Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County, in the southwesternmost part of the state, and is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-most populous city in Tennessee after Nashville.
West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that roughly comprises the western quarter of the state. The region includes 21 counties between the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, delineated by state law. Its geography consists primarily of flat lands with rich soil and vast floodplain areas of the Mississippi River. Of the three regions, West Tennessee is the most sharply defined geographically, and is the lowest-lying. It is both the least populous and smallest, in land area, of the three Grand Divisions. Its largest city is Memphis, the state's second most populous city.
Midtown is a collection of neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee, to the east of Downtown.
The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is the public transportation provider for Memphis, Tennessee. It is one of the largest transit providers in the state of Tennessee; MATA transports customers in the City of Memphis and parts of Shelby County on fixed-route buses, paratransit vehicles, demand-responsive service, and the MATA Trolley system. The system is managed by a seven-member policy board appointed by the mayor and approved by the Memphis City Council. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 3,122,700.
Memphis Central Station, referred to as Grand Central Station prior to 1944, is a passenger terminal in Memphis, Tennessee. Located along Main Street and G.E. Patterson Boulevard in Downtown Memphis, it currently a service stop for Amtrak's City of New Orleans route, arriving in late evening northbound and in the morning southbound. It is also served by the MATA Trolley system. The building was opened in 1914, and is located within the city's South Main Arts District. It is also an contributing property to the South Main Street Historic District of the National Register of Historic Places, as are the National Civil Rights Museum and other historic properties within the district boundaries.
The Sterick Building is an office building in Memphis, Tennessee. It was designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick & Co., and was completed in 1930—its name is a contraction of the original owners' names, R.E. Sterling and Wyatt Hedrick. It is a gothic-style tower, 111 m (365 ft) tall with 29 floors. When it opened it 1930 it was called the tallest building in the American South, It was the tallest building in Tennessee until 1957. It is now the fifth-tallest building in Memphis. It stands at the corner of Madison Avenue and North B.B. King Boulevard.
Transportation in Greater St. Louis, Missouri includes road, rail, ship, and air transportation modes connecting the bi-state St. Louis metropolitan area with surrounding communities throughout the Midwest, national transportation networks, and international locations. The Greater St. Louis region also supports a multi-modal transportation network that includes bus, paratransit, and light rail service in addition to shared-use paths, bike lanes and greenways.
One Beale is a proposed four-phase development in Memphis, Tennessee. Located at the corner of Beale Street and Riverside, the $400 million riverfront development located in downtown Memphis will include high-end apartments, a full-service Hyatt hotel, and space for restaurants and events stretching 5.5 acres from Beale Street to Pontotoc Avenue and along Front Street and west to the Mississippi River. As of October 2020, One Beale had three phases under construction valued at $200 million with another $200 million in the development pipeline.
Tom Lee Park is a city park located to the immediate west of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. Encompassing about 30 acres (12 ha) parallel to the Mississippi River for about one mile (1.6 km), it offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River and the shores of Arkansas on the opposite side. The park is named after Tom Lee, an African-American riverworker, who saved the lives of 32 passengers of the sinking steamboat M.E. Norman in 1925.
The history of Memphis, Tennessee and its area began many thousands of years ago with succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples. In the first millennium, it was settled by the Mississippian culture. The Chickasaw Indian tribe emerged about the 17th century, or migrated into the area. The earliest European exploration may have encountered remnants of the Mississippian culture by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Later French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle likely encountered the Chickasaw. The city of Memphis was not founded until 1819. The city was named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River in North Africa.
Tourism in Memphis includes the points of interest in Memphis, Tennessee such as museums, fine art galleries, and parks, as well as Graceland the Beale Street entertainment district, and sporting events.
Memphis, Tennessee has developed into a major Mid-American commercial and transportation hub because of its location on the Mississippi River and a convergence of numerous rail and highway links. Four rail and highway bridges cross the Mississippi River at Memphis. In addition, Memphis International Airport has become the world's largest airfreight terminal.
The MATA Trolley is a heritage streetcar transit system operating in Memphis, Tennessee. It began operating on April 29, 1993. Service was suspended in June 2014, following fires on two cars. After nearly four years and repeated postponements, the reopening of the Main Street Line took place on April 30, 2018. The system's two other lines remained suspended as of December 2022, but with reopening of both planned. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 365,400.
The Memphis Street Railway Company was a privately owned operator of streetcars (trams) and trolleybuses in Memphis, Tennessee on roughly 160 route miles of overhead electrified cable and rails between 1895 and 1960. The longest of the rail lines reached from downtown to Memphis National Cemetery near Raleigh.
The Main Street Line is a line of the Memphis Area Transit Authority trolley system. It began operations in 1993, becoming the first streetcar line to operate in Memphis since 1947. It runs for about 2 mi (3.2 km) along Main Street, with 14 stops in Downtown Memphis. The Main Street Line is concurrent with the Riverfront Loop for almost all of its length.
The Riverfront Loop is a line of the Memphis Area Transit Authority trolley system. It began operation in 1997, as the second line in the system. It runs for 4.1 mi (6.6 km) through downtown Memphis and along the Mississippi riverfront, with 18 stops along the way. It is the longest of the system's three lines, though it is concurrent with the Main Street Line for about half of its length. Part of the line offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River from atop to the Chickasaw Bluffs.
The Madison Avenue Line is a line of the Memphis Area Transit Authority trolley system. The trolley line began operating in 2004, and cost $56 million to build. It consists of 2.2 mi (3.5 km) of double track along Madison Avenue with six stops stretching into Midtown Memphis. The line was built to connect the Main Street system to the Medical District just east of Downtown Memphis. Trolley service has been suspended since April 2014, after two trolley cars caught fire within a span of six months. Buses have been serving the line since then, but MATA plans to restore trolley operation to the line eventually.
The Mississippi River Trail is a designated bicycle and pedestrian trail that traverses the shores of the Mississippi River in the United States. The trail extends from the headwaters at Lake Itasca in Minnesota to near the mouth of the river in Venice, Louisiana. Much of the trail’s 3,000 miles (4,800 km) follows roadways used by motor vehicles, although some of the route is on multi-use trails. The segment in Minnesota has been designated as U.S. Bicycle Route 45, part of the U.S. Bicycle Route System.
The Pinch District is a historical district of downtown Memphis roughly bordered by the Wolf River lagoon on the west, Market Street on the south, Danny Thomas Boulevard on the east, and A.W. Willis Avenue on the north.
The Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP), known as the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC) until being renamed in April 2018, is a nonprofit organization that manages and develops the various riverfront parks and amenities located along the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee, on behalf of the city government.
