Downtown

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

is the central business district of

and is located along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

between

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

to the north,

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

to the south and I-240 to the east, where it abuts

Midtown Memphis Midtown Memphis, Tennessee is a collection of neighborhoods to the east of Downtown. Midtown is home to many cultural attractions, institutions of higher education, and noteworthy pieces of architecture. The district is an anchor in Memphis' arts ...

. It is home to the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

, the AAA affiliate of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, and the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

NBA team.

History

Downtown is the oldest part of the city and includes the riverfront and the bluffs overlooking the

. The founders of Memphis dedicated the riverfront to the public "now and forever" as long as the public use continued. The land overlooking the riverfront was originally planned to become a "public promenade" to be called ''Mississippi Row''. The upper riverfront became the site of the river landing where

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

s were loaded with

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

and other goods in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1844 and 1886 the river landing was paved with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fro ...

s brought in from the

upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...

. This created what is today the largest intact

landing still in existence, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The explosion of the steamboat ''Sultana'' in 1865 near Memphis was one of the worst marine disasters in history. There are several historic residences downtown, particularly in the

Victorian Village Victorian Village is a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, United States, north and near west of Downtown Columbus, Ohio, downtown. It is an established neighborhood built when a streetcar line first ran along Neil Avenue around 1900 with a fair numbe ...

neighborhood. Other historic homes include the Hunt-Phelan House (1830), the

Magevney House The Magevney House is a historic residence on 198 Adams Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It is located in the Victorian Village of Memphis and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the oldest residences remaini ...

(ca. 1835) and the

Burkle Estate The Burkle Estate is a historic home at 826 North Second Street in Memphis, Tennessee. It is also known as the Slavehaven. Although disputed by some historians, the Burkle Estate is claimed to have been part of the Underground Railroad- a secret ne ...

(1849). The Burkle home and the Hunt Phelan House (533 Beale Street) were reputed to have been part of the underground railroad by which escaped slaves made their way to freedom prior to the Civil War.

Downtown Airport

In 1959, the Memphis Downtown Airport was opened on

Mud Island Mud Island is a small peninsula located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is bordered by the Mississippi River to the west and the Wolf River and Harbor Town to the east. Mud Island River Park is located within the Memphis city limits, 1.2 miles fr ...

, which at that time was called City Island. The one-runway airport could be reached by a pontoon-boat ferry and was used mostly by businessmen and shoppers. The Downtown Airport was closed in 1970. It was replaced in the 1990s by the

new urbanist New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually inf ...

Harbor Town development.

Overview

Buildings

The Downtown Memphis skyline contains the tallest buildings in the city. The tallest building in Memphis, 100 North Main, is located at the heart of downtown along Main Street at Adams Ave and rises to 430 ft (131m). Some notable and/or historic downtown buildings are: * 100 North Main *

One Commerce Square One Commerce Square is a 30-story skyscraper in Downtown Memphis which is locally referred to as the "iBank Tower". The building was formerly known as the NBC Building and the SunTrust Building, and is the fourth tallest building in Memphis, Tenne ...

Sterick Building 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 go ...

Exchange Building, Memphis The Exchange Building is a 19-story skyscraper, which was formerly known as the Cotton Exchange Building and the Merchants Exchange Building, and is the twelfth-tallest building in Memphis, Tennessee. It should not be confused with the Memphi ...

Morgan Keegan Tower Raymond James Tower is a 21-story skyscraper and is the second tallest building in Memphis, Tennessee. The building is located at the corner of North Front Street and Jefferson Avenue and South Main Street. It is tall, including a spire, and h ...

First Tennessee Building The First Horizon Bank Tower (Formerly First National Bank Building and First Tennessee Bank Building) is a high-rise office building in Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County i ...

Memphis Pyramid The Memphis Pyramid, formerly known as the Great American Pyramid and the Pyramid Arena, is a building located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, United States, at the banks of the Mississippi River. Built in 1991 as a 20,142-seat arena, the facili ...

