60 Fun Facts About Memphis

Memphis sits on the banks of which great waterway?

It is the largest city proper anywhere on the river, perched on the Chickasaw Bluffs above the floodplain.

Memphis was named after an ancient capital of which country?

The founders chose the name in 1819 for another great city on a great river, the Nile.

Which future US president was one of the three founders of Memphis in 1819?

John Overton and James Winchester were his partners; the city was founded less than five months after the Chickasaw ceded the land.

Which Spanish conquistador is credited with the first European exploration of the Memphis area in 1541?

The I-40 bridge over the Mississippi carries his name today; locals call it the 'M Bridge'.

Memphis is the seat of which Tennessee county?

It is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville.

Which disease devastated Memphis in a series of 1870s epidemics, killing more than 5,000 in 1878 alone?

Twenty thousand residents fled within four days, and the city lost its charter and much of its middle class.

Which political machine leader controlled Memphis from the 1910s to about 1950?

W. C. Handy's 'The Memphis Blues' began life as a campaign song for him in the 1909 mayoral race.

Which company is the largest employer in Memphis, with its global air hub at the airport?

Founder Fred Smith chose the city for its central location and calm weather, moving operations there in 1973.

Where was FedEx (then Federal Express) founded in 1971 before moving to Memphis?

Fred Smith sketched the idea in a Yale term paper that his professor was unimpressed by.

What was the name of Elvis Presley's Memphis mansion?

It sits on Elvis Presley Boulevard in Whitehaven and receives around 600,000 visitors a year, second only to the White House among US homes.

The Whitehaven mansion Elvis bought in 1957 was named after whom?

Stephen C. Toof founded Memphis's oldest commercial printing firm and named the farm for his daughter.

How much did Elvis pay for his Whitehaven mansion in March 1957?

He gave his parents a $100,000 budget to find a farmhouse with some space around it; they went slightly over.

Elvis's mansion was the first site on the National Register of Historic Places for significance to what?

It was listed in 1991 and became a National Historic Landmark in 2006, another first for a rock site.

Where was Elvis born, before his family moved to Memphis when he was 13?

His twin brother Jesse Garon was stillborn 35 minutes before him.

Who ran Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue and discovered Elvis, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis?

He opened it in January 1950 as the Memphis Recording Service with his assistant Marion Keisker.

Which 1951 recording made at Sun Studio is often called the first rock and roll record?

It was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats but the band was really Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm.

The 1951 Sun single that Ike Turner's band cut was a hymn of praise to a new model from which carmaker?

Brenston admitted it borrowed from Jimmy Liggins' 'Cadillac Boogie'; the band was really Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm.

Which Memphis thoroughfare is a national historic landmark and the heart of the city's blues heritage?

It runs about 1.8 miles from the Mississippi River to East Street.

W. C. Handy, the 'Father of the Blues', wrote 'The Memphis Blues' as a campaign song for whom?

It was originally titled 'Mr. Crump'; publishing the sheet music in 1912 launched Handy's style nationally.

How did Stax Records get its name?

The sibling partners started out as Satellite Records in 1957 and switched names in 1961.

Which was Stax's biggest star, who died in a 1967 plane crash?

He was technically signed to the sister label Volt; his death and the loss of the Atlantic deal nearly sank the company.

Stax's Memphis studio was set up inside what kind of former building?

Estelle Axton ran the Satellite record shop in the old cinema foyer where the refreshment stand had been.

Which house band, an integrated group, backed most Stax hits?

Their own instrumental 'Green Onions' was one of the label's early hits.

At which Memphis lodging was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated on April 4, 1968?

The night before he had delivered his 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech at Mason Temple.

What institution was built around the site of King's assassination?

It became a Smithsonian affiliate in 2016 and reopened after major renovations in 2014.

King had come to Memphis in 1968 to support a strike by which city employees?

The strike began after two workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death in a garbage truck.

Where did King give his final 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech?

Mason Temple is the headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, the largest Pentecostal denomination in the US.

Which NBA team plays at FedExForum in Memphis?

They are the only major-league franchise in the city and the only NBA team in Tennessee.

From which city did Memphis's NBA franchise relocate in 2001?

They had joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1995 alongside the Toronto Raptors.

Which Memphis guard, drafted second overall in 2019, was NBA Rookie of the Year in 2020?

He starred at Murray State before the draft and started his first All-Star Game in 2022.

What did the Memphis Pyramid reopen as in 2015?

The 321-foot arena opened in 1991, sat empty after 2007 and reopened in 2015 with a hotel, bowling alley and observation deck.

