Short answers, pulled from the story.
John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson laid out Memphis on the 22nd of May 1819. The city was officially founded less than five months after the U.S. takeover of the territory in July 1797.
The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 devastated Memphis with more than 5,000 people listed in the official register of deaths between July 26 and November 27. The state legislature revoked Memphis's charter and reclassified it as a Taxing District from 1879 to 1893 due to financial losses of nearly $200 million.
James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel on the 4th of April 1968. The Lorraine Motel now houses the National Civil Rights Museum which preserves this legacy.
Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison all made their first recordings at Sun Studio opened by Sam Phillips in 1950. These artists were discovered by Phillips during the late 1950s.
Memphis set a homicide record in 2023 with 397 homicides. New York City had a lower count of 386 despite having 8.5 million residents.