1.
Memphis, Tennessee
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Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U. S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf, Memphis had a population of 653,450 in 2013, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee. It is the largest city on the Mississippi River, the third largest in the greater Southeastern United States, the greater Memphis metropolitan area, including adjacent counties in Mississippi and Arkansas, had a 2014 population of 1,317,314. This makes Memphis the second-largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed by metropolitan Nashville, Memphis is the youngest of Tennessees major cities, founded in 1819 as a planned city by a group of wealthy Americans including judge John Overton and future president Andrew Jackson. A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian, and the Memphis region is known, particularly to media outlets, as Memphis and the Mid-South. Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a location for human settlement by varying cultures over thousands of years. The historic Chickasaw Indian tribe, believed to be their descendants, French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto would encounter the Chickasaw in that area, in the 16th century. J. D. L. Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present day location of Memphis, spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws. The United States gained the right to navigate the Mississippi River, the Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down the Ohio River to claim the land, by this time, the Spanish had departed. The forts ruins went unnoticed twenty years later when Memphis was laid out as a city, the city of Memphis was founded on May 22,1819 by John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson. They named it after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River, Memphis developed as a trade and transportation center in the 19th century because of its flood-free location high above the Mississippi River. Located in the delta region along the river, its outlying areas were developed as cotton plantations. The cotton economy of the antebellum South depended on the labor of large numbers of African-American slaves. Through the early 19th century, one million slaves were transported from the Upper South, Many were transported by steamboats along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. This gave planters and cotton brokers access to the Atlantic Coast for shipping cotton to England, the citys demographics changed dramatically in the 1850s and 1860s under waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and the Great Famine, ethnic Irish made up 9.9 percent of the population in 1850, but 23.2 percent in 1860, when the total population was 22,623. They had encountered considerable discrimination in the city but by 1860 and they also gained many elected and patronage positions in the Democratic Party city government, and an Irish man was elected as mayor before the Civil War
2.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
3.
Interstate 40
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Interstate 40 is a major east-west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States generally north of Interstate 10 and Interstate 20 but south of Interstate 70. The western end is at Interstate 15 in Barstow, California, its end is at a concurrency of U. S. Route 117 and North Carolina Highway 132 in Wilmington. It is the third longest interstate in the United States, behind Interstate 80 and Interstate 90. Much of the part of I-40, from Oklahoma City to Barstow, parallels or overlays the historic U. S. Route 66, east of Oklahoma City the route generally parallels U. S. Route 64. Interstate 40 is a major east–west route of the Interstate Highway System and its western end is in Barstow, California. Known as the Needles Freeway, it heads east from Barstow across the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County to Needles, I-40 covers 155 miles in California. A sign in California showing the distance to Wilmington, North Carolina has been several times. Interstate 40 is a route to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, with the exits leading into Grand Canyon National Park in Williams. I-40 covers 359 miles in Arizona, just west of exit 190, west of Flagstaff, is its highest elevation along I-40 in the US, as the road crosses just over 7,320 feet. I-40 also passes through the Navajo Nation, the largest Indian reservation in the US, I-40 covers 374 miles in New Mexico. Notable cities along I-40 include Albuquerque, Santa Rosa, Tucumcari, Grants, I-40 also travels through several different Indian reservations in the western half of the state. It reaches its highest point of 7,275 feet at the Continental Divide in western New Mexico between Gallup and Grants. Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas are the three states where I-40 has a speed limit of 75 mph instead of 70 mph which happens in California, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee. In the west Texas panhandle area, there are several ranch roads connected directly to the interstate, one of the marked at-grade crossings is shown to the right. The only major city in Texas that is served by I-40 is Amarillo. I-40 has only one center in the state that Is located in Amarillo at the exit for Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. I-40 covers 331 miles in Oklahoma, Interstate 40 enters the west-central part of the state and runs for 284 miles in Arkansas. The route passes through Van Buren, where it intersects the southbound Interstate 540/US71 to Fort Smith, the route continues east to Alma to intersect Interstate 49 north to Fayetteville, Arkansas
4.
