Shelby

Formed November 24, 1819 (48^th county)

Shelby County (929,722), Memphis (631,539)

The masonry and concrete Classical Revival facility was erected in 1909.  The courthouse is on a city square surrounded by Adams Avenue, 2^nd Street, Jefferson Avenue and 3^rd Street (B. B. King.)  United States Highway 51 passes three blocks east of the facility.  John Gamble Rogers and H. D. Hale designed the courthouse.  The building was renovated in 1992.  A County Administration Building was built in 1968, an augmenting Criminal Courts Building was added in 1981, and a Hall of Records was built in 1925.  Numerous statues adorn the courthouse grounds.  There was an 1874 courthouse earlier in Memphis, the only county seat.  The county was established on November 24, 1819 as the 48^th county.  Shelby County was named for Governor Isaac Shelby.  He is also the namesake for the county seat of Bedford County.  The county seat is named for Memphis, Egypt. 

Shelby County government consists of a sheriff, a County Mayor, and 13 Commissioners.  Eighteen Circuit Court Judges, Three Chancery Court Judge, Fifteen General Court Judges, and Ten Juvenile Court Judges serve Shelby County.  The county is in the southwest corner of the state.  Arkansas is on its west border and Mississippi is on its south border.  The Mississippi River forms its western border.  Nashville, Tennessee is northeast and Little Rock, Arkansas is west of the county.  The county center is in Memphis 7.4 miles East of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Tipton and Fayette counties and Mississippi and Arkansas. 

The area of the county is 755 square miles.  It is 1 out of 95 in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 95 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1231.4 persons per square mile making it 2 out of 95 in the state.  Shelby County has 88.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 passes east to west in the county from Fayette County to Arkansas.  Interstate Highway 55 enters from the west, Arkansas, and exits to the south, Mississippi.  United States Highway 51 comes from the Tipton County, north, and goes to Mississippi, south.  United States Highway 61 is joined with Interstate Highway 55 from Arkansas, splits and continues south into Mississippi.  United States Highway 64 enters from Fayette County, east, and joins Interstate Highway 55 into Arkansas, west.  United States Highways 70/79 parallel Interstate Highway 40 from Fayette County to Arkansas.  United States Highway 72 comes from Fayette County and terminates.  United States Highway 78 enters from Mississippi and terminates.  The county resembles a block head facing west.  Memphis dominates the southwest quarter of the county.  Memphis is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 67.9% of the county population.  The county is pronounced SHEL-BEE.  This county is in the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Millington