Memphis: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

The Memphis City Schools is the largest school system in the state of Tennessee and the 21st largest metropolitan school system in the nation. All Memphis City Schools are accredited; in comparison, 60 percent of elementary and 62 percent of secondary schools statewide are accredited. Shelby County schools have the largest PTA membership in Tennessee. Through Memphis' Adopt-A-School program, recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor as the best program of its kind in the nation, local businesses "adopt" a school to provide special support. All Memphis public schools are partnered with area businesses, and the program is so successful that many schools have numerous adopting sponsors.

Memphis City Schools offers gifted and talented programs, alternative schools for students who have problems in a regular school environment, and optional school programs that focus on such areas as college preparation, creative and performing arts, aviation, travel, tourism, health sciences, banking and finance, international studies and a variety of approaches to education.

The following is a summary of data regarding Memphis's public schools as of the 2004–2005 school year.

Total enrollment: 120,162

Number of facilities elementary schools: 112

junior high/middle schools: 25 middle, 4 junior high

senior high schools: 31

other: 6 vocational, 6 charter schools, 7 alternative/specialty schools

Student/teacher ratio: 15:1

Teacher salaries average: $38,000

Funding per pupil: $6,326

Residents of Memphis and Shelby County also support a network of 70 private elementary and secondary schools. Premier among the list are St. Mary's Episcopal School, a school for girls in grades junior kindergarten through graduation, and Memphis University School, an all-boys preparatory school. Both are located within scenic surroundings in the eastern section of Memphis. Others often considered stepping stones to National Merit Scholarships are the Briarcrest Christian School System, Presbyterian Day School, and Harding Academy.

Public Schools Information: Memphis City School System, 2597 Avery Avenue, Memphis, TN 38112; telephone (901)416-5300

Colleges and Universities

The University of Memphis (U of M) is the largest college campus in Shelby County, both in size and student enrollment (more than 20,000). The U of M offers 15 bachelor's degrees in more than 50 majors, master's degrees in more than 45 subjects, and doctoral degrees in more than 20 disciplines. Set on 1,160 acres, its sprawling campus includes a College of Arts and Sciences, Fogelman College of Business and Economics, College of Communication and Fine Arts, College of Education, Herff College of Engineering, University College, Loewenberg School of Nursing, Humphreys School of Law, and Graduate School.

Rhodes College, recognized by Time magazine as "one of the nine colleges challenging the nation's elite schools for prominence" is the oldest four-year liberal-arts school in the city. Founded before the Civil War (in 1848) in Clarksville, Tennessee, the college was moved to Memphis in 1925 and quartered in ivy-covered Gothic buildings, 13 of which are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

LeMoyne-Owen College, a four-year liberal-arts college, was founded in 1862 as LeMoyne to educate emancipated slaves; it later merged with Owen College and offers majors in 21 areas of study leading to three degrees: bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of business administration. The Memphis College of Art is an independent professional college of artistic study that offers bachelor's and master's of fine arts degrees in a number of visual arts disciplines.

Future doctors, pharmacists, dentists, research academicians, and others interested in the medical field flock to Memphis to attend and graduate from the University of Tennessee (UT) Memphis. Among the colleges of the system are those of Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Health Science Engineering, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy, in addition to the UT Graduate School. UT is ranked among the largest and most progressive health science centers in the country.

Christian Brothers University is one of only a few private colleges in the nation to offer degrees in mechanical, electrical, civil, and chemical engineering. Chrichton College awards bachelor's degrees through its schools of arts and sciences; bible and theology; education and behavioral studies; and business.

Vocational schools such as State Technical Institute at Memphis provide a further dimension to educational opportunities available in Memphis and Shelby County.

