The time line section deals with milestones in the city's history.  These events are turning points rather than annual traditions or sudden and dramatic events.  Below you will find a chronological list of milestones (and some “events”) that have altered Memphis for all time.

c. 1541
Indians living near present-day Shelby County encounter the Hernando De Soto expedition as De Soto "discovers" the Mississippi River.

1584
Queen Elizabeth I grants Sir Walter Raleigh rights to the "Bluff Area" which is among Britain's early land claims.

1663
King Charles II grants English promoters sweeping rights to North American lands including what was to later be called Tennessee

1673
Marquette and Joliet briefly land on bluffs while descending the Mississippi

1682
La Salle visits the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff while claiming the Mississippi Valley for France

1729
North Carolina (which then included Tennessee) reverts to the British crown as a royal colony

1739
French explorers with Bienville build Fort Assumption on Memphis site. Fights with Chickasaws draw out with no clear winners. Fort Assumption is soon abandoned.

1763
Britain wins French and Indian war. Control of the Bluffs is no longer contested.

1783
John Rice and John Ramsay enter claims for 5,000 acres each on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff. With the end of the American Revolution the only remaining claimants are the Spanish and the Chickasaws.

1790
Tennessee splits from North Carolina and is granted a territorial government by the United States.

1795
Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas built by Gayoso and the Spanish. Six months later Spain cedes the bluffs to the United States.

1796
Tennessee is granted statehood.

1797
The U.S. gains control of the area; Fort Adams erected. Spanish flee burning their fort as they leave.

1798
Fort Pickering is erected

1802
U.S. War Department establishes an Indian Factory at Fort Pickering

1803
Due to Louisiana Purchase the Mississippi River no longer has to be guarded as a national border

c. 1815
Fort Pickering is abandoned by the U.S. Army. It is no longer strategically critical. All that remains is the Indian factory and squatters.

1818
The Chickasaw Nation signs treaty ceding West Tennessee to the U.S. This clears the way for Andrew Jackson, John Overton and James Winchester to freely access their land purchases in the area soon to be known as Memphis.

1819
John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson found the city of Memphis on May 22. Shelby County formed.

1820
County court organized and other county positions are filled.

1824
Raleigh becomes county seat

1825
Frances Wright organizes Utopian community of Nashoba near present-day Germantown.

1826
Memphis incorporated on December 19.

Two newspapers, the Memphis Advocate and the Western District Intelligencer begin publication

Frances Wright establishes Nashoba for the self-emancipation of slaves. The site is near present-day Germantown.

1827
Town government is organized and first officers are elected. Marcus B. Winchester becomes the city's first mayor.

County court removes to Raleigh.

1828
All-time high water begins formation of a sandbar fronting on the town.

First yellow fever epidemic; 650 cases, 150 deaths.

1829
First volunteer fire company is organized.

Stagecoach line passes through Memphis

1830
Population: 663

Town Hall is built

1833
First Bank, Farmers and Merchants, managed by Ike Rawlings, is authorized.

1834
Chickasaws cede northern Mississippi to the state of Mississippi.

1835
La Grange and Memphis Railroad is chartered.

1837
National financial panic is followed by depression.

Tennessee - Mississippi boundary is corrected, extending West Tennessee, including Shelby County, four miles southward.

1838
First board of health is established.

Two night watchmen are appointed to police the town.

Public cisterns are built for use in fire fighting.

1840
Memphis Appeal organized.

Town watch is increased and placed under a captain; men are given badges.

1841
Mayor Spickemagle's reforms place town on a business basis.

1842
Gayoso House, first luxury hotel, begins con- construction.

Victory over flat- boatmen brings rule of law.

1845
U.S. government establishes a navy yard in the city. 1845

La Grange Railroad declared bankrupt; rails reach only to White's Station.