Interstate 55
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Interstate 55 is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north-south route, the highway travels from LaPlace, Louisiana, at I-10 to Chicago at U. S. Route 41, at McCormick Place. The section of I-55 between Chicago and St. Louis was built as a route for US66. It crosses the Mississippi River twice, once at Memphis, Tennessee, when it was realized that a national highway system was needed, the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 provided for a highway replacing the old Route 66 which I-55 filled. I-55 was originally constructed in the 1970s, to extend a section of Route 66 between I-294 and Gardner which had converted into a freeway and had Interstate signage installed in 1960. During the rest of the 1960s, I-55 was built in portions throughout Illinois eventually connecting St. Louis to Chicago where it became the direct route between them. As it goes southwards, most of the Interstate was purpose-built during the 1960s and 70s, the entire length was completed in 1979. In Louisiana, I-55 runs nearly 66 miles from south to north, from I-10 near Laplace to the Mississippi state line near Kentwood, approximately 1⁄3 of the distance consists of the Manchac Swamp Bridge, a nearly 23-mile causeway, often cited as the third-longest viaduct in the world. In Mississippi, I-55 runs 290.5 miles from the Louisiana border near Osyka, Mississippi to Southaven on the Tennessee border, noteworthy cities and towns that I-55 passes through or close by to are McComb, Jackson, and Grenada. This highway parallels US51 in its path roughly through the center of Mississippi, the eight miles from Hernando to the Tennessee state line coincide with the newer I-69. The Mississippi section of I-55 is defined in the Mississippi Code § 65-3-3, the Tennessee Department of Transportation currently has an interchange improvement project for this portion. Heavy truck traffic heading to and from Arkansas in this area is hence directed to detour via I-240 and I-40, for the Tennessee stretch of the Interstate, the usual national freeway speed limit of 70 mph is reduced to 65 mph. I-255 was the former numbering of I-240 between I-55 and I-40 through midtown Memphis, Tennessee, I-55 enters Arkansas from Tennessee as it crosses the Mississippi River on the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge. It overlaps I-40 for approximately 2.8 miles in West Memphis, after separating from I-40, I-55 turns northward and runs with US61, US63, and US64 until US64 exits in through Marion. I-55/US 61/US63 continue north through Crittenden County through rural farms of the Arkansas delta, I-55 passes through Blytheville, where it has a junction with Highway 18 before entering Missouri. I-55 parallels U. S.61 in its path through Arkansas, in Missouri, I-55 runs from the southeastern part of the state, at the Arkansas border, to St. Louis. In this city, I-44 merges in with I-55, and then I-64, among the cities and towns served by I-55 in Missouri are Sikeston, Cape Girardeau, and St. Louis. As noted above, I-55 parallels US61 for most of its course through Missouri, I-55 largely follows the 1940 alignment of the former US66, now Historic US66, through Illinois
5.
Midtown, Memphis, Tennessee
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Midtown Memphis, Tennessee is a collection of neighborhoods to the east of Downtown. Midtown is home to cultural attractions, institutions of higher education. The district is an anchor in Memphis arts scene, including the Playhouse on the Square, the Hattiloo Theater, the Brooks Museum of Art, the Memphis College of Art, the annual Cooper-Young Arts Festival draws over 120,000 visitors to the district. Midtown also plays host to multiple universities and colleges, including Memphis College of Art, Rhodes College, Midtown is characterized by vintage residential housing, a blend of independent and chain retailers, and high-rise buildings. Multiple historic districts are located in Midtown, and commercial corridors such as Overton Square, mixed use areas with housing, religious, commercial and office spaces are common in Midtown. Midtown is known in the Memphis region for its bumper stickers displaying Midtown is Memphis and 38104, Midtown has an evenly distributed black and white population, as well as a notable Asian population. Cleveland Street in Crosstown is the heart of the Vietnamese population in Memphis, with multiple Vietnamese-owned businesses, the exact boundaries of Midtown are often disputed. Generally, it is the area between the Medical District to the west and East Memphis to the east, the eastern boundary is variously defined as East Parkway, the CN railroad east of East Parkway. The northern boundary is Vollintine Avenue, VECA is generally considered the northern-most neighborhood in Midtown. Cooper-Young and Rozelle are generally regarded as the southern-most neighborhoods in Midtown, interstate 240 provides the western border for the neighborhood, separating Midtown from Downtown and the Medical District. Due to the eastward expansion of the city, automobile traffic in Midtown is primarily served by east-west arteries. Midtown Memphis is connected to the Medical District and downtown via the Madison Avenue trolley line, with a park, most of this stretch of Madison contains its original granite curbs, and in a few locations the original brick pavers can be seen in the gutters. Bicycle infrastructure is growing in Midtown, with bike lanes now installed on McLean Boulevard, Madison Avenue, Southern Avenue, protected bike lanes have been installed on portions of Overton Park Avenue. Additionally, the Hampline is a bicycle track that will connect Overton Park to Shelby Farms in suburban Memphis via the Shelby Farms Greenline. Several private and parochial schools are found throughout Midtown, including Grace-St. Lukes Episcopal School, Immaculate Conception Cathedral School. The 1st Class Montessori School has operated for twenty years on Peabody Avenue in Midtown. Midtown is home to two private undergraduate universities, Rhodes College is a classical liberal arts college housing roughly two thousand students in the Vollintine-Evergreen neighborhood. Christian Brothers University is located adjacent to the Lenox neighborhood on East Parkway, several specialized colleges and schools are also located in Midtown
6.
