58 Fun Facts About Memphis

Memphis sits on the banks of which great waterway?

The Mississippi River; Memphis sits on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff above its floodplain and is the largest city proper anywhere along the river.

Memphis was named after an ancient capital of which country?

The founders chose the name in 1819 after Memphis, the ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile, another great city on a great river.

Which future US president was one of the three founders of Memphis in 1819?

Andrew Jackson founded Memphis in May 1819 with partners John Overton and James Winchester, months after the 1818 Chickasaw Cession opened West Tennessee to settlement.

Which Spanish conquistador is credited with the first European exploration of the Memphis area in 1541?

Hernando de Soto's expedition reached the Mississippi near present-day Memphis in May 1541, the first Europeans known to do so; the Interstate 40 bridge across the river is named for him.

Memphis is the seat of which Tennessee county?

Shelby County, Tennessee's most populous county, has its seat in Memphis; the city itself is the state's second-largest after Nashville.

Which disease devastated Memphis in a series of 1870s epidemics, killing more than 5,000 in 1878 alone?

Yellow fever killed more than 5,000 of the roughly 19,000 people who stayed in 1878; tens of thousands fled, and the bankrupt city surrendered its charter in 1879 to become a state taxing district.

Which political machine leader controlled Memphis from the 1910s to about 1950?

Edward Hull 'Boss' Crump, mayor from 1910, ran Memphis's Democratic machine until his death in 1954, delivering Shelby County's votes to statewide candidates for decades.

Which company is the largest employer in Memphis, with its global air hub at the airport?

FedEx, Memphis's largest employer, runs its World Hub at Memphis International Airport; founder Fred Smith moved operations there in 1973 for the central location and reliably flyable weather.

Where was FedEx (then Federal Express) founded in 1971 before moving to Memphis?

Smith incorporated Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas, in June 1971, after sketching the overnight-delivery idea in a Yale term paper; he moved the operation to Memphis in 1973.

What was the name of Elvis Presley's Memphis mansion?

Graceland, on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Whitehaven, was bought by Elvis in 1957; it draws around 600,000 visitors a year, often called the second most-visited house in the US after the White House.

The Whitehaven mansion Elvis bought in 1957 was named after whom?

Stephen C. Toof founded Memphis's oldest commercial printing firm and named the farm for his daughter.

How much did Elvis pay for his Whitehaven mansion in March 1957?

Elvis paid $102,500 for Graceland in March 1957, slightly over the $100,000 budget he had given his parents to find a farmhouse with space around it.

In which year was Graceland designated a National Historic Landmark?

Graceland became a National Historic Landmark on 27 March 2006, fifteen years after its 1991 listing on the National Register of Historic Places and 24 years after opening for tours in 1982.

Where was Elvis born, before his family moved to Memphis when he was 13?

Elvis was born in a two-room shotgun house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935; his twin Jesse Garon was stillborn 35 minutes earlier, and the family moved to Memphis in 1948.

Who ran Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue and discovered Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis?

Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue in January 1950 with assistant Marion Keisker, and launched the Sun Records label from the same room in 1952.

Which 1951 recording made at Sun Studio is often called the first rock and roll record?

Rocket 88, cut at Phillips's studio in March 1951 and released on Chess, was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, though the band was really Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm.

The 1951 record Ike Turner's band cut at Sam Phillips's studio praised which carmaker's new model?

The Oldsmobile Rocket 88, with its new overhead-valve V8, was the car Brenston sang about; he admitted the song borrowed from Jimmy Liggins' 'Cadillac Boogie'.

Which Memphis thoroughfare is a national historic landmark and the heart of the city's blues heritage?

Beale Street runs about 1.8 miles from the Mississippi River to East Street; its historic district, where W. C. Handy played in the 1910s, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

How did Stax Records get its name?

The sibling partners started out as Satellite Records in 1957 and switched names in 1961.

Which was Stax's biggest star, who died in a 1967 plane crash?

Otis Redding, technically signed to the sister label Volt, died when his plane crashed into Lake Monona, Wisconsin, on 10 December 1967, days after recording '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay'.

Stax's Memphis studio was set up inside what kind of former building?

