General James Winchester is credited with naming the city for the Egyptian city Memphis, which means "place of good abode." The Nile-like Mississippi, of course, was the inspiration. Winchester, Andrew Jackson, and John Overton laid out the town on a land grant from North Carolina, selecting this site because of the high bluffs above the river and the natural harbor at the mouth of the Wolf River. The land deal was somewhat questionable, and General Jackson left under a barrage of criticism. River traffic quickly developed; stores, shops, and sawmills appeared, and Memphis became one of the busiest and most boisterous ports in America.

For a short time, Memphis was the Confederate capital of the state, also serving as a military supply depot and stronghold for the Southern forces. In 1862, however, Northern troops seized the city after a river battle dominated by an armada of 30 Union ships and held it throughout the war. Plagued by yellow fever epidemics, an impoverished Memphis made a slow postwar recovery. But by 1892 the city was back on its feet, becoming the busiest inland cotton market and hardwood lumber center in the world.

Memphis dominates the flat, crop-rich, alluvial Mississippi Delta. It serves as hub of six railroads, port for millions of tons of river cargo annually, and home of over 1,100 manufacturing plants in the Memphis area. In national competition it has been acclaimed as the Cleanest City, the Safest City, and the Quietest City.

As much as one-third of the country's cotton crop is bought or sold in Memphis, known as the cotton center of the world, but the agricultural segment of the city's economy is highly diversified--corn, alfalfa, vegetables, soybeans, rice, livestock, and even fish farming. Memphis has the largest medical center in the South and more than a dozen institutions of higher learning, including the University of Memphis and Rhodes College. A city with a civic ballet, a symphony orchestra, an opera company, a repertory theater, art galleries, and College of Art, Memphis is also a major convention city and distribution center.

Throughout the world Memphis has become associated with the legendary Elvis Presley. Graceland, Presley's home, and Meditation Gardens, site of his grave, have become a destination for thousands of visitors annually. Each August, memorial celebrations are held citywide in honor of the "King of Rock 'n' Roll."