Peabody Hotel The Peabody Memphis is a historic luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, opened in 1925. The hotel is known for the "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop and make daily treks to the lobby. The Peabody is a member of Historic Hote ...

* Madison Hotel *

Scimitar Building Scimitar Building, also known as the Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Building, Winchester Building and most recently Hotel Napoleon, is a five-story stone-veneer structure in Memphis, Tennessee. Its architecture features a combination of Beaux-Arts ...

FedExForum FedExForum is a multi-purpose arena located in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It is the home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA and the NCAA Division I men's basketball program of the University of Memphis, both of whom previously played home ...

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

* 201 Poplar Downtown Memphis consists of 4.5 million square feet (418,000 square meters) of office space, around 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters) of retail space, 3,456 hotel rooms, and 13,400 housing units. The administrative core of Memphis and Shelby County is also located in Downtown Memphis. These include the

Memphis City Hall Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memph ...

, and the Federal Building, located on North Main Street, in the Civic Center Plaza (corner of Main Street and Washington). Downtown Memphis also contains the Memphis branch of the

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks (Ka ...

Districts and neighborhoods

Downtown Core

Downtown Core is the heart of the central business district and includes the majority of office space, retail, entertainment and dining spaces. It is a popular regional destination for entertainment, dining, and tourism and includes attractions such as

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, th ...

AutoZone Park AutoZone Park is a Minor League Baseball stadium located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, and is home to the Memphis Redbirds of the International League and Memphis 901 FC of the USL Championship. The Redbirds are the Triple-A affiliate of Ma ...

, and the

Districts & neighborhoods

* South Main Arts District * Medical District * Pinch District * Peabody Place *

* South Forum (SoFo) * Uptown *

Greenlaw Greenlaw is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish situated in the foothills of the Lammermuir Hills on Blackadder Water at the junction of the A697 and the A6105 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. At the 2001 United Kingd ...

* Harbor Town *

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is an English-born Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing voca ...

* South Bluffs *

Fort Pickering Fort Pickering is a 17th-century historic fort site on Winter Island in Salem, Massachusetts. Fort Pickering operated as a strategic coastal defense and military barracks for Salem Harbor during a variety of periods, serving as a fortification f ...

Memphis Riverfront

Downtown Memphis is located on the banks of the

. The Memphis Riverfront stretches from the

Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park is a state park in Shelby County, Tennessee near Memphis, located in the Southeastern United States. The park borders the Mississippi River and contains two lakes— Poplar Tree Lake and Lake Piersol. The Meem ...

in the north, to T. O. Fuller State Park in the south. The River Walk is a

park system A park system, also known as an open space system, is a network of green spaces that are connected by public walkways, bridleways or cycleways. The concept first emerged with the need to minimize fragmentation of natural environments and was r ...

along the Mississippi River that connects the Mississippi River Greenbelt Park in the north, to

Tom Lee Park Tom Lee Park is a city park located to the immediate west of downtown Memphis, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. Encompassing about parallel to the Mississippi River for about , it offers panoramic views of the Mississippi River and ...

in the south. Points of interest along the riverfront *

Chickasaw Bluff The Chickasaw Bluff is the high ground rising about above the Mississippi River flood plain between Fulton in Lauderdale County, Tennessee and Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee. This elevation, shaped as four bluffs, is named for the Chickas ...

at Beale Street Landing * Riverfront Trolley *

* Harbor Town * Pinch District *

Steamboats A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

* Ashburn-Coppock Park *

President's Island President's Island is a peninsula on the Mississippi River in southwest Memphis, Tennessee. The city's major river port and an industrial park are located there. History The name ''President'' or ''President's'' Island appeared as early as 1801 o ...

