Shelby County, Tennessee
Shelby County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 929,744.[3] It is the largest of the state's 95 counties, both in terms of population and geographic area. Its county seat is Memphis,[4] a port on the Mississippi River and the second most populous city in Tennessee. The county was named for Governor Isaac Shelby (1750–1826) of Kentucky. It is one of only two remaining counties in Tennessee with a majority African American population, along with Haywood County.
Shelby County
United States
November 24, 1819
Memphis
785 sq mi (2,030 km2)
763 sq mi (1,980 km2)
22 sq mi (60 km2) 2.8%
929,744 
910,042 
1,194/sq mi (461/km2)
Shelby County is part of the Memphis, TN–MS–AR Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is bordered on the west by the Mississippi River. Located within the Mississippi Delta, the county was developed as a center of cotton plantations in the antebellum era, and cotton continued as an important commodity crop well into the 20th century. The economy has become more diversified.
Education[edit]
Higher education[edit]
Shelby County is home to fourteen institutions of higher learning and satellite campuses of institutions whose main campus is in another county.
Memphis is home to Baptist College of Health Sciences, Christian Brothers University, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide (Memphis Campus),[28] 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.
Cordova is home to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. Germantown is home to a satellite campus of Union University.
Primary and secondary education[edit]
Shelby County Schools (SCS) is a school district serving all of Memphis and most unincorporated areas.[29]
Suburban school districts:
Shelby County Schools was previously a school district that operated almost all public schools in non-Memphis areas of Shelby County, Tennessee,[30] until the end of the 2012–2013 school year; almost all areas in Shelby County that were outside the city of Memphis were zoned to schools operated by SCS. Schools in Memphis were operated by Memphis City Schools. On June 30, 2013, Memphis city and Shelby County schools consolidated, forming a unified county school system (still called Shelby County Schools), this lasted one year.
In 2014, the incorporated suburbs of Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland, and Millington (other than Memphis) broke away from the Unified System and formed their own municipal districts. Their residents had previously voted in favor of creating municipal school districts, and all voted to pass the related sales tax hike except for Millington, which narrowly rejected the sales tax hike by three votes.[31] On November 27, 2012, U.S. district court Judge Samuel Mays voided this vote since the state law passed at the time applied only to a specific area (which is unconstitutional). The Tennessee state legislature passed the law again, to include all of the state. All six suburbs voted again for the municipal districts and started classes on August 4, 2014.