President's Island is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

on 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 ...

in southwest

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 ...

. The city's major

river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...

and an

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

are located there.

History

The name ''President'' or ''President's'' Island appeared as early as 1801 or 1802 in a river guide called ''Cramer's Navigator''.Vrettos, N. ''Story of Presidents Island.''
Presidents Island, Industrial Association, 2005. The name referred to the island's size, then the largest on the Mississippi River. At that time President's Island was an actual island. Some old river maps identify the northern third of the present island as Vice President's Island. The

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. It was established on March 3, 1865, and operated briefly as a ...

established a camp on the island for

freed slave A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

s in 1865, and about 1,500 former slaves stayed there for a time. Some years later,

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

contracted with local officials to establish a penal farm on the island to raise corn and cotton. Forrest offered to pay Shelby County 10 cents a day for each worker. Forrest died in 1877, possibly of dysentery contracted by drinking impure island water. In the late 1870s the island served as a refuge for many people fleeing the

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

epidemics that swept the city, killing thousands. The development plan devised in the 1940s called for closing the Tennessee Chute that had separated the island from the eastern bank. This created a deep-water harbor (later named ''McKellar Lake'') accessible from the Mississippi by the channel at the south end of the island. The

Flood Control Act of 1946 The Flood Control Act of 1946 was passed by the United States Congress on July 24, 1946; to authorize 123 projects including several dams and hydroelectric power plants like Old Hickory Lock and Dam in Tennessee and the Fort Randall Dam in South Da ...

allocated $17 million for the project, and the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

began construction in 1948. The flood control and industrial development project in the late 1940s dammed the section of river between the island and the eastern bank and created a peninsula. Prior to that time, the island was surrounded by the river and subject to its power. Floods interfered with various attempts to raise crops and endangered the lives of those who had settled there. The island's relative isolation and untamed landscape made it a favored location for illicit activities, including

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

cockfights A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a " game", a sport, pastime or ent ...

, and

moonshining Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

. Four Memphians were most responsible for transforming President's Island into an industrial center: businessman Frank C. Pidgeon,

E.H. Crump Edward Hull "Boss" Crump Jr. (October 2, 1874 – October 16, 1954) was an American politician from Memphis, Tennessee. Representing the Democratic Party, he was the dominant force in the city's politics for most of the first half of the 20th ...

, U.S. Senator Kenneth McKellar, and Jack Carley, an editorial writer for the

Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

newspaper. McKellar was chairman of the

Senate Appropriations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate. The Senate Appropriations Committee is the largest committ ...

, which was instrumental in funding the project. Gen. M.C. Tyler, former president of the Mississippi River Commission, was also instrumental in plans for island development. The island was annexed by the city in 1947.

Today

The 7,500 acre peninsula is home to a diverse wildlife habitat with 1,200 acres zoned for industrial development. 95% of the industrial land is already occupied with an annual economic impact of $7.1 billion. The industrial park supports about 200 companies with 4,000 employees. Most of the land is in the flood plain with several thousand acres of undeveloped woodlands.

References

{{authority control Islands of the Mississippi River Former islands of the United States River islands of Tennessee Landforms of Shelby County, Tennessee Peninsulas of Tennessee