Image:Riverwalk sign Memphis TN 010.jpg, Memphis River Walk Image:4th Bluff Mounds Memphis TN 06 main mound Mississippi River view.jpg, 4th Bluff Mounds at Chickasaw Heritage Park Image:Harahan Bridge from Martyrs Park Memphis TN 012.jpg,

Harahan Bridge The Harahan Bridge is a cantilevered through truss bridge that carries two rail lines and a pedestrian bridge across the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. The bridge is owned and operated by Union Pacific ...

from Martyrs Park File:Martyrs Park Memphis TN 06.jpg, Yellow Fever Memorial in Martyrs Park Image:Confederate Park Front St Memphis TN 06.jpg, Memphis Park Image:Jefferson Davis Park Riverside Dr Memphis TN 03.jpg, Mississippi River Park Image:2011-01-08 Downtown Memphis TN 06.jpg,

Image:Vance Park Memphis TN 001.jpg, Vance Park Image:Beale Street Landing Memphis TN 006.jpg, Beale Street Landing Image:Memphis Queen Memphis TN 2012-07-22 003.jpg, Memphis Queen Image:Mississippi River Greenbelt Park Memphis TN 2013-05-12 010.jpg, Mississippi River Greenbelt Park Image:Wolf-River-Harbor-Memphis.jpg, Wolf River Harbor Image:Desoto bridge memphis.JPG,

Hernando de Soto Bridge The Hernando de Soto Bridge is a tied-arch bridge carrying Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. The design is a continuous cantilevered cable-stayed steel through arch, with beds ...

Image:Dr Martin Luther King Jr Park I-55 Exit 9 W Mallory Ave Memphis TN 16.jpg, McKellar Lake Image:Dr Martin Luther King Jr Park I-55 Exit 9 W Mallory Ave Memphis TN 11.jpg, Martin Luther King Jr Park Image:T O Fuller State Park Memphis TN 2013-06-15 003.jpg, T. O. Fuller State Park Image:Presidents Island Memphis TN 05.jpg, President's Island

Economy

Companies headquartered in Downtown include: *

AutoZone AutoZone, Inc. is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, the largest in the United States. Founded in 1979, AutoZone has over 6,400 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the US Virgin Is ...

First Horizon First Horizon Bank, formerly First Tennessee Bank, is a financial services company based in Memphis, Tennessee. As the leading subsidiary of First Horizon Corporation, it provides financial services through locations in 12 states across the South ...

Southern Airways Express Southern Airways Express is a commuter airline operating across the United States with headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida. Southern Airways acts as a local service airline for dozens of cities across all U.S. time zones, Approximately a third o ...

(

) *

ServiceMaster ServiceMaster Brands is an American privately held company owned by Roark Capital Group that provides residential and commercial services. Its headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia, after moving there in 2020 from Memphis, Tennessee. Br ...

( Peabody Place) Former headquarters: *

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. Pinnacle Airlines Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, and was the parent company of Pinnacle Airlines and Colgan Air until Colgan was closed down in 2012. The company contracted its airlines to fly in ...

(One Commerce Square)

Schools

Downtown Memphis is zoned to the following Shelby County Schools (formerly

Memphis City Schools Memphis City Schools (MCS) was the school district operating public schools in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It was headquartered in the Frances E. Coe Administration Building. On March 8, 2011, residents voted to disband the cit ...

) campuses:
Downtown Elementary School

* Booker T. Washington High School

Transportation

Downtown is served by major highways and interstates, public bus and trolley service by MATA, commercial bus service by

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

, and passenger train service by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

. Interstates

I-40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

I-55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...

and I-240 all run directly through downtown, providing direct access to the area from adjacent areas as well as the region as a whole. The new

Interstate 22 Interstate 22 (I-22) is a Interstate Highway in the US states of Mississippi and Alabama, connecting I-269 near Byhalia, Mississippi, to I-65 near Birmingham, Alabama. I-22 is also Corridor X of the Appalachian Development Highway System. ...

is about 10 miles away from Downtown. Downtown also serves as the western termination point for

U.S. Route 78 U.S. Route 78 (US 78) is an east–west United States highway that runs for 715 miles (1,151 km) from Memphis, Tennessee, to Charleston, South Carolina. From Byhalia, Mississippi to Birmingham, Alabama, US 78 is concurrent with Interstate 2 ...

as well as U.S. Route 72, and is directly located along

U.S. Route 51 U.S. Route 51 or U.S. Highway 51 (US 51) is a major south-north United States highway that extends from the western suburbs of New Orleans, Louisiana, to within of the Wisconsin–Michigan state line. As most of the United States Numbered Highw ...

