Memphis, IN

Memphis is a Clark County census-designated place in Union Township, laid out in 1852 where Blue Lick Road met the railroad tracks. The post office arrived in 1854, and the first settlers came from Memphis, Tennessee, which gives the Indiana place its most obvious name clue. U.S. 31 and the nearby I-65 corridor keep it connected to Louisville-area routes, though the local map is still a small crossroads.

The older work story is mills, cooperages, and stave-making, with farm labor and railroad traffic filling out the community around them. Indiana’s historical records also identify an African American settlement called Africa in connection with Memphis, a reminder that the place had more than one local story running through it. A March 2012 tornado damaged homes along Broadway and Stricker Road, and recovery brought volunteers from far beyond Clark County. Think of Memphis as a named crossroads with a Tennessee connection, a railroad beginning, and a history that includes both industrial work and the people who lived around it.