Libraries and Research Centers

The Memphis/Shelby County Public Library and Information Center has an annual circulation of more than 3.3 million books. Its special collections focus on Memphis history, art and architecture, and business and management. The system maintains 23 branches and a bookmobile. Its Central Library, designed by Memphis architect Frank Ricks, opened in 2001; it is more than twice the size of the previous Main Library. The University of Memphis Libraries hold more than 1.1 million books, more than 10,000 periodical subscriptions, and many special collections, such as Confederate history, Lower Mississippi Valley history, and blues and jazz oral histories.

There are more than 40 research centers in Memphis. Research activities at the University of Memphis focus on such areas as business and economics, substance addiction, earthquakes, child development, neuropsychology, women, anthropology, ecology, oral history, educational policy, communication disorders, and genomics. Research conducted at centers affiliated with the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis focuses on fields such as neuroscience, vascular biology, genomics, and a variety of diseases and disorders. Christian Brothers University supports the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital studies pediatric diseases and abnormalities and is the only independent pediatric research center supported by a National Cancer Institute support grant.

Public Library Information: Memphis-Shelby County Public Library, 3030 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, TN 38111; telephone (901)415-2700

Memphis: History

Jackson Helps Found City

Lush wilderness covered the Mississippi River bluffs (now known as the Memphis metropolitan area) when Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto encountered the area's Chickasaw inhabitants in 1541. In 1673, French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette explored the region, called the Fourth Chickasaw Bluffs, which in 1682 was claimed for France by Robert Cavelier de La Salle as part of the vast Louisiana Territory. The French established Fort Assumption at the Fourth Chickasaw Bluffs in 1739. As ownership of the region was disputed by various nations, Fort Assumption was followed by the Spanish Fort San Fernando, built on the site in 1795, and the American Fort Adams, erected in 1797. The Chickasaw ceded West Tennessee to the United States in 1818, and the following year John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson founded a settlement on the Mississippi River bluffs that they named Memphis, after an ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River.

"King Cotton" Spurs City's Growth

Irish, Scots-Irish, Scottish Highlanders, and German immigrants joined westward-advancing pioneers from the eastern United States in settling the new town, which was incorporated in 1826. They served as gunsmiths and blacksmiths and operated saw mills, cotton mills, and cotton warehouses. The economy of the region was based primarily on the cotton industry, which utilized slave labor, and Memphis became the largest slave market in the mid-South. The necessity of transporting cotton to the marketplace made Memphis the focus of transportation improvements. The Memphis-to-New Orleans steamship line was established on the Mississippi River in 1834; six miles of railroad had been constructed around Memphis by 1842; and four major roads were carved out in the 1850s. In 1857 the Memphis-to-Charleston railroad line linked the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Coast. From 1850 to 1860 Memphis's population more than quintupled, swelling to 33,000 people.

When the economic and social differences between northern and southern states that led Tennessee to secede from the United States and join the Confederacy erupted in war, Memphis served temporarily as Tennessee's state capital. But in 1862 a Confederate fleet near Memphis was defeated by Union forces, which then captured Memphis. At the conflict's conclusion, Tennessee was the first state to rejoin the Union and the following year, in 1867, Memphis was made Shelby County seat. A series of yellow fever epidemics in the 1870s ravaged the city, leaving it deserted and bankrupt; in 1879 its charter was revoked.

Subsequent improvements to the city's sewage and drinking water systems helped reduce the threat of epidemic, trade resumed in Memphis, and its population mounted to almost 65,000 by 1890. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi south of St. Louis opened in Memphis in 1892, increasing the city's trade opportunities. The following year Memphis regained its city charter, and by the turn of the century the city was once again established as a booming trading center for cotton and lumber.

King Assassinated in City

In the first half of the twentieth century adversities in Memphis—such as the 1937 Mississippi River flood that brought 60,000 refugees into the city—were offset by advances—such as the formation of the Memphis Park Commission, the establishment of colleges, airports, military installations, and municipal utilities, and construction of port improvements. In the 1960s Memphis annexed neighboring areas and was the subject of federal court decisions ordering desegregation of the city's schools, parks, and recreational facilities. The city's sanitation workers, protesting discriminatory labor practices in a 1968 strike, attracted civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., to their cause. On April 4, 1968, King, an advocate of nonviolent protest, was slain by a sniper at a Memphis motel. A steel structure entitled "The Mountaintop" honors King in Memphis's Civic Center Plaza. By 1973 court-ordered busing for school desegregation in Memphis was adopted without major incident, and the 1980 Memphis Jobs Conference, a broad-based economic planning initiative, was praised for its thorough integration of various Memphis sectors.