U.S. Route 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designate ...

U.S. Route 64 U.S. Route 64 (US 64) is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,326 miles (3,743 km) from Nags Head in eastern North Carolina to just southwest of the Four Corners in northeast Arizona. The western terminus is at U.S. Route 1 ...

U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern United States, Southeastern, Southern Unite ...

, and

U.S. Route 79 U.S. Route 79 (US 79) is a United States highway in the Southern United States. The route is officially considered and labeled as a north-south highway, but its path is actually more of a diagonal northeast-southwest highway. The highway's nort ...

. MATA operates the North End Terminal, its primary hub for Memphis public bus service, at the corner of Main Street and A.W. Willis Avenue. The majority of fixed bus routes operates by MATA terminate at the North End Terminal, therefore bus accessibility in the area is very high. The

MATA Trolley 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, t ...

is a heritage streetcar system that operates three lines in downtown along Main Street, Riverside Drive, and Madison Avenue. It consists of twenty four stations and, in 2021, had a daily ridership of approximately 650. Connections between MATA public bus and Main Street trolley line can be made at the North End Terminal.

City of New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Gallery

Image:Beale Street 060523.jpg,

Image:PyramidArena.jpg,

Pyramid Arena The Memphis Pyramid, formerly known as the Great American Pyramid and the Pyramid Arena, is a building located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, United States, at the banks of the Mississippi River. Built in 1991 as a 20,142-seat arena, the facili ...

Image:St Judes grass.jpg, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Image:Court_Square_Downtown_Memphis_TN_04.jpg, Court Square Image:Lebonheur Nov2010 003.JPG,

Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center Le Bonheur Children's Hospital is a 255-bed, tertiary care children's hospital located in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. Le Bonheur has more than 700 medical staff representing 40 pediatric specialties. Approximately 170 patients per day are admi ...

Image:AutoZone Park outside.jpg,

Image:Peabody Hotel, Memphis, TN.jpg,

Image:St Marys Episcopal Cathedral Memphis.JPG, St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Memphis Image:South_Main_Street_Historic_District_2010-09-19_Memphis_TN_09.jpg, South Main Arts District Image:Federal_Building_Main_St_Memphis_TN_05.jpg, Civic Center Plaza Image:Memphis TN Main Street Trolley.jpg,

on Main Street. Image:James Lee House.JPG, James Lee House (1869), one of the last houses in Downtown.

Historic views

Image:Memphis_154228pv.jpg, Beale Street in 1974 Image:Madison_avenue_1920.JPG, View of

downtown Memphis Downtown Memphis, Tennessee is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south and I-240 to the east, where it abuts Midtown Memphis. It ...

, looking west on Madison Ave. Image:Downtown Memphis 1909.jpg,

Downtown Memphis Downtown Memphis, Tennessee is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south and I-240 to the east, where it abuts Midtown Memphis. It ...

in 1909, overlooking Court Square. Image:River view Memphis 1907.jpg, View of

in 1907 from the

. Image:Memphis Madison Ave 1907.jpg, View of Madison Avenue, and Customs House and Post Office in 1907. Image:Tennessee Club in Memphis 1906.jpg, The Tennessee Club on Court Square, 1906. Image: Napoleon_Hill_mansion,_Memphis,_Tennessee.png, The former Napoleon Hill mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, constructed in 1881 at the corner of 3rd and Madison. The mansion was torn down by 1930 to build the

. Image:Nylon_Net_building%2C_South_Main_Street_%26_Pontotoc_Ave%3B_Memphis_Tennesee.png, Nylon Net Building circa 1960

References

External links

Center City Commission

Memphis Downtowner Magazine
{{Portal bar, United States Neighborhoods in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Yellow fever monuments and memorials