What was the Memphis Pyramid originally built as, in 1991?

The Memphis Tigers nicknamed it the 'Tomb of Doom' when they played there.

What are the famous residents of the Peabody Hotel that march to the lobby fountain every day?

The tradition began in the 1930s when the manager left live decoy ducks in the fountain after a hunting trip.

What title was given to the Peabody bellman who trained the ducks to march from 1940 to 1991?

Edward Pembroke was a former circus animal trainer; the march is set to Sousa's 'King Cotton'.

Memphis-style barbecue is mostly made with which meat?

Ribs come 'dry', with a spice rub, or 'wet', mopped with sauce; it is one of the four great US regional styles.

What is the name of the largest pork barbecue cook-off on the planet, held on the riverfront each May?

Memphis in May also stages the Beale Street Music Festival, International Week and the Great River Run.

Which grocery chain opened the first true self-service supermarket in Memphis in 1916?

Clarence Saunders' store introduced checkout stands and price tags on individual items.

Which entertainer founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis in 1962?

He built it as a tribute to St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of hopeless causes; it was the South's first fully integrated children's hospital.

Which pop star, dubbed the 'Prince of Pop', was born in Memphis in 1981?

His father was a Baptist church choir director; he later performed at a White House concert celebrating Memphis soul.

Which Queen of Soul was born at 406 Lucy Avenue in Memphis in 1942?

Her father C. L. Franklin later moved the family to Detroit, where he became a famous preacher.

What is the nickname of the University of Memphis sports teams?

The men's basketball team has reached three Final Fours, though the 1985 and 2008 appearances were vacated.

Which former Memphis college star and NBA All-Star became the university's head basketball coach?

Larry Finch recruited him in 1990 as the nation's top high school prospect; he later trained with the Dream Team.

Which coach led Memphis to the 2008 national final before leaving for Kentucky?

He took the job in 2000, won the 2002 NIT and moved the team from the Pyramid to FedExForum in 2004.

What did Memphis's college basketball team nickname the Pyramid Arena, their home from 1991?

Penny Hardaway led them to the 1992 Elite Eight in their first season there.

Which annual festival features a music festival, International Week and the Great River Run?

The month-long celebration honours a different country each year during International Week.

What was the June party series honouring the city's industries, with a secret King and Queen, formerly called?

A King and Queen of Carnival are still secretly chosen each year.

Where was Elvis originally buried before an attempted grave robbery led to his reinterment at his home?

His bassist Bill Black is still buried there.

What nickname do Memphians give the I-40 crossing to Arkansas because of its double-arch shape?

It carries Interstate 40 to West Memphis, Arkansas; the older I-55 crossing downstream is the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge.

Mud Island park is known for a walking trail featuring what?

The Mississippi River Museum is also on the island.

Which of these films is set in Memphis?

Others include The Firm, The Blind Side, Cast Away and Walk the Line, many of them shot in the city too.

Which financial institution, the second largest headquartered in Tennessee, is based in Memphis?

The city is also home to the fifth-busiest inland water port in the country.

Roughly what was the population of Memphis at the 2020 census?

The wider metro area, which spills into Arkansas and Mississippi, has about 1.34 million people.

Which downtown riverside green space completed a $60 million renovation in 2023?

Shelby Farms, at the eastern edge of the city, is one of the largest urban parks in the country.

Which of these singers was NOT among the Memphis-area natives listed in the city's musical history?

Baker is an indie singer-songwriter and VanWyngarden fronts MGMT; Parton is from Sevier County in East Tennessee.

Under what name did Jim Stewart found the label that became Stax in 1957?

Its early releases were country, rockabilly and pop before staff producer Chips Moman steered it toward rhythm and blues.

What did Estelle Axton mortgage in 1958 to invest US$2,500 in her brother's fledgling label?

The money bought an Ampex tape recorder; she later ran the Satellite record shop in the old cinema foyer.

Which label's 1965 distribution deal, signed unread by Jim Stewart, ended up owning the Stax masters?

A clause inserted by lawyer Paul Marshall gave the distributor ownership, and Stewart sold Stax to Paramount's parent in 1968.

Who hosted the 1972 Stax concert Wattstax, nicknamed the 'Black Woodstock'?

The 1972 concert drew more than 100,000 people, with rising comedian Richard Pryor providing the humour.

Beale Street was named in the 1840s after Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a hero of which war?

Developer Robertson Topp laid it out in 1841, originally as Beale Avenue.

Which NAACP co-founder co-owned the anti-segregation paper Free Speech on Beale Street in 1889?

The church, begun in 1869, is Tennessee's oldest surviving African American church building.