Germantown, Tennessee, United States

Geography | History | Historical Sites | Amenities | Churches

🇺🇸 Germantown is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States.

Germantown is a suburb of Memphis, bordering it to the east-south-east. Germantown was founded in 1841 by mostly German emigrants. The town hosts Festivals year round to celebrate their history and German Culture. In the city centre is the "Old Germantown" neighborhood, anchored by a railroad depot (a 1948 reproduction of the 1868 original) and railroad tracks that recall the community's earliest days of development as an outpost along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.

The city hosts many horse shows and competitions annually, most notably the Germantown Charity Horse Show in June. Other major annual events include the Germantown Festival, an arts and crafts fair, in early September.

Germantown has the lowest crime rate for any city its size in the State of Tennessee and the police and fire departments have average emergency response time of five minutes (police just under 4 minutes & fire department 5.2 minutes). The parks and recreation department is nationally accredited. The Arbor Day Foundation has designated Germantown a "Tree City USA" for 23 consecutive years. Only 3.2% of Germantown citizens are below the poverty line.

Geography Germantown is part of the Memphis metropolitan area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.6 square miles (46 km²), of which 0.04 square miles (0.10 km²), or 0.17%, is water.

History Germantown was founded along the Chickasaw Trace on a ridge between the Wolf River and Nonconnah Creek, about 16 miles east of the Mississippi River.

The first settlers arrived in Germantown about 1825. Between 1825 and 1830, Miss Frances Wright established Nashoba Plantation, a utopian community intended to educate emancipated slaves and teach them a trade. By 1830, the first store was opened as more settlers moved into the area.

The community became known as Pea Ridge in 1833. Town lots were laid out in 1834 by surveyor N. T. German. The name was changed to Germantown in 1836. This coincidentally also reflected the settling of German families.

The town was incorporated in 1841. The Memphis-Charleston Railroad was built through the community in 1852. Germantown experienced setbacks through the period of the Civil War (1861-1865); the yellow fever epidemics reduced its population to a few hundred.

The town rebounded slowly. Churches destroyed in the war were rebuilt, schools were constructed and the population began to return around the turn of the century. The city name was briefly changed to Neshoba, a Chickasaw word meaning 'wolf', during World War I, because of widespread anti-German sentiment in the United States at that time.

During the twentieth century, the community derived its strength through involvement of citizens, as evidenced in the churches, garden clubs and civic organizations. The Poplar Pike Improvement Association and the Germantown Civic Club played vital roles in the physical and social development of the community.

In the last half of the century, after WWII the population grew from about 400 to more than 40,000. Over several decades, elected and civic leadership, with support of citizens, worked proactively to control suburban growth through development regulations, aesthetic controls and strategic planning efforts.

Historical Sites "Old Germantown" is centered around the railroad depot in downtown Germantown on Germantown Road. This was chosen as a central location by settlers in the late 19th century due to its high ground and central location. The depot was rebuilt in 1948 to replace the original structure from 1868. The depot is now home to the Germantown Train Museum. There are signs to commemorate historical sites and parks in "Old Germantown".

Fort Germantown, located on Honey Tree Drive off of Poplar Pike is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was at this site that 250 Union Soldiers built their fortification from the ground in order to guard the Memphis and Charleston railroad during the Civil War. Now, there are replicas of Howitzer cannons to mark the fort.

The John Gray House, located in Municipal Park, built prior to 1851 is one of the oldest brick homes in Shelby County. Originally located in Eads, TN, it was moved to Germantown in 1989 to prevent demolition.

Amenities A total of 27 parks allow for a park within walking distance of every residence. The community has more than 700 acres of parkland. More than 11.4 miles of greenway links parkland and neighborhoods.

The Community Library was constructed in 1996 and the Regional History and Genealogy Center opened in FY07.

The Germantown Performing Arts Centre (GPAC) is an acoustically-perfect 800-seat theater featuring top artists from around the world.

The Germantown Athletic Club is a 118,000 square foot indoor athletic complex that opened in 1989 and expanded in 2003 to include two outdoor pools.