Economic Growth

Present-day Memphis boasts renovated historic districts and city landmarks, striking new developments, and a diversified community of residents and workers. Traditional economic mainstays (such as cotton, lumber, and distribution) mix with services (including overnight package express, insurance, and hoteliery) and with newer enterprises (especially agricultural technology and biomedical technology) to make Memphis a strong economic community. Its strength supports academic institutions, health care facilities, and recreational assets and draws on a rich cultural and historical heritage, attracting both tourists and new residents to the river city on the bluffs.

Historical Information: Western Tennessee Historical Society Library, University of Memphis, McWherter Library Special Collections, Memphis, TN 38152; telephone (901)678-2210. Center for Southern Folklore Archives, 119 South Main Street, Memphis, TN 38103; telephone (901)525-3655. Memphis Pink Palace Museum Library, 3050 Central Avenue, Memphis, TN 38111; telephone (901)320-6368

MEMPHIS

MEMPHIS, the largest city in Tennessee and the chief city on the Mississippi River between St. Louis and New Orleans. In 1819, Memphis was laid out by a trio of town site developers, one of whom was the future president Andrew Jackson. It was named for the ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile River. During the following four decades, it became a leading river port and a center for the cotton trade. Completed in 1857, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad provided a transportation link to the Atlantic Ocean, further enhancing the city's commercial advantages. Occupied by Union forces in 1862, Memphis escaped the destruction suffered by many other southern cities during the Civil War. During the 1870s, however, repeated yellow fever epidemics decimated the local population and retarded the city's development. By 1900, Memphis had recovered and, with a population of

102,320, ranked as the second-largest city in the former Confederacy.

The Democratic organization of Boss Ed Crump dominated Memphis politics during the first half of the twentieth century. Devoted to low property taxes, Crump was reluctant to invest in the costly public works projects suggested by city planners. Although the city earned no national recognition as a showpiece of urban government, it did win a reputation as a center of blues music. In 1909, the black musician W. C. Handy wrote "Memphis Blues" as a campaign song for Crump, and the city's Beale Street became famous as the birthplace of the blues.

Between 1947 and 1977, Memphis annexed 230 square miles and almost doubled in population, claiming to have 674,000 residents in the latter year. That same year marked the death of the city's most famous resident, Elvis Presley. Presley began his rock and roll career in Memphis, recording with a small local company called Sun Records. In 1982, his home, Graceland, was opened to the public and became a pilgrimage site for more than 600,000 visitors annually; their spending gave a boost to the city's economy. Meanwhile, as the headquarters of Federal Express Corporation, Memphis claimed to be America's distribution center, and the city's airport boasted of being the world's busiest air cargo port. The city also became a major medical center and remained a hub of the cotton trade. Despite its enlarged boundaries, Memphis lost residents to growing suburban areas, and in the 1980s and 1990s, its population was relatively stable. In 2000, it was home to 650,100 people.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Capers, Gerald M., Jr. The Biography of a River Town: Memphis in Its Heroic Age. 2d ed. Memphis: G. M. Capers, 1966.

Tucker, David M. Memphis Since Crump: Bossism, Blacks, and Civic Reformers, 1948–1968. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980.

Jon C.Teaford

See alsoBlues ; Rock and Roll ; Tennessee .