1846
Town of South Memphis is incorporated.

1847
Memphis issues first bonds, chiefly for street construction.

1848
Free public schools begin.

1850
Population: 8,841

Memphis and South Memphis merge

1852
As Mississippi River port, Memphis is second only to New Orleans and St. Louis.

1854
Heavy bond issues for streets and railroad subscriptions begin irresponsible city indebtedness.

1855
Second yellow fever epidemic: 1,250 cases, 220 deaths.

1857
The Memphis & Charleston Railroad completed, linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River.

1860
Population: 22,623,

31 percent of citizens are foreign-born, mainly Irish and German.

Chamber of Commerce is established.

Memphis votes eight to one in favor of Union.

1861
3,000 citizens stage mass meeting and vote unanimously for secession.

Shelby County ratifies Tennessee secession.

Between one third and one fourth of the city's population musters 72 companies for Confederate Army.

1862
On June 6, Union fleet defeats Confederate naval forces in the Battle of Memphis. Federal troops occupy the city.
Memphis becomes Union headquarters, supply depot and detaining center for prisoners-of-war

1863
Grant names Memphis as hospital and supply base to support the attack on Vicksburg.

1864
Public schools are instituted for blacks.

Martial law is proclaimed.

Forrest makes his raid on the city.

1865
Civil war ends.

Thomas A. Edison serves as telegrapher in Memphis.

Mule-drawn street railroad begins.

1866
Race riot in Memphis contributes to statewide Radical Reconstruction.

Memphis is placed under state-controlled metropolitan police district.

1867
Third yellow fever epidemic: 2,500 cases, 550 deaths. Population temporarily halved, with largely poor blacks and Irish immigrants remaining.

Memphis regains the county seat.

1870
Population: 40,226

1872
Annual Mardi Gras carnivals begin.

1873
Fourth yellow fever epidemic: 5,000 cases, 2,000 deaths.

National financial panic hits.

Memphis Water Company is founded.

1878
City's most devastating yellow fever epidemic claims 5,000 lives.

1879
Memphis declares bankruptcy, loses its charter, and becomes a Taxing District of the state. Former city is now governed by a board of fire and police commissioners and a board of public-works commissioners. Sixth yellow fever epidemic: 2,000 cases, 600 deaths. This is the beginning of attempts to clean up the filth and open sewers that contribute to constant Yellow Fever outbreaks. Many formal public health programs are founded.

1880
Population: 33,592.

1887
Artesian well water becomes available for the first time.

1889
Large school-building program is undertaken.

1890
Population: 64,495. Artesian water is in use.

1891
First electric streetcar is inaugurated.

1892
Great Bridge at Memphis opened. Later to be named the Frisco Bridge.

1893
Cossitt Library opens, the first public library in Memphis.

Memphis regains its city charter.

Black millionaire Robert Reed Church, Sr. buys first city bond.

1895
The ten-story Porter Building, the city's first "skyscraper" opens

Competing street railways emerge.

1896
Memphis cares for 6,000 flood refugees.

1899
Church's Park & Auditorium, the city's first park and entertainment center for African Americans, opens.

Memphis annexes most suburbs, quadrupling its territorial limits, and extends health measures to new areas.

1900
Population: 102,320. Park commission is established; Riverside and Overton parks are authorized.

1903
City purchases water company.

County seat returns to Memphis.

1906
The Overton Park Zoo opens.

1909
Commission form of government is adopted. Annexations include town of Lenox. E. H. Crump becomes mayor on reform ticket, boosted by Handy's "Memphis Blues." The Crump version of the Memphis Blues is entitled "Mr. Crump Don't Like It".

Shelby County Courthouse is completed.

1910
Population: 131,105.

1911
University of Tennessee Medical School merges with the Memphis Hospital Medical College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

1912
A major Mississippi River flood brings high water to downtown Memphis.

1916
Clarence Saunders opens his first Piggly Wiggly store.

Brooks Memorial Art Gallery is built.