The Great Hall & Conference Center is an 8,000 square feet rental facility space for accommodation of meetings, weddings and receptions.

The Commissary is a Memphis-style barbecue restaurant located in "Old Germantown".

Churches • Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Germantown • Faith Presbyterian Church (EPC) • Farmington Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) • Forest Hill Baptist Church • Forest Hill Church of Christ • Germantown Baptist Church • Germantown Church of Christ • Germantown Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) • Germantown United Methodist Church • Grace Evangelical Church • Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church • Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) • St. George's Episcopal Church.

America/New_York/Tennessee 
<b>America/New_York/Tennessee</b>
Image: Adobe Stock digidreamgrafix #67355802

Germantown has a population of over 41,333 people. Germantown also forms part of the Greater Memphis metropolitan area which has a population of over 1,348,260 people. Germantown is situated 35 km east of Memphis.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Germantown has links with:

🇩🇪 Königs Wusterhausen, Germany
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

North of: 35.083

🇯🇵 Numazu 35.083

🇯🇵 Otemachi 35.083

🇺🇸 Conway 35.083

🇺🇸 Albuquerque 35.088

🇯🇵 Toyota City 35.089

🇰🇷 Jung 35.1

🇰🇷 Seo 35.1

🇯🇵 Kamogawa 35.108

🇺🇸 Carthage 35.117

🇯🇵 Higashiōmi 35.117

South of: 35.083

🇨🇳 Tengzhou 35.075

🇨🇳 Chengguan 35.07

🇯🇵 Kuwana 35.069

🇯🇵 Miyoshi 35.068

🇰🇷 Yeongdo 35.067

🇰🇷 Sacheon 35.067

🇯🇵 Tamba-Sasayama 35.067

🇯🇵 Toyota 35.067

🇯🇵 Tsuyama 35.062

🇯🇵 Moriyama 35.05

East of: -89.783

🇺🇸 Slidell -89.767

🇺🇸 Cordova -89.767

🇺🇸 Baraboo -89.733

🇸🇻 Sonsonate -89.717

🇺🇸 Sterling -89.683

🇺🇸 Jackson -89.65

🇺🇸 Collierville -89.65

🇺🇸 Springfield -89.644

🇲🇽 Mérida -89.623

🇺🇸 Peoria -89.593

Antipodal to Germantown is: 90.217,-35.083

Locations Near: Germantown -89.7833,35.0833

🇺🇸 Cordova -89.767,35.15 d: 7.6  

🇺🇸 Collierville -89.65,35.033 d: 13.3  

🇺🇸 Memphis -90.053,35.149 d: 25.6  

🇺🇸 Jackson -88.828,35.685 d: 109.5  

🇺🇸 Humboldt -88.9,35.817 d: 114.2  

🇺🇸 Jonesboro -90.708,35.844 d: 119  

🇺🇸 Tupelo -88.715,34.265 d: 133.6  

🇺🇸 Searcy -91.733,35.233 d: 178.1  

🇺🇸 Muscle Shoals -87.65,34.75 d: 198  

🇺🇸 Cape Girardeau -89.545,37.303 d: 247.7  

Antipodal to: Germantown 90.217,-35.083

🇦🇺 Bunbury 115.637,-33.327 d: 17675.6  

🇦🇺 Mandurah 115.721,-32.529 d: 17648.1  

🇦🇺 Rockingham 115.717,-32.267 d: 17641.3  

🇦🇺 City of Cockburn 115.833,-32.167 d: 17627.9  

🇦🇺 Wanneroo 115.803,-31.747 d: 17618.3  

🇦🇺 Vincent 115.834,-31.936 d: 17621.1  

🇦🇺 Perth 115.857,-31.953 d: 17619.5  

🇦🇺 Guildford 115.973,-31.9 d: 17607.4  

🇦🇺 Midland 116.01,-31.888 d: 17603.7  

🇦🇺 Albany 117.867,-35.017 d: 17506.2  

Bing Map

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