Stax converted the old Capitol Theatre on East McLemore Avenue, a former movie theater whose sloped floor shaped the studio's sound; Estelle Axton ran a record shop in the lobby where the refreshment stand had been.

Which house band, an integrated group, backed most Stax hits?

Booker T. & the M.G.'s, two Black and two white musicians, backed most Stax sessions; their own instrumental 'Green Onions' reached No. 3 in 1962.

At which Memphis lodging was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on April 4, 1968?

The Lorraine Motel on Mulberry Street, where King was shot on the balcony outside Room 306 at 6:01 pm on 4 April 1968; James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the killing in 1969.

What institution was built around the site of King's assassination?

The National Civil Rights Museum opened at the Lorraine Motel in 1991, preserving Room 306 and the balcony; it reopened after a major renovation in 2014.

King had come to Memphis in 1968 to support a strike by which city employees?

The strike began after two workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death in a garbage truck.

Where did King give his final 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech?

Mason Temple, the Church of God in Christ's headquarters, hosted the 3 April 1968 speech; King spoke despite a storm and exhaustion, telling the crowd 'I've seen the Promised Land'.

Which NBA team plays at FedExForum in Memphis?

The Memphis Grizzlies have played at FedExForum since it opened in 2004, the only NBA team in Tennessee and the city's only major-league franchise.

From which city did Memphis's NBA franchise relocate in 2001?

The Vancouver Grizzlies joined the NBA in 1995 alongside the Toronto Raptors and moved to Memphis in 2001 after six losing seasons in Canada.

Which Memphis guard, drafted second overall in 2019, was NBA Rookie of the Year in 2020?

Ja Morant, taken second overall in 2019 after starring at Murray State, was the 2019-20 Rookie of the Year and started the 2022 All-Star Game.

What did the Memphis Pyramid reopen as in 2015?

Bass Pro Shops turned the 321-foot Pyramid, empty since 2007, into a megastore in 2015 with the Big Cypress Lodge hotel, a bowling alley and a glass observation deck at the apex.

What are the famous residents of the Peabody Hotel that march to the lobby fountain every day?

The tradition began in the 1930s when the manager left live decoy ducks in the fountain after a hunting trip.

What title was given to the Peabody bellman who trained the ducks to march from 1940 to 1991?

Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, became the first Duckmaster in 1940 and held the title until 1991; the march is set to Sousa's 'King Cotton'.

Memphis-style barbecue is mostly made with which meat?

Pork, above all ribs and pulled shoulder: ribs come 'dry' with a spice rub or 'wet' mopped with sauce, making Memphis one of the four great US regional barbecue styles.

What is the name of the largest pork barbecue cook-off on the planet, held on the riverfront each May?

Memphis in May also stages the Beale Street Music Festival, International Week and the Great River Run.

Which grocery chain opened the first true self-service supermarket in Memphis in 1916?

Clarence Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly at 79 Jefferson Avenue in September 1916, letting shoppers pick goods from shelves themselves, with checkout stands and price tags on individual items.

Which entertainer founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis in 1962?

Danny Thomas opened St. Jude in February 1962 in fulfilment of a vow to St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of hopeless causes; it was the South's first fully integrated children's hospital.

Which pop star was born in Memphis on 31 January 1981?

Justin Timberlake, born in Memphis on 31 January 1981, grew up singing in the Baptist church where his father directed the choir; in 2013 he performed at the White House's Memphis Soul concert.

Which soul singer was born at 406 Lucy Avenue in Memphis in 1942?

Aretha Franklin was born at 406 Lucy Avenue on 25 March 1942; her father, the preacher C. L. Franklin, moved the family to Detroit when she was a small child.

What is the nickname of the University of Memphis sports teams?

The Memphis Tigers' men's basketball team has reached three Final Fours (1973, 1985 and 2008), though the later two appearances were vacated by the NCAA.

Which former Memphis college star and NBA All-Star became the university's head basketball coach?

Penny Hardaway, recruited by Larry Finch in 1990 as the nation's top high-school prospect, scrimmaged against the 1992 Dream Team with the college select squad and took over as Tigers head coach in 2018.

Which coach led Memphis to the 2008 national final before leaving for Kentucky?

