 6, 1862, just before a naval batt... [click for more]

The Pinch
In the mid-1800s this twelve-block area became a stepping stone for European immigrants, and is known as Memphis' first commercial district. The name ... [click for more]

The Sultana Disaster
One of the worst maritime disasters in world history occurred 7 miles north of Memphis on April 27, 1865, when the steamer Sultana exploded and burned... [click for more]

Third Additon to Jackson Terrace Historic District
Third Additon to Jackson Terrace Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesResidential Resources of Memphis MPS... [click for more]

Thomas Alva Edison
In 1865-66, Edison was military telegraph operator with the Federal occupation army, working in a building formerly at the east corner of North Court ... [click for more]

Thomas F. Cassels
Thomas Frank Cassels is considered the first Black to practice law in Memphis. After moving to Memphis in 1875, he served in the Tennessee General Ass... [click for more]

Thomas Frank Cassels
Thomas F. Cassels is considered the first Black to practice law in Memphis. After moving to Memphis in 1875, he was appointed “attorney pro tem&... [click for more]

Time Capsule
To All Who Pass This Way And Pause To Rest Be It Known That
Memphis Celebrated In 1969 The 150th Anniversary Of Her Founding In 1819.
The Last... [click for more]

Tipton County
Established 1823; named in honor of Jacob Tipton raised a
company for defense of the Northwest Territory against the Indians. Killed
while lea... [click for more]

Tom Lee Memorial
Late afternoon of May 8, 1925, Tom Lee (1886-1952) steered his 28' skiff Zev upriver after delivering an official to Helena.

Also on the ... [click for more]

Toof Building
Toof Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Tri State Iron Works
Tri State Iron Works is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Tri-State Bank
Tri-State Bank is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

U.S. Marine Hospital Executive Building and Laundry-Kitchen
U.S. Marine Hospital Executive Building and Laundry-Kitchen is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

U.S. Post Office-Front Street Station
U.S. Post Office-Front Street Station is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

U.S. Supreme Court Rules On Overton Park and I-40
U.S. Supreme Court Rules On Overton Park and I-40
1956 - 2006


In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled ... [click for more]

Universal Life Insurance Building
Designed by the African-American architectural firm of
McKissack and McKissack and constructed in 1949, this building houses the
national head... [click for more]

Victorian Village District
During Memphis' early period of growth in the mid-19th century, a few wealthy Memphians built grand, Victorian-style homes in what was then the outski... [click for more]

Viet Nam Memorial Tree Trail
Sponsored by
Shelby County Beautiful
Commission and
Shelby County Commission


Viet Nam Honor Roll
(Names Listed)... [click for more]

Viet Nam Monument
In Memory Of
The Citizens Of
Shelby County
Who Gave Their
Lives For Their
Country In The
Viet Nam War... [click for more]

Virginia (Ginnie) Bethel Moon (1844-1926)
The daughter of a Confederate sympathizer, Ginnie Moon was a noted Southern Civil War spy.
Born in Ohio, Ginnie moved to Memphis with her mother i... [click for more]

Virginia (Ginnie) Bethel Moon (1844-1926)
The daughter of a Confederate sympathizer, Ginnie Moon was a noted Southern Civil War spy. Born in Ohio, Ginnie moved to Memphis with her mother in 18... [click for more]

Virginia Bethel Moon (1844-1925)
“Miss Ginny” Moon, a Confederate Spy who became famous during the war between the States. She was known as an active and dangerous rebel. ... [click for more]

Vollintine Evergreen Avalon Historic District
Vollintine Evergreen Avalon Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Vollintine Evergreen Historic District
Vollintine Evergreen Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

Vollintine Evergreen North Historic District
Vollintine Evergreen North Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

W.C. Handy
In Memory Of
W.C. Handy
Composer,
Music Publisher,
Father Of The Blues William Christopher Handy
Born November 16, 1873
Died N... [click for more]

WDIA: The Goodwill Station
WDIA, the Goodwill Station, was the first radio station in the nation to have an all-black format. This format made WDIA the top rated Memphis station... [click for more]

WLOK Radio Station
In 1977 WLOK became Memphis' first African-American owned
radio station. Established on this site, Gilliam Communications' WLOK is a
family-or... [click for more]

WMC Radio Station
Memphis' first full-service radio station began regularly
scheduled broadcasting on January 20, 1923 from the top floor of this building,
whic... [click for more]

Walter F. Dakin
untitled historical


In the spring of 1935 while visiting hist grandparents, the Rev. and Mrs. Walter F. D... [click for more]

Walter Malone
In Memory Of
Walter Malone
Erected MCMXIX
“Opportunity”
Poem
They Do Me Wrong Who Say I Come No More
When Once I K... [click for more]

Washburn’s Quarters
Maj. Gen. C.C. Washburn, Federal commander in Memphis, lived in a house which stood here at the time of Gen. Forrest's dawn raid. He escaped capture b... [click for more]

Wedding Of The Waters
front
A great celebration marking completion of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad occurred near here on May 1-4, 1858. These festivitie... [click for more]

Wells-Arrington Historic District
Wells-Arrington Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesResidential Resources of Memphis MPS... [click for more]

William C. Ellis and Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop
William C. Ellis and Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

William G. Leftwich, Jr.
Memorial
Semper Fidelis
His Monument Is Erected To Preserve The Memory Of William G. Leftwich, Jr.,
Lt. Colonel, United States Marine Corp... [click for more]

William Herbert Brewster, Sr (1897-1987)
Born on July 2, 1897, in Somerville, Tenn., to sharecropper
parents, The Rev. William H. Brewster was a prolific composer of gospel music,
con... [click for more]

William R. Moore Dry Goods Building
William R. Moore Dry Goods Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places... [click for more]

World War I Memorial In Memoriam
1917 1918
In Memory Of
The Four Members Of
The Memphis And Shelby
County
Medical Society
Who Gave Their Lives In
The Servi... [click for more]

World War II Korean War Monument
In grateful tribute to those who served in World War II and
the Korean War.... [click for more]

Yellow Fever Memorial (2)
In grateful memory of the sacrifice of the heroes and heroines of Memphis in the 1870's who gave their lives serving the victims of yellow fever.
... [click for more]

Yellow Fever Memorial
In Memoriam
The Outbreak Of Yellow Fever Which Scourged Memphis In 1878 Has Been Termed
“The Most Severe Epidemic Ever To Afflict”... [click for more]

Yellow Fever Monument
No Man's Land
In Four Public Lots Known Collectively As “No Man's Land” Lie The Remains Of At Least 1400
Victims Of The Great Yell... [click for more]

Zero Milestone
Distance From Memphis
Measured From This Point
Zero Milestone
Erected By The
Engineers Club Of
Memphis 1923... [click for more]

Zion Cemetery
Zion Cemetery, comprising 15 acres, was established in 1876 by the United Sons of Zion Association, a group of former slaves who responded to the need... [click for more]

Zippin Pippin
The wooden roller coster erected on the Fairgrounds in 1923 was the Mid-South's premier outdoor amusement park ride for more than 8 decades.
It w... [click for more]