History of Shelby County Tennessee United States of America

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Shelby County was erected on Nov. 24, 1819, from Hardin County and named in honor and to perpetuate the name of Isaac Shelby, late governor of Kentucky. A large part of the land now comprising the City of Memphis was originally granted by the state of North Carolina in 1783 to John Rice, who, in 1791, was killed by Indians while on a trading expedition in the vicinity of Clarksville. In 1794 Judge John Overton bought from Elisha Wright, the brother of John Wright, the five thousand acres of the Rice tract for five hundred dollars and on the next day transferred a half interest in it to Andrew Jackson, between whom and himself a beautiful and tender affection existed. Jackson, however, sold his interest before the property was developed. A part of his interest was conveyed to Gen. Jas. Winchester, who named the prospective metropolis Memphis because of supposed resemblance to the ancient city of Memphis, Egypt.

Memphis was laid out by Judge Overton and incorporated in 1826 or 1827.

Marcus B. Winchester, a son of Gen. Jas. Winchester, was the first mayor. Between him and Isaac Rawlings existed a bitter rivalry for many years. Rawlings had been a sutler with Jackson's army in 1813, and also an Indian agent. He was the first magistrate of Shelby County, holding the office without either election or appointment, but by common consent. He was a prominent and picturesque figure and succeeded Winchester as the second mayor of Memphis, and was reelected several times.

Keating, in his valuable 'History of Memphis,' says that no other American city was laid out on so generous a scale as was the case with Memphis according to the plans of Overton and Winchester; that every emergency in the life of a leading commercial point seemed to be provided for. It seemed to have everything except religious organizations, for there was not a church in Memphis until 1827, although it is believed that there were several within the boundaries of the county. The first religious services were held in the courthouse by Methodist circuit riders of whom the earliest was Elijah Coffee, who came in March, 1822, in a flatboat. A small meeting house was erected in Court Square in 1826.

Keating says, ?After the preacher came the press,? referring to the fact that Phebus founded the first newspaper called The Memphis Advocate. The first number appeared January 18, 1827.

In the early days of the existence of Memphis conditions were very rough. J. J. Rawlings said that when he went to Memphis in 1824 there was no such thing as society. "Nothing that deserved that name. There were a few boys or young men, adventurers, uncontrolled by any restrictions; no preachers, no ladies to visit; they ran riot as they pleased."

Whisky was twenty-five cents a gallon, and horse racing was the favorite pastime.

In 1827 the County Court was removed to Raleigh, which then became the county seat, a fact which aroused much indignation in Memphis. In that year an epidemic of dengue, or breakbone fever, broke out, followed next year by the first appearance of yellow fever. In 1828 also, South Memphis was organized as a separate municipality and for several years a rivalry between it and Fort Pickering, on the one hand, and Memphis on the other, was carried on with extreme bitterness. There was also keen rivalry between Memphis and Randolph. But, beginning with 1829, when stage coach service was established to Memphis as a center from important eastern points, the supremacy of that city was incontestable. The first railroad was the Memphis and LaGrange, begun in 1838 and never finished.

The first public road in Shelby County was ordered marked out by the County Court in May, 1820.

Perhaps the first effort in Tennessee for the benefit of the many made by an individual influenced by pure altruism was inaugurated by Fanny Wright at 'Nashoba' near Memphis, in 1825. With her own funds, alone, she bought a tract of 1,940 acres located on Wolf River northeast of Memphis, and erected on it a school for negroes whom she hoped to educate to prepare them for citizenship before setting them free. Strange as it may seem to many at the present day, she encountered little opposition, and on her list of trustees she had strong names, some even illustrious. They were: General Lafayette, Wm. McClure, Robert Owen, Cadwallader D. Colden, Richardson Whitby, Robert Jennings, Robert Dale Owen, George Flowery, Camilla Wright, and James Richardson. She wished to give an object lesson in gradual emancipation. It was not at all that any instruction should inculcate the idea of social equality between the two races, nor did she have any sympathy with the professional abolitionists. She traveled over the South in the interest of her venture stating that her remedies for the evils of slavery were gradual emancipation and industrial education. Her school lasted several years. When she realized she would be compelled to abandon the project she chartered a vessel and herself accompanied her negroes to Hayti where she set them free. The trustees, in 1831, restored the property to her.

Statistics of Shelby County: Population, 1920, 223,216. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $273,256,558. Area, 728 square miles. Number of farms, 8,204. Railway mileage, 231. Bounded on the west by the Mississippi River, on the south by Mississippi, and intersected by the Loosahatchie and Wolf rivers. Surface level and portions well timbered. Soil very rich and fertile, and one of the best cotton producing counties. Staple products, cotton, corn, lumber and hogs. Memphis, the county seat and largest city in the state, has a population of 162,351. It is an important rail and river shipping point, being the largest inland cotton market in the country. Two fine bridges cross the Mississippi at Memphis, which has a fine system of streets and sewers, and is supplied with water from a fine system of artesian wells. It is a large manufacturing point and is the jobbing center for a large territory, including states of the South and Southwest. It is a large lumber market and also an important market for mules and horses. It is the center of the cotton seed oil industry in the South and the largest cotton seed oil market in the world. It is a rapidly growing city, and growing in importance as a manufacturing and distributing point. Has three daily newspapers and various other periodicals and large publishing interests, fine public and private schools, splendid banking facilities. The West Tennessee Normal is located at Memphis. Scholastic population of county, 68,654; high schools, 19; elementary schools, 141.

From: Moore, John Trotwood. Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL, USA: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1923.

History of Shelby County Tennessee

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