[1] The city has historically been one of the largest shipping hubs in the Mid-South, dating back to the Civil War, when the port was one of the largest on the Mississippi River and served as a shipping hub for the Confederacy.
Three Fortune 500 companies, FedEx, AutoZone and International Paper Co. call Memphis home.
[5] Over the years, the city has become less dependent on its manufacturing and transportation sectors and has diversified its economy especially in services.
Major motion pictures filmed in Memphis include Making the Grade (1984), U2: Rattle & Hum, (1988) Mystery Train (1989), Great Balls of Fire!
(1989), Trespass (1991), The Firm (1993), A Family Thing (1996), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Rainmaker (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Queens of Comedy (2001), 21 Grams (2003), Hustle & Flow (2005), Walk the Line (2005), Forty Shades of Blue (2005), Black Snake Moan (2007), Nothing But the Truth (2008), and The Blind Side (2009).