John Calipari, hired in 2000, won the 2002 NIT, moved the Tigers from the Pyramid to FedExForum in 2004 and lost the 2008 final to Kansas before leaving for Kentucky in 2009.

What did Memphis's college basketball team nickname the Pyramid Arena, their home from 1991?

The Tigers called the Pyramid the 'Tomb of Doom'; in their first season there, 1991-92, Penny Hardaway led them to the Elite Eight.

Which annual festival features a music festival, International Week and the Great River Run?

Memphis in May, a month-long festival begun in 1977, honours a different country each year during International Week alongside the Beale Street Music Festival and the Great River Run.

What was the June party series honouring the city's industries, with a secret King and Queen, formerly called?

Carnival Memphis began in 1931 as the Memphis Cotton Carnival and dropped the cotton name in the 1980s; a King and Queen of Carnival, chosen in secret, are unveiled each June.

Where was Elvis originally buried before an attempted grave robbery led to his reinterment at his home?

Elvis was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery beside his mother Gladys in August 1977; after an attempted theft of his body that month, both were moved to Graceland's Meditation Garden in October.

What nickname do Memphians give the I-40 crossing to Arkansas because of its double-arch shape?

The 'M Bridge' is the Hernando de Soto Bridge, whose two steel arches form an M; it carries Interstate 40 to West Memphis, Arkansas, while the older I-55 crossing downstream is the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge.

Mud Island park is known for a walking trail featuring what?

The Riverwalk at Mud Island River Park is a five-block scale model of the lower Mississippi, from Cairo, Illinois, to the Gulf, with real water flowing through its channel.

Which of these films is set in Memphis?

Hustle & Flow (2005), Craig Brewer's story of a Memphis pimp turned rapper, was shot in the city; The Firm, The Blind Side and Cast Away also have Memphis settings.

Which bank holding company, founded in 1864, is headquartered in Memphis?

First Horizon, founded as the First National Bank of Memphis in 1864 and long known as First Tennessee, keeps its headquarters downtown and is among the largest banks based in Tennessee.

Roughly what was the population of Memphis at the 2020 census?

The wider metro area, which spills into Arkansas and Mississippi, has about 1.34 million people.

Which downtown riverside green space completed a $60 million renovation in 2023?

Tom Lee Park, named for the Black riverman who pulled 32 people from a sinking steamer in 1925, reopened on Labor Day weekend 2023 after a roughly $60 million redesign by Studio Gang.

Which of these singers did NOT grow up in the Memphis area?

Dolly Parton is from Sevier County in East Tennessee; Justin Timberlake, MGMT's Andrew VanWyngarden and Julien Baker all grew up around Memphis.

Under what name did Jim Stewart found the label that became Stax in 1957?

Jim Stewart launched Satellite Records in 1957 in a relative's garage; its early releases were country, rockabilly and pop before staff producer Chips Moman steered it toward rhythm and blues.

What did Estelle Axton mortgage in 1958 to invest US$2,500 in her brother's fledgling label?

The money bought an Ampex tape recorder; she later ran the Satellite record shop in the old cinema foyer.

Which label's 1965 distribution deal, signed unread by Jim Stewart, ended up owning the Stax masters?

Atlantic's contract, drafted by its lawyer Paul Marshall, held a clause giving the distributor the masters; when Warner bought Atlantic in 1967 the clause bit, and Stewart sold Stax to Gulf+Western in 1968.

Who hosted the 1972 Stax concert Wattstax, nicknamed the 'Black Woodstock'?

Jesse Jackson emceed Wattstax at the Los Angeles Coliseum in August 1972, opening with his 'I Am Somebody' litany before more than 100,000 people; Richard Pryor's monologues were added for the film.

Which animals did the Memphis Zoo host from 2003 to 2023, rare for a US zoo?

Giant pandas Ya Ya and Le Le arrived at the Memphis Zoo in 2003; Le Le died in February 2023 and Ya Ya was returned to China that April.

Which NAACP co-founder co-owned the anti-segregation paper Free Speech on Beale Street in 1889?

Ida B. Wells co-owned the Free Speech and Headlight, published from the Beale Street Baptist Church; her 1892 anti-lynching editorials got the paper's office wrecked by a mob and drove her from Memphis.