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About Memphis
Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, of which it is the county
seat. As of 2006, the city of Memphis had an estimated population of 680,768,
making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee and the 17th largest in the
United States. The greater Memphis metropolitan area has a population of
1,230,303. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee,
surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville. Even though Memphis is the state's
largest city, it is the youngest of Tennessee's four major cities (traditionally
including Knoxville and Chattanooga as well as Nashville). Memphis is on the
Lower Chickasaw Bluff above the Mississippi River, at the mouth of the Wolf
River.
Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of the
American south, including musical and culinary offerings. Many notable blues
musicians grew up in and around the Memphis and northern Mississippi, and
performed there regularly from the early 1900s onward. These included such
musical greats as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, and Howlin' Wolf. The
first African American-formatted radio station, WDIA, was founded in the city in
1947 by Bert Ferguson and John Pepper, and included a young B. B. King as disc
jockey. B. B. King's moniker was derived from his WDIA nickname 'Beale Street
Blues Boy', a reference to Memphis' Beale Street on which many nightclubs and
blues venues were located.
In addition to a rich musical heritage, Memphis also boasts a long culinary
legacy dominated by regional barbeque. Memphis barbeque is rendered distinct by
its sole usage of pork (as opposed to beef), focus on rib and shoulder cuts of
meat, and multiple locally-owned barbeque restaurants. Celebration of this local
dish reaches its climax each year in May, when the Memphis in May Festival holds
its annual international Memphis in May Barbeque Cook-off.
The city of Memphis is located in southwestern Tennessee and sits on the eastern
bank of the Mississippi River. It is the regional hub for a tri-state area of
Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. Interstate 40 enters the city from the
northeast, and loops above the central part of the city, exiting across the
Mississippi River and traveling to the west. Interstate 55 approaches the city
from the south and connects with I-240, which completes the loop around central
Memphis with I-40, and also leaves to the west. U.S. Highway 72 leaves the city
traveling to the southeast. The west end of U.S. Highway 78 terminates in
Memphis, TN on Linden Avenue at the intersection of 2nd Street. The east end of
U.S. Highway 78 terminates in Charleston, South Carolina.
The city’s central location has led to much of its business development. Located
on the Mississippi River and intersected by two Interstate highways and seven
major U.S. highways, Memphis is ideally located for commerce among the
transportation and shipping industry. The city is also home to the world's
busiest cargo airport, in terms of tonnage, which serves as the primary hub for
FedEx shipping. Due to its location, more major metro areas can be reached
overnight from Memphis than any other city in the central U.S. Memphis has also
developed as a major manufacturing center of textiles, heating equipment,
pianos, and automobile and truck parts. Memphis Light, Gas and Water ("MLG&W")
is also one of the largest municipal utilities in the United States.
Memphis is home to a growing number of nationally and internationally known
corporations, including approximately 150 businesses from 22 countries. This
includes the corporate headquarters of three major Fortune 500 companies,
including FedEx Corporation, AutoZone Incorporated and International Paper. It
is also, home to Fred's Stores headquarters, a company which was named as one of
the five fastest growing chain-stores by Forbes Magazine. Other corporations
with a major presence in the area include Back Yard Burgers, Belz Enterprises,
Buckeye Technologies, First Tennessee Bank, Guardsmark, Hohenberg Bros. Co.,
Harrah's, Hilton, ServiceMaster, and Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. Northwest
Airlines also operates a major hub at Memphis International Airport, with daily
nonstop flights to Amsterdam.
The entertainment and film industry has also developed in recent years in the
city. Several major motion pictures have been filmed in Memphis in recent years,
including Mystery Train (1989), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), The Firm (1993), A
Family Thing (1996), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Rainmaker (1997),
Cast Away (2000), The Queens of Comedy(2001),21 Grams (2003), Hustle & Flow
(2005), Walk the Line (2005), Forty Shades Of Blue (2005), and Black Snake Moan
(2007).
The city appeared in the top eight of the 50 best major metro areas in the U.S.
for starting and growing a business in 2000, according to Inc. magazine.
Southern Business and Development magazine ranked Memphis as one of the most
successful models for economic development in the south, also recognized the
city as one of the top ten markets over the past decade. In October 2002, Ebony
Magazine has cited Memphis as a city for its outstanding African-American
leadership. Memphis also had the highest rate of high technology start-up
operations over the last three years among the nation’s 60 largest metro areas,
according to Brandow Company research.