1917
Harahan Bridge with vehicle roadways is opened

1919
Memphis celebrates its centennial.

Major annexation includes town of Binghampton.

1920
Population: 162,351.

1921
City planning commission is established.

1923
The Universal Life Insurance Company, one of the largest black-owned insurance companies in the nation, is founded.

1924
City plan is designed by Harland Bartholomew.

1925
The present Peabody Hotel opens to the public. Tom Lee rescues 32 people when the excursion boat M.E. Norman capsizes in the Mississippi River.

1927
Memphis houses flood refugees.

1928
The Orpheum Theater opens; replaced Grand Opera House.

Major annexations include Highland Heights.

1929
Municipal airport is completed.

City annexes 20.3 square miles of suburbs.

Harbor commission is created.

Municipal museum is established.

Great Depression begins.

1930
Population: 253,153.

City Beautiful Commission is created.

1931
Airmail service begins.

Cotton Carnival begins.

1934
Municipal Housing Authority is created.

Citizens opt to join TVA electric system.

$20 million work-relief construction program begins.

Community library for blacks is established.

1937
The Mississippi River Great Flood devastates huge area; thousands of homeless brought to Memphis.

1938
TV A power becomes available to Memphis.

1939
City purchases the local utility company and renames it Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division.

1940
Population: 292,942

1941
United States enters World War II

1942
The Naval Air Station at Millington is built.

Memphis selected as site for Kennedy General Hospital, a multi-million-dollar institution that will grow to 3,000 beds.

International Harvester locates plant at Memphis.

Value of Mid-South cotton crop doubles its 1940 price.

1943
The Army (now Defense) Depot and the Mallory Air Force Depot built.

1944
War economy continues to boom, creating critical housing shortage.

1945
Construction of four lane Memphis to Arkansas bridge begins

1948
Construction on the Memphis Harbor project begins.

1949
New bridge opens

1950s
Memphis named the country's quietest, cleanest and safest city on several occasions.

1951
Tri-State Defender, local black newspaper, begins publication.

1952
Kemmons Wilson opens his first Holiday Inn on Summer Ave.

1954
E.H. Crump, Memphis political leader for 45 years, dies. Elvis Presley gives his first concert in Memphis.

1955
National focus on Memphis as a musical center begins with meteoric rise of Elvis Presley

1956
Members of the Crump political machine are largely ousted from power

1957
Memphis State College becomes university. Frayser is annexed.

1958
Stax Records, creator of the "Memphis Sound," organized.

Construction begins on expressway system.

1960 (the decade)
Federal court decisions end segregation in the city's public libraries, schools, parks and recreation facilities.

1960
Population: 497,524.

1966
City replaces commission form of government with mayor-council form.

1968
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated Apri1 4 at the Lorraine Motel while in Memphis to support the Sanitation Workers' strike.

1970
Population: 624,000.

1972
Federal Express Corporation organized.

1973
Busing begins in order to bring about full integration of schools.

1974
County government is restructured by state legislature.

1975
Mid-America Mall is constructed

1976
Benjamin L. Hooks elected executive director of the NAACP.

Victorian Village named historic district.

Libertyland amusement park opens.

First county mayor takes over administration of county executive branch.

1977
Elvis Presley dies at Graceland on August 16.

1978
Firefighters, police, and teachers strike.

1980
Population: 646,356.

1981
The historic Peabody Hotel is refurbished and open to the public.

1982
Mud Island Park and River Walk open.

Wyeth Chandler resigns as mayor. Richard C. Hackett replaces him.

1983
Redeveloped Beale Street opens as a tourist attraction.

Jesse H. Turner becomes first black to serve as chairman of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners.

1986
Lighting of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge features 2,000 lights in a giant M.

1987
Ramses the Great initiates the Wonders Series.

1990
World War II Memphis Belle moved to Mud Island.

1991
Dr. W.W. Herenton elected city's first black mayor. National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis Pyramid open.

1993
Downtown trolley begins operation.