The community takes its name from Colonel Francis Marion White (1810–1887), an early settler, slaver, railroad executive and major property owner.

He profited handsomely from enabling cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta to ship their product to Memphis, where it was loaded onto steamboats and transported to New Orleans.

In 1852 White was appointed by the State Legislature as commissioner to assist in organizing the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad Company.

E. W. Hale moved to the area in the 1880s and opened a store near what is now Whitehaven High School on Elvis Presley Blvd.

Much of the later residential and commercial development was done by Carrington Jones and Lacy Mosby in the mid 20th century, to provide housing for "baby boom" families who moved from Memphis to a pleasant environment in the old community.

Several years later after Whitehaven became the city's territory, the majority of the white families of the area left and moved to the outer-Memphis suburbs.

Elvis Presley bought his famous home in 1957; soon afterward the farmland surrounding the estate was subdivided into homesites.

Southland Mall opened at the corner of Shelby Drive and Highway 51 South in 1966 (officially becoming Elvis Presley Blvd on January 19, 1972), and is still a destination for shoppers from all over the region.

The park includes a splash pad, playground, walking paths, fitness equipment, obstacle course, turfed multipurpose field, and multiple pavilions.

Bishop Byrne, a private co-educational Catholic high school adjacent to Saint Paul Church on Shelby Drive, opened in 1966 and closed in 2013.