Timeline of Memphis, Tennessee

Prior to 19th century

1739 - Fort Assumption built by French.

1740 - Fort Assumption abandoned.

1797 - U.S. fort built.

19th century

1819 - Town laid out.

1826 - Town incorporated.

1827

Memphis Advocate newspaper begins publication.

Marcus B. Winchester becomes mayor.

1836 - Memphis Enquirer newspaper begins publication.

1841 - The Appeal newspaper begins publication.

1843

New Orleans-Memphis telegraph begins operating.

Memphis Daily Eagle newspaper begins publication.

1844 - Calvary Episcopal Church consecrated.

1849 - Memphis incorporated as a city.

1850

Town designated a port of customs.

Population: 8,841.

1852 - Elmwood Cemetery established.

1853 - Congregation B'nai Israel founded.

1854 - Jones & Co. chemists in business.

1855 - German Benevolent Society formed.

1857 - Memphis & Charleston Railroad completed.

1858 - Memphis Daily Avalanche newspaper begins publication.

1860 - Population: 22,623.

1861 - Memphis and Ohio Railroad completed.

1862

Tennessee capital relocated to Memphis from Nashville.

June 6: Battle of Memphis takes place on Mississippi River near town; Union forces take Memphis.

1864

August 21: Second Battle of Memphis.

First National Bank of Memphis established.

1866

May: Racial unrest.

Greenwood School established.

Memphis Post begins publication.

1868 - Peabody Hotel in business.

1870

Goldsmith's store in business.

Population: 40,226.

1871

LeMoyne Normal Institute and College of Christian Brothers established.

St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral consecrated.

1873 - Yellow fever epidemic.

1874 - Memphis Cotton Exchange founded.

1875 - Southwestern at Memphis (college) established.

1878 - Yellow fever epidemic.

1879 - Yellow fever epidemic.

1880 - Population: 33,592.

1882

Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church established.

Chickasaw Cooperage Company incorporated.

1883 - Young Men's Christian Association chartered.

1885 - Peoples Grocery in business.

1887 - Memphis National Bank organized.

1890

Nineteenth Century Club formed.

Population: 64,589.

1891 - City rechartered.

1892 - Railroad bridge constructed.

1899 - Manassas High School established.

1900s-1940s

1900 - Population: 102,320.

1905 - Madison Hotel built.

1906 - Memphis Zoo and Overton Park established.

1909 - Bureau of Municipal Research active (approximate date).

1910

Commission form of government begins.

Exchange Building constructed.

E. H. Crump becomes mayor.

Population: 131,105.

1911 - Urban League branch established.

1912 - Handy's The Memphis Blues (song) published.

1914 - Union Avenue United Methodist Church built.

1915 - Guthrie Elementary School founded.

1916

Harahan Bridge opens to West Memphis, Arkansas.

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art established.

Piggly Wiggly grocery in business.

1917

May 22: Lynching of Ell Persons.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch established.

1919 - Citizens' Co-operative Stores incorporated.

1920

City hosts Commission on Interracial Cooperation Women's Interracial Conference.

Population: 162,351.

1922 - Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church established.

1924 - Lincoln American Tower built.

1929 - Memphis Municipal Airport dedicated.

1930

Memphis Museum of Natural History and Industrial Arts opens.

Sterick Building constructed.

Population: 253,143.

1931

Memphis World newspaper begins publication.

Cotton Carnival begins.

1932 - Memphis Times newspaper begins publication.

1936 - Memphis Academy of Art founded.

1937 - Firestone factory in operation in Hyde Park.

1938 - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception built.

1939 - First Colored Baptist Church built.

1940 - Population: 292,942.

1941 - Mason Temple built.

1945 - Lorraine Motel in business.

1946

Douglass High School opens.

Tri-State Bank established.

1947 - WDIA radio begins broadcasting.

1950s-1990s

1950 - Population: 396,000.

1956 - Opera Memphis established.

1957 - Satellite Records in business.

1960

Henry Loeb becomes mayor.

Population: 497,524.

1965 - 100 North Main building and White Station Tower constructed.

1968

January: Henry Loeb becomes mayor again.

February 11: Memphis Sanitation Strike begins.

April 3: Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers I've Been to the Mountaintop speech.

April 4: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr..

April 8: March in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

1969 - Sesquicentennial Celebration

1970

Vollintine-Evergreen Community Association organized.

Population: 623,530.

1971 - Clark Tower built.

1972 - National Bank of Commerce building constructed.

1973 - May: City hosts Rock Writers of the World Convention.

1974 - Women's Resource Center founded.

1975 - Hyatt hotel opens.

1976 - Temple Israel built.

1977 - Memphis in May festival begins.

1978 - Muslim Society of Memphis founded.

1980 – Population: 646,356.

1985

Tall Trees (prison) privatised.

Morgan Keegan Tower built.

1990 - Population: 610,337.

1991

National Civil Rights Museum and Pyramid Arena open.

Willie Herenton becomes mayor.

1996 - City website online.

21st century

2002 - June 8: Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson boxing match.

2003

Clark Opera Memphis Center opens.

July 22: Memphis Summer Storm of 2003, also known as "Hurricane Elvis".

December 18: Airplane crash.

2007 - Steve Cohen becomes U.S. representative for Tennessee's 9th congressional district.

2008 - February 5–6: Tornado outbreak.

2009

October: A C Wharton elected mayor.

City open government standard enacted.

2012 - Population: 655,155.

2015 - October 8: Jim Strickland elected mayor.