Memphis Redbirds
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The Memphis Redbirds are a minor league baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and play their games at AutoZone Park which opened in 2000. The team previously played at Tim McCarver Stadium in 1998 and 1999 and they were established as a PCL expansion team in 1998. A total of 6 managers have led the club and its more than 500 players, as of the completion of the 2016 season, the Redbirds have played in 2,719 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 1, 340–1,379. They won the Pacific Coast League Championship in 2000 and 2009, the first professional baseball team in Memphis was the Memphis Reds of the League Alliance in 1877. They were followed by the Grays, Browns, Giants, Fever Germs, Lambs, Egyptians, Turtles, Chickasaws, Blues, in 1997, Memphis was home to the Double-A Chicks of the Southern League. The Memphis Redbirds were created as a team of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1998. This resulted in the Chicks relocating to nearby Jackson, where they became known the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, initially, the Redbirds were owned as a non-profit community entity called the Memphis Redbirds Baseball Foundation and operated by Global Spectrum, a Comcast-owned company. While a new ballpark, AutoZone Park, was constructed for the team, the Redbirds became the top minor league affiliate of the major league St. Louis Cardinals. Memphis team name, logo, color scheme, and uniforms were all based on those of the St. Louis team, in their inaugural season, the club was managed by Gaylen Pitts. The Redbirds played their first game on the road at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, in game one of the doubleheader, the Omaha Royals defeated the Redbirds, 3–2. The team finished their first season of play with a 74–70 record and they finished the 1999 season in third place with a 74–64 record. In 2000, Memphis moved into the newly constructed AutoZone Park, in the parks first regular season game, held on April 14, the Redbirds defeated the Iowa Cubs, 14–3. Memphis went on to clinch the Pacific Coast Leagues American Conference East Division Championship by ending the season in first place, in the American Conference Championship, the Redbirds defeated the Albuquerque Isotopes, 3–2 in the best-of-five series, and advanced to the league championship. Memphis then defeated the Salt Lake Buzz, 3–1, to win the PCL Championship, the Redbirds went on to face the Indianapolis Indians, league champions of the Triple-A International League, in the best-of-five Triple-A World Series. Memphis lost, three games to one, the team finished each of the next three seasons in fourth place—2001,2002, and 2003. The 2002 campaign was a tight race within the American Conference East Division. Tom Spencer became manager of the Redbirds in 2013 and he was replaced midseason by Danny Sheaffer
7.
St. Louis Cardinals
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The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Busch Stadium has been their home ballpark since 2006, with origins as one of the early professional baseball clubs in St. Upon the discontinuation of the AA, St. Louis joined the NL in 1892, at time, they were called the Browns. One of the most successful franchises in history, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships. Their 19 National League pennants rank third in NL history, in addition, St. Louis has won 13 division titles in the East and Central divisions. While still in the AA, St. Louis won four league championships, the Cardinals have won 105 or more games in four different seasons and won 100 or more a total of nine times. Cardinals players have won 20 league MVPs, four batting Triple Crowns, and three Cy Young Awards. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees include Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Branch Rickey, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, and Bruce Sutter. In 2016, Forbes valued the Cardinals at $1.6 billion, making them the 7th-most valuable franchise in MLB, their revenue the year was $300 million. Since their purchase in 1995, owner William DeWitt, Jr. s investment group has seen enormous growth from the $147 million purchase price, John Mozeliak is the general manager and Mike Matheny is the manager. Professional baseball began in St. Louis with the inception of the Brown Stockings in the National Association in 1875, the NA folded following that season, and the next season, St. Louis joined the National League as a charter member, finishing in third place at 45-19. George Bradley hurled the first no-hitter in Major League history, the NL expelled St. Louis from the league after 1877 due to a game-fixing scandal and the team went bankrupt. Without a league, they continued play as a barnstorming team through 1881. For the 1882 season, Chris von der Ahe purchased the team, reorganized it, and made it a member of the American Association. 1882 is generally considered to be the first year existence of the St. Louis Cardinals, the next season, St. Louis shortened their name to the Browns. Soon thereafter they became the dominant team in the AA, as manager Charlie Comiskey guided St. Louis to four pennants in a row from 1885 to 1888. Pitcher and outfielder Bob Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins in 1885 and he also led the AA in OBP and OPS in 1886 and finished fourth in batting average in 1886 and fifth in 1887
8.