Memphis: Health Care

The Memphis and Shelby County region supports numerous hospitals, including Methodist and Baptist Memorial health systems, two of the largest private hospitals in the nation. Methodist Healthcare system operates seven hospitals as well as several rural clinics; it is the largest healthcare provider in the Mid-South. Modern Healthcare magazine recently ranked Methodist Healthcare among the top 100 integrated healthcare networks in the nation. Baptist Memorial Healthcare operates 15 hospitals, three of which are within the city of Memphis, including Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, one of only a few freestanding women's hospitals in the nation. For nine consecutive years (1996-2004) Mid-Southerners have named Baptist Memorial Hospital–Memphis their "preferred hospital choice for quality" according to Health Care Market Guide 's annual studies. Memphians point with pride to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, a premier research/treatment facility for children with catastrophic diseases, particularly pediatric cancers. The institution was conceived and built by the late entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962 as a tribute to St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of impossible, hopeless, and difficult causes. Recent research at St. Jude's has focused on gene therapy, bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy, the biochemistry of normal and cancerous cells, radiation treatment, blood diseases, resistance to therapy, viruses, hereditary diseases, influenza, pediatric AIDS, and the psychological effects of catastrophic diseases. A billion-dollar expansion to double the size of St. Jude's and bolster its research facilities is well underway and parts of it will be completed and functional in early 2005: the new GMP building, an on-site facility for research/production of highly specialized medicines and vaccines; the Integrated Research Center, with a Children's Infection Defense Center; and an enlarged Immunology Department. Further expansion will include a new Integrated Patient Care and Research Building. Shelby County has more than 100 specialty clinics, including the nationally known Campbell orthopaedic center, Semmes-Murphey Neurologic and Spine Institute, and Shea Ear Clinic. Memphis has two mobile intensive care units providing prehospital emergency care.

Memphis: Communications

Newspapers and Magazines

Memphis is served by The Commercial Appeal, a morning-circulated daily newspaper. Business and local news is reported weekday mornings in The Daily News, while the Memphis Business Journal and Tri-State Defender are published weekly. Memphis Magazine is the area's monthly general-interest magazine. The Memphis Flyer is a weekly tabloid that discusses the arts, entertainment, and lifestyles, while the Mid-South Hunting & Fishing News is a bi-weekly tabloid covering outdoor recreation. Special-interest publications originating in Memphis focus on such subjects as environmental legislation, poetry, and hunting, and such industries as glass and metal, trucking, rice and cotton growing, and other agricultural concerns.

Television and Radio

Memphis-area television viewers are served by seven stations: affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC, UPN, Fox, PBS, and one independent. 33 AM and FM radio stations present Memphis audiences with a range of programming from classical, jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, reggae, easy listening, contemporary, and country music to religious, news, public radio, talk-show, agricultural, and educational broadcasts.

Media Information: The Commercial Appeal, E. W. Scripps Co., 495 Union Avenue, Memphis, TN 38103; telephone (901)529-2211. The Daily News, 193 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN 38103; telephone (901)523-1561; fax (901)526-5813

Memphis Online

City of Memphis Home Page. Available www.ci.memphis.tn.us

Commercial Appeal. Available www.commercialappeal.com

Daily News. Available www.memphisdailynews.com

Memphis Chamber of Commerce. Available www.memphischamber.com

Memphis City Schools. Available www.memphis-schools.k12.tn.us

Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau. Available www.memphistravel.com

Memphis Shelby County Public Library. Available www.memphislibrary.lib.tn.us

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. Available www.tourism.state.tn.us/index.html

Selected Bibliography

Faulkner, William, The Reivers (New York: Random House, 1962)

Grisham, J, The Firm (New York: Doubleday, 1991)

Guralnick, Peter, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1994)

Memphis: Population Profile

Metropolitan Area Residents

1980: 939,000

1990: 1,007,306

2000: 1,135,614

Percent change, 1990–2000: 12.8%

U.S. rank in 1980: 40th (MSA)

U.S. rank in 1990: 41st (MSA)

U.S. rank in 2000: 43rd (MSA)

