Memphis | Facts & Points Of Interest | Britannica

The contemporary city

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Memphis’s central location has helped make it one of the largest distribution centers in the United States. Its international airport is the world’s second busiest cargo airport (after Hong Kong’s), and the city is among the nation’s largest inland river ports. Extensive rail and highway facilities and the headquarters of major freight corporations contribute to the importance of the industry. Memphis is a major world cotton market and a world leader in hardwood trading and processing and soybean processing. The city serves an agricultural area noted for livestock, cotton, soybeans, corn (maize), feed grains, and forest products and has agricultural research and food processing industries. It is an important wholesale center. Manufactures include electronics, medical products and equipment, and paper products. Services (including health care, banking and finance, government, and education), tourism and convention business, and high-technology industries also contribute to the economy. Educational institutions in Memphis include Rhodes College (1848; Presbyterian), LeMoyne-Owen College (1871), Christian Brothers University (1871; Roman Catholic), University of Memphis (1912), Southwest Tennessee Community College (established in 2000 by the merger of the State Technical Institute at Memphis and Shelby State Community College), Memphis College of Art (1936), and the health science center of the University of Tennessee.

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Memphis is one of the birthplaces of blues music and is associated particularly with composer W.C. Handy, who immortalized the city’s Beale Street in one of his songs. Handy’s home is preserved as a museum, and modern Beale Street is a popular entertainment district, with nightclubs, restaurants, shops, live music, and other attractions. B.B. King also occupies a central place in the history of the blues in Memphis. A blues festival is held annually in August, and other events throughout the year celebrate the city’s musical heritage. Memphis has also been called the birthplace of rock and roll. Elvis Presley was one of many musicians who launched careers from Memphis’s Sun Studio. After Presley’s death in 1977, his city mansion and burial site, Graceland, became a shrine (opened to the public for tours in 1982). Memphis made a huge contribution to the development of soul music as well, with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and Al Green being just a few of the significant soul artists who recorded in Memphis or called it home.

Memphis has a symphony orchestra, ballet troupe, and opera company, as well as several organizations. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (1916) is the state’s oldest; the Memphis Pink Palace Museum includes a planetarium and cultural and historical exhibits. Historic sites include the Hunt-Phelan Home (1828) and the Burkle Estate/Slavehaven (1849), a station on the Underground Railroad. The Center for Southern Folklore is devoted to the people and culture of the South. Sun Studio offers tours, and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music is located on the site of the Stax recording studio and operates an adjacent music school. Also located in the city is the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, which was developed in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. A park on Mud Island, in the Mississippi, includes a five-block-long scale model of the river. The 32-story stainless-steel Pyramid Arena hosts sports events, concerts, and shows. FedExForum (opened 2004) houses the Grizzlies, the city’s professional basketball team. The Memphis in May International Festival is an annual month-long event devoted to a different country each year. Africa in April is an annual festival celebrating African American culture.

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A U.S. Navy facility is located in Millington to the north. Chucalissa, a prehistoric Native American village and archaeological museum, is in T.O. Fuller State Park in southwestern Memphis, and Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park is north of the city.

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