Memphis Grizzlies
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The Memphis Grizzlies are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association as a team of the leagues Western Conference Southwest Division. The Grizzlies play their games at FedExForum. The team is owned by Robert Pera, the Grizzlies are the only team in the major professional North American sports leagues based in the city of Memphis. The team was established as the Vancouver Grizzlies, an expansion team that joined the NBA for the 1995–96 season. After the 2000–01 NBA season concluded, the Grizzlies moved to Memphis, the Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association, the team was established in 1995, along with the Toronto Raptors, as part of the NBAs expansion into Canada. Following the 2000–01 season, the relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The Grizzlies played their games at General Motors Place for the entirety of their six seasons in Vancouver. The Vancouver Grizzlies applied with the NBA to relocate to Memphis on March 26,2001, Memphis became the easternmost city in the Western Conference. In their first three seasons in Memphis, the Grizzlies played their games at the Pyramid Arena. In the 2001 NBA draft, the Atlanta Hawks chose Pau Gasol as the 3rd overall pick, forward Shane Battier was selected with the 6th pick in the same draft by the Vancouver Grizzlies. They also acquired Jason Williams from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Mike Bibby that same year, after the Grizzlies first season in Memphis, Gasol won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. The Grizzlies also drafted Shane Battier, who became an unofficial spokesman for the team. However, despite the strong draft class, general manager Billy Knight was let go, during the 2002–03 season, Hubie Brown was hired to coach the Grizzlies. They also won a then record 50 games under Gasol and Williams, in the playoffs they faced the San Antonio Spurs, who swept them out of the playoffs in four games. Brown stepped down as coach during the 2004–05 NBA season. At the time of his resignation, the Grizzlies had a record but West hired TNT analyst
9.
History of Memphis, Tennessee
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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 European-American 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. It rapidly developed as a trading center for cotton cultivated at the regions large plantations. In the 19th century, and especially 1878 and 1879, the city suffered yellow fever epidemics. In 1878 tens of thousands of residents fled and more than 5,000 died, with more dying in the next years epidemic, causing the city to go bankrupt. In the early 20th century, cotton was still a major commodity crop, Memphis grew into the worlds largest spot cotton market, during the 1960s the city was at the center of civil rights actions, with a major strike by city sanitation workers in 1968. Having come to the city to support the workers, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by a sniper on April 4,1968. Many notable blues musicians grew up in and around the Memphis and these included such musical greats as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, B. B. The Tipton Phase people were an expression of the Mississippian culture. They inhabited the region of modern-day Tipton, Lauderdale and Shelby counties during the time of first contact with Europeans, by the end of the Mississippian period, the land was claimed and populated by the Chickasaw tribe. The exact origins of the Chickasaw are uncertain, noted historian Horatio Cushman indicates that the Chickasaw, along with the Choctaw, may have had origins in present-day Mexico and migrated north. When Europeans first encountered them, the Chickasaw were living in villages in what is now Mississippi, with a number in the area of Savannah Town. Twentieth-century scholar Patricia Galloway says that the Chickasaw may have been migrants to the area from the west and their oral history supports this, indicating they moved along with the Choctaw from west of the Mississippi in pre-history. European exploration came later, with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto believed to have visited what is now the Memphis area as early as the 1540s. Fort Assumption was a French fortification constructed in 1739 on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff on the Mississippi River by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, the fort was used as a base against the Chickasaw in the abortive Campaign of 1739. Despite such early outposts, the land comprising present-day Memphis remained in an unorganized territory throughout most of the 18th century in terms of European settlement
10.
Steamboat
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A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S. S. or S/S or PS, the term steamboat is used to refer to smaller, insular, steam-powered boats working on lakes and rivers, particularly riverboats. As using steam became more reliable, steam power became applied to larger, Early attempts at powering a boat by steam were made by the French inventor Denis Papin and the English inventor Thomas Newcomen. Papin invented the steam digester and experimented with closed cylinders and pistons pushed in by atmospheric pressure, Papin proposed applying this steam pump to the operation of a paddlewheel boat and tried to market his idea in Britain. He was unable to convert the piston motion into rotary motion. Newcomens design did solve the first problem, but remained shackled to the inherent limitations of the engines of the time, a steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat, William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, having learned of Watts engine on a visit to England, made his own engine. In 1763 he put it in a boat, the boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed, presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries and this boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour and traveled more than 2,000 miles during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a boat made 30-mile excursions, and in 1790. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual version,100 feet long. Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a steamboat the next year. The boat was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symingtons design with a cylinder engine. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth, in 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to a crank
Downtown Core