City Residents

1980: 646,174

1990: 618,652

2000: 650,100

2003 estimate: 645,978

Percent change, 1990–2000: 5.1%

U.S. rank in 1980: 14th

U.S. rank in 1990: 18th (State rank: 1st)

U.S. rank in 2000: 24th (State rank: 1st)

Density: 2,327.4 people per square mile (2000)

Racial and ethnic characteristics (2000)

White: 223,728

Black or African American: 399,208

American Indian and Alaska Native: 1,217

Asian: 9,482

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 239

Hispanic or Latino (may be of any race): 19,317

Other: 16,226

Percent of residents born in state: 64.4% (2000)

Age characteristics (2000)

Poplation under 5 years old: 50,396

Poplation 5 to 9 years old: 53,115

Poplation 10 to 14 years old: 49,652

Poplation 15 to 19 years old: 47,761

Poplation 20 to 24 years old: 50,832

Poplation 25 to 34 years old: 102,417

Poplation 35 to 44 years old: 97,060

Poplation 45 to 54 years old: 80,832

Poplation 55 to 59 years old: 26,061

Poplation 60 to 64 years old: 20,948

Poplation 65 to 74 years old: 36,730

Poplation 75 to 84 years old: 25,476

Poplation 85 years and older: 8,820

Median age: 31.9 years

Births (2003; Shelby County)

Total number: 14,155

Deaths (2003; Shelby County)

Total number: 7,768 (of which, 211 were infants under the age of 1 year)

Money income (1999)

Per capita income: $17,838

Median household income: $32,285

Total households: 250,907

Number of households with income of . . .

less than $10,000: 37,061

$10,000 to $14,999: 19,816

$15,000 to $24,999: 39,227

$25,000 to $34,999: 37,471

$35,000 to $49,999: 41,547

$50,000 to $74,999: 40,510

$75,000 to $99,999: 16,841

$100,000 to $149,999: 10,811

$150,000 to $199,999: 3,194

$200,000 or more: 4,429

Percent of families below poverty level: 17.2% (33.9% of which were female householder families with related children under 5 years)

2002 FBI Crime Index Total: 51,034

Memphis: Transportation

Approaching the City

Located minutes from downtown, Memphis International Airport is served by international, regional, and commuter airlines. Expansion efforts in the late 1990s valued at $100 million included improvements to the concourse, taxiways, control tower, waiting areas, ticketing operations, parking facilities, and servicing systems, as well as land acquisition for further development. More enhancements at a cost of approximately $25 million are currently underway with completion expected in summer of 2005, including a concourse renovation, jet bridge improvements, and concessionaire upgrades. Other airports in the Memphis area include General DeWitt Spain Airport, Charles W. Baker Airport, Arlington Municipal Airport, Olive Branch Airport, and West Memphis Municipal Airport. Interstate highway I-40 approaches Memphis from North Carolina to the east and California to the west, while interstate highway I-55 approaches the city from Chicago, Illinois, to the north and New Orleans, Louisiana, to the south. Interstate loop I-240 rings the city. Motor traffic also enters Memphis via U.S. highways 51, 61, 64, 70, 72, 78, and 79. Amtrak offers passenger train service through Memphis's historic, recently renovated Central Station.

Traveling in the City

A fleet of more than 200 buses and vans operated by Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) meets public mass transportation needs. Ten specially designed double-decker Showboat buses connect major activity centers in midtown Memphis with downtown Memphis. The Main Street Trolley, utilizing vintage trolley cars, operates between Auction and Calhoun streets.

