History · Memphis

Memphis has 177 places on the National Register, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks

More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #11 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it

Dated to 1819 (Wikidata), with 8% of its homes built before 1940 and 50 historic districts holding 17,034 contributing buildings. Most of Memphis was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, the census since 1840, and every listing on the Register.

1819founded

177on the National Register

8%homes built before 1940

5old photos & papers

30famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Memphis’ archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Memphis began

When was Memphis founded?

1819

Memphis dates its founding to 1819 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1840.

First census: 3,360 in 18402020 census: 633,104207 years

How historic is Memphis?

A⁻

More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1823.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Memphis’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Memphis is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #11 of 177 in Tennessee. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

A⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Memphis’ overall grade.

Founding era1819, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19407.7% of homes (±0.4) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%C⁺National Register177 listings, 17,034 historic buildings, 275 per 10,000 residents · typical TN town 6.1 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 84%

NewerOlder

Tennessee towns of 2,500+ (177)Ahead of 94%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Memphis ranks #107 on History.

Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Memphis’ 275 sits above most of its state (98% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 17,034 historic buildings are more than any other U.S. town’s.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A+. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1819.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Memphis’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark177 places on the National Register, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Vollintine Evergreen Historic District takes in 3,120 historic buildings.Lost villages22 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Memphis, and 61 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building8 fire insurance maps, 1888 to 1907, drew every building in Memphis.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

177 listings protect 17,034 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 4 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

177

National Historic Landmarks

Beale Street Historic District

historic buildings protected

17,034

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

Beale Street Historic District

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Dutch Colonial1

Moderne1

Picturesque1

Beaux Arts1

★ Landmark

Beale Street Historic DistrictBuilt 1900

★ Landmark

Chucalissa Indian VillageSite

★ Landmark

GracelandBuilt 1939

★ Landmark

Sun Record Company, Memphis Recording ServiceBuilding

Hunt-Phelan HouseBuilt 1830

Tri-State BankBuilding

Victorian Village DistrictDistrict

Magevney HouseBuilding

All 179 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Memphis’s post office has been open since 1823. 22 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Memphis

1823–today

Raleigh

1827–1954

Morning Sun

1830–1869

Rosstown

1848–1857

White's Station

1866–1882

Capleville

1870–1959

Oakville

1870–1950

Whitehaven

1871–1949

Parkview

1874–1875

Frayser

1877–1948

18201920today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AcklenaAnnesdale ParkAnnesdale-SnowdenAulonBellevueBerclairBinghamptonBrookfieldBunker HillBuntynCaplevilleCedar GroveChickasaw GardensClayCordovaDarwinDixie HomesEast JunctionEgyptFeltsFoote HomesFrayserGoodmanGreenlaw

Gone or out of use

Antioch ChurchchurchBankers RowlocaleBaptist Hospital AirportairportBaptist Hospital EasthospitalBaptist Memorial HospitalhospitalBethlehem ChurchchurchBox Town SchoolschoolChelsea Avenue Presbyterian ChurchchurchE H Crump Memorial HospitalhospitalFort PikemilitaryGoodwyn InstituteschoolGrace Episcopal ChurchchurchHyde Park SchoolschoolMemphis Army Air FieldmilitaryMemphis Navy YardmilitaryMethodist AirportairportMethodist Hospital NorthhospitalMississippi Boulevard Christian Churchchurch

31family graveyards and cemeteries inside Memphis

Baron HirschBartonBethlehemBrownCalvaryEgyptElmwoodForest HillForest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park EastHollywoodJerusalem ChurchMemorial Park Funeral Home andMemphis Memory GardensMemphis NationalMemphis NationalMorning SunMount CarmelMount MoriahMount PisgahNew ParkNew Park Memorial GardensNew ZionNumber Nine HallOak Forest Memorial GardensOakvillePointPotters FieldRaleighSon of ZionTemple IsraelZalowitz Beth El Emeth

See all 31

Baron Hirsch Cemetery · Barton Cemetery · Bethlehem Cemetery · Brown Cemetery · Calvary Cemetery · Egypt Cemetery · Elmwood Cemetery · Forest Hill Cemetery · Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park East · Hollywood Cemetery · Jerusalem Church Cemetery · Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery · Memphis Memory Gardens Cemetery · Memphis National Cemetery · Memphis National Cemetery · Morning Sun Cemetery · Mount Carmel Cemetery · Mount Moriah Cemetery · Mount Pisgah Cemetery · New Park Cemetery · New Park Memorial Gardens · New Zion Cemetery · Number Nine Hall Cemetery · Oak Forest Memorial Gardens · Oakville Cemetery · Point Cemetery · Potters Field · Raleigh Cemetery · Son of Zion Cemetery · Temple Israel Cemetery · Zalowitz Beth El Emeth Cemetery

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Memphis came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Memphis.

