Shelby County, Tennessee

Shelby County
	Shelby County, Tennessee
	Shelby County Courthouse
	; Seal
	; Seal
	; Location in the state of Tennessee
	; Tennessee's location in the U.S.
Founded	November 24, 1819
Named for	Isaac Shelby
Seat	Memphis
Largest city	Memphis
Area; - Total; - Land; - Water	; 784 sq mi (2,031 km²); 755 sq mi (1,955 km²); 29 sq mi (75 km²), 3.71%
PopulationEst.; - (2011); - Density	; 935,088; 1,228/sq mi (474/km²)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.shelbycountytn.gov

Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the state's largest both in terms of population and geographic area, with a population of 927,644 at the 2010 census.^[2] Its county seat is Memphis.^[3]

Shelby County is part of the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises eight counties in the three states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

Shelby County was named for Governor Isaac Shelby (1750–1826) of Kentucky.

Geography [edit]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 784 square miles (2,030 km²), of which 755 square miles (1,960 km²) is land and 29 square miles (75 km²) (3.71%) is water. The lowest point in the state of Tennessee is located on the Mississippi River in Shelby County (just outside the Memphis city limits), where the river flows out of Tennessee and into Mississippi.

Rivers [edit]

Parks and recreation [edit]

Attractions [edit]

Beale Street, downtown Memphis
Chucalissa Indian Village, ancient Native American site
Gibson Guitar factory tour
Graceland, former home of Elvis Presley
Indie Memphis, film festival
Memphis Botanic Garden
Memphis in May, month-long festival
Memphis International Raceway
Memphis Zoo
Mud Island
National Civil Rights Museum
Orpheum Theatre
Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium

Adjacent counties [edit]

Tipton County (north)
Fayette County (east)
Marshall County, Mississippi (southeast)
DeSoto County, Mississippi (south)
Crittenden County, Arkansas (west)

Law and government [edit]

County government is headed by an elected county mayor and a thirteen-member county commission that is elected from five districts.^[4] The members of the county commission serve four-year terms. Other elected officials in Shelby County include the sheriff, the chief law enforcement officer, trustee, chief tax collector, and assessor, the chief property appraiser.^[5]

The government has an annual budget of $1.1 billion and 6,000 employees.

Mayors [edit]

Mark Luttrell is the current County Mayor and former Shelby County Sheriff
Joe Ford served as Interim Mayor in 2009
A C Wharton 2002-2009 (current Mayor of Memphis)
Jim Rout 1994-2002^[6]
William N. (Bill) Morris 1978-1994
Roy Nixon 1976-1978

Demographics [edit]

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1820	364	—
1830	5,648	1,451.6%
1840	14,721	160.6%
1850	31,157	111.7%
1860	48,092	54.4%
1870	76,378	58.8%
1880	78,430	2.7%
1890	112,740	43.7%
1900	153,557	36.2%
1910	191,439	24.7%
1920	223,216	16.6%
1930	306,482	37.3%
1940	358,250	16.9%
1950	482,393	34.7%
1960	627,019	30.0%
1970	722,014	15.2%
1980	777,113	7.6%
1990	826,330	6.3%
2000	897,472	8.6%
2010	927,644	3.4%
Est. 2012	940,764	1.4%
U.S. Decennial Census 2011 estimate

Population pyramid Shelby County^[7]

As of the census^[8] of 2000, there were 897,472 people, 338,366 households, and 228,735 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,189 people per square mile (459/km²). There were 362,954 housing units at an average density of 481 per square mile (186/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 48.56% Black, or African American, 47.34% White, 0.20% Native American, 1.64% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.20% from other races, and 1.02% from two or more races. 2.60% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 338,366 households out of which 34.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.80% were married couples living together, 20.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.40% were non-families. 27.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.18.

Scenic view in Shelby Farms park

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.20% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 31.10% from 25 to 44, 21.00% from 45 to 64, and 10.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 91.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $39,593, and the median income for a family was $47,386. Males had a median income of $36,932 versus $26,776 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,856. About 12.90% of families and 16.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.90% of those under age 18 and 13.30% of those age 65 or over.

Shelby County Courthouse [edit]

The Shelby County Courthouse, located in Memphis on Adams Avenue between North 2nd and North 3rd streets, was designed by James Gamble Rogers and completed in 1909. This neoclassical pile features a long portico topped by a cornice supported by massive Ionic columns. The ambitious sculptural program designed by J. Massey Rhind includes the pediment groups, Canon Law, Roman Law, Statutory Law, Civil Law and Criminal Law. Female allegorical figures can be found on the north facade cornice representing Integrity, Courage, Mercy, Temperance, Prudence and Learning. Flanking the main entrances are over life sized seated figures embodying Wisdom, Justice, Liberty, Authority, Peace and Prosperity. It was featured in the movie The Silence of the Lambs as the place where Dr. Hannibal Lecter escapes custody. It is by far the largest courthouse in the state.

Justice
Authority
Wisdom

Cities and towns [edit]

Transportation [edit]

Major highways [edit]

Air travel [edit]

Shelby County is the site of Memphis International Airport, located 3 miles (5 km) south of the center of Memphis.

Education [edit]

Almost all areas in Shelby County that are outside the city of Memphis are zoned to schools operated by Shelby County Schools. Schools in Memphis are operated by Memphis City Schools.

As of the 2013-14 school year, Memphis City Schools is tentatively set to dissolve as a district due to the Memphis City Schools Board of Education voting to dissolve their charter in December 2010. Shelby County Schools will then operate all public schools in the county with the possible exception of schools which are zoned to newly created municipal districts. The suburbs of Shelby County voted on the creation of suburban municipal districts on August 2, 2012. All the suburbs voted in favor of the creation of the municipal school districts, and all voted to pass the related sales tax hike except for Millington, which narrowly rejected the sales tax hike by only three votes.^[9] On November 27, 2012, U.S. district court Judge Samuel Mays declared the creation of municipal districts to be unconstitutional. The suburbs haven't yet announced whether they will appeal.^[10]

Memphis is home to Baptist College of Health Sciences, Christian Brothers University, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide (Memphis Campus),^[11] Harding School of Theology, LeMoyne–Owen College, Memphis College of Art, Memphis Theological Seminary, Rhodes College, Southern College of Optometry, Southwest Tennessee Community College, University of Tennessee Health Science Center and the University of Memphis.