First known as Sanderlin's Bluff, the town of Raleigh was named by Joseph Graham, the first Circuit Court Clerk, for his North Carolina hometown. It was the county seat of Shelby County from 1824 to 1866, and the courthouse stood 200 ft. southwest of here. Keelboats and stern-wheelers plied the Wolf River, transporting freight and passengers to and from Raleigh in 1830s. Raleigh's economic and political fortunes faded as Memphis' rose, and the town surrendered it's charter in 1912.
Submitted from the Shelby County Register's Office.