history of Memphis her almost with the history of the United Star It was a landing and tenting place for the explorers and missionaries. It was the Is-- , of the Chickasaw Indians, and the bluff' which the city is located, 40 feet above water and 80 feet above low water, have ways been known as the Chickasaw Bluffs ' 1698 the Ftench built forts on the site of is now the city, and in 1794 the Spatiiir erected forts at a time when Spain was ct-,L ing exclusive right to lower Mississippi of the foremost men in the United owned lands in this vicinity and were inter-r in holding for their own country a net free navigation on the Mississippi to the Andrew Jackson, James Winchester and Overton sent to Memphis in 1819 a colony who established the first perm settlement. In 1826 there were 500 perser the settlement which was then incorporato: a town, and in 1849 a city charter was gra-. The Union and Confederate forces trial gain possession of the city at the of the Civil War. On 6 June IF& Federal fleet under Commodore N.= conquered a Confederate fleet under C.:e modore Montgomery, thus placing in possession of the Union forces. Gere:-.. Forrest in command of Confederate entered the city in August 1864 and took so oral 'hundred prisoners. Memphis has alires progressed commercially except during h Civil War,. and when visited formerly by se} low fever epidemics. The great growth indib trially has come within the last three decade The location has made the city a great railroi centre; the surrounding forests made it a girl' industrial centre; and the alluvial lands of .+.! Saint Francis Basin, Yazoo Delta and the sat ley of the Mississippi River will always suit it a great commercial centre. In 1855
fever attacked, the coy, and again in 1867, ItC: 1878 and 1879. The epidemics of 1878 and ig"; so paralyzed the industries of the city that r 1879 Memphis was unable to liquidate the ca rent indebtedness and the charter as a city was revoked. The former city was designated by the State legislature as ((the taxing district of Shelby County." The control of the dis trict was vested in a board of public works composed of five members, and a governing council composed of three commissioners. The council instituted the sewerage system, which practically eliminated the recurrence of yellow fever, improved civic conditions, liquidated the debts and in 1891 the place was reincorporated and again chartered as a city.
Population.—After the Federal census of 1890 the city limits were extended; but the pop ulation as given in 1890 included both urban and suburban districts, and the increase from 1890 to 1900 was remarkable. The growth of the city may be seen from the Federal census reports. Pop. (1850) 8,841; (1860) 22,623; (1870) 40,226; (1880) 33,592; (1890) 64495; (1900) 102,320; (1910) 131,105; (1918) 175,000. Within a radius of 50 miles of Memphis there is a population of 800,000, according to Dun's 1917 report. The foreign born population does not amount to over 1 per cent throughout the whole territory and a careful estimate of the white race is 54 per cent and of blacks 45 per cent. Consult Davis, (History of the City of Memphis> (1873); Keating and Vedder, tory of the City of Memphis> (1888).