Read it all →

Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying indigenous cultures over thousands of years. In the first millennium A.D. people of the Mississippian culture were prominent; the culture influenced a network of communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The hierarchical societies built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture. The Chickasaw people, believed to be their descendants, later inhabited this site and a large territory in the Southeast.

ChaptersEarly history 19th century Postwar years, Reconstruction and Democratic control Yellow fever epidemics Late 19th century 20th century 21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Memphis, 1819 to 1966

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1819
FoundingMemphis is established
1823Post officeThe Memphis post office opens
1827Post officeThe Raleigh post office opens
1830BuiltHunt-Phelan House is built
1830Post officeThe Morning Sun post office opens
1850BuiltFowlkes-Boyle House is built
1854In the archiveMemphis, Tenessee
1862In the archiveMemphis (Tennessee) before the war
1869Post officeThe Morning Sun post office closes
1870In the archiveMemphis Avalanche ad in Memphis city directory
20th century
1900BuiltBeale Street Historic District is built
1916On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1937Born hereMorgan Freeman is born here
1939BuiltGraceland is built
1942Born hereAretha Franklin is born here
1948Born hereKathy Bates is born here
1954Post officeThe Raleigh post office closes
1966LandmarkBeale Street Historic District named a National Historic Landmark

By decade

Memphis, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1870s5 items

1854Memphis, Tenessee

1862Memphis (Tennessee) before the war

1866Memphis race massacre 1866 casualty list

1870Memphis Avalanche ad in Memphis city directory

P15138coll18 259 full Tennessee-Memphis under quarantine rule- scenes in the plague stricken city, Moise Jr., Columbus

1878P15138coll18 259 full Tennessee-Memphis under quarant…

On the map

Memphis on the map, 1916 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Memphis. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1916Memphis sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Memphis.

Every building

Memphis, building by building, 1888–1907

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Memphis fire insurance map, 1888, sheet 2

1888Sheet 2 of 67

Edition

Sheets

+66 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewMemphis, Tenessee, 1854

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Memphis’ page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Memphis, census by census

Between 3,360 and 650,100 people in every census since 1840.

19 censuses, 1840–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Memphis’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

30 famous people were born in Memphis

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Morgan FreemanAmerican actor and producer · b. 1937

Aretha FranklinAmerican singer, songwriter, and pianist · b. 1942

Kathy BatesAmerican film actress and director · b. 1948

Shannen DohertyAmerican actress · b. 1971

Lucy HaleAmerican actress and singer · b. 1989

Ginnifer GoodwinAmerican actress · b. 1978

Help out

Finish Memphis’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewMemphis, Tenessee: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Germantown4 historic placesB⁻Bartlett3 historic placesB⁻LakelandIts storyD

Questions about Memphis’ history

What year was Memphis founded?

In 1819, according to Wikidata. Memphis’ post office opened in 1823, and the census of 1840 counted 3,360 people here.

How does Memphis rank for history?

Memphis is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #11 of 177 in Tennessee. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Memphis?

177 listings, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks: 117 buildings, 52 historic districts with 16,883 contributing buildings, 8 sites, and 2 structures. 17,034 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Memphis?

8% of Memphis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1970.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (7), the National Register of Historic Places (179), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

Post to Memphis

Check your email

Memphis has 177 places on the National Register, 4 of them National Historic Landmarks

How Memphis began

When was Memphis founded?

How historic is Memphis?

What drives Memphis’ History grade

What stands out about Memphis’ past

177 listings protect 17,034 historic buildings

Architectural styles listings

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

How Memphis came to be

Memphis, 1819 to 1966

Memphis, decade by decade

Memphis on the map, 1916 to 1993

Memphis, building by building, 1888–1907

Stand where they stood

Memphis, census by census

30 famous people were born in Memphis

Finish Memphis’s story

History across the town line

Questions about Memphis’ history

Memory lane

Where this page comes from