Memphis

The City in Brief

Founded: 1818 (incorporated 1826)

Head Official: Mayor Willie W. Herenton (D) (since 1992)

City Population

1980: 646,174

1990: 618,652

2000: 650,100

2003 estimate: 645,978

Percent change, 1990–2000: 5.1%

U.S. rank in 1980: 14th

U.S. rank in 1990: 18th (State rank: 1st)

U.S. rank in 2000: 24th (State rank: 1st)

Metropolitan Area Population

1980: 939,000

1990: 1,007,000

2000: 1,135,614

Percent change, 1990–2000: 12.8%

U.S. rank in 1980: 40th (MSA)

U.S. rank in 1990: 41st (MSA)

U.S. rank in 2000: 43rd (MSA)

Area: 279.3 square miles (2000)

Elevation: 331 feet above sea level

Average Annual Temperature: 62.0° F

Average Annual Precipitation: 48.9 inches

Major Economic Sectors: services, wholesale and retail trade, government

Unemployment rate: 6.1% (December 2004)

Per Capita Income: $17,838 (1999)

2002 FBI Crime Index Total: 51,034

Major Colleges and Universities: The University of Memphis, Rhodes College, University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences, Christian Brothers University

Daily Newspaper: The Commercial Appeal

Memphis: Convention Facilities

The advantages of Memphis's meeting sites include accessibility, adequate space, elegant places for overnight visits, leisure sites to visit, and fine dining. Located at the north end of Main Street Mall, the recently expanded, 350,000 square-foot Memphis Cook Convention Center offers 190,000 square feet of exhibition space. The convention center has 31 meeting rooms; an Executive Conference Center; a 125,000 square foot, column-free exhibit hall; a second, 35,000 square foot hall; a 28,000 square-foot ballroom; and the 2,100-seat Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.

There are more than 3,000 hotel rooms in downtown Memphis. Many hotels and motels throughout the city provide elegantly decorated spots for meetings. Among them are The Peabody, the renovated "grand old lady" famed the world over for its lobby fountain and daily parade of ducks across a red carpet from the hotel's elevators to the fountain; the Holiday Inn Select Downtown, a hotel directly across from The Peabody; Radisson Hotel adjacent to the Peabody; and the Holiday Inn Select Airport. At the Holiday Inn Select, a sprawling, contemporary-styled hotel within minutes of Memphis International Airport, accommodations provide 33,000 square feet of meeting space.

Convention Information: Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, 47 Union Avenue, Memphis, TN 38103; telephone (901)543-5300

Memphis, Egypt, USA 1. Egypt: ruins now known as Mît Rahîna some 10 miles (16 km) south of Cairo. The former city is believed to have been the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt c.2575–2130 bc. The name is derived from Men‐nefer, the name given to the pyramid city of the Pharoah Pepi I, who ruled some time between c.2300 bc and 2150 bc. It is said that the name comes from the good looks of Pepi from men ‘his’ and nefer ‘beauty’.2. USA (Tennessee): founded in 1819 around a military fort on the Mississippi River, it took its name from the Egyptian city because of its geographical similarity with that city located on the River Nile.

Memphis: Geography and Climate

Located in southwestern Tennessee on the east bank of the Mississippi River, Memphis is surrounded by slightly rolling countryside. The area, while subject to frequent changes in weather, experiences few temperature extremes. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. May and October are considered to be particularly pleasant months in Memphis.

Area: 279.3 square miles (2000)

Elevation: 331 feet above sea level

Average Temperatures: January, 41.2° F; July, 81.2° F; average annual temperature, 62.0° F

Average Annual Precipitation: 48.9 inches

Memphis: Municipal Government

Since 1966 Memphis has operated via a mayor-council form of government. The thirteen council members serve four-year terms; six are elected at-large, and seven are elected by district.

Head Official: Mayor Willie W. Herenton (D) (since 1992; current term expires 2008)

Total Number of City Employees: 6,680 (2005)

City Information: Memphis City Hall, 125 North Main Street, Memphis, TN 38103-2017; telephone (901)576-6766

Memphis City and river port on the Mississippi River, sw Tennessee, USA; largest city in Tennessee. Strategically located on Chickasaw Bluff above the Mississippi, Memphis was a French (1682), Spanish (1794) and US (1797) fort before the first permanent settlement in 1819. Today, it is a major transport centre and livestock market. Industries: timber, farm machinery, cotton, pharmaceuticals. Pop. (2000) 650,100.

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