The community takes its name from Colonel
Francis Marion White (1810–1887), an early settler,
slaver, railroad executive and major property owner. White was influential in getting a rail line to run through what was first called White's Station, later Whitehaven. 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. At Friendship Cemetery, near
Como, Mississippi, White's headstone reads: "This monument is erected by the
Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad Company in commemoration of his honest, faithful, and intelligent management of the affairs as chief officer for thirty-five years." In 1852 White was appointed by the State Legislature as commissioner to assist in organizing the Mississippi & Tennessee Railroad Company. The following year he was elected president, a position held for two decades and again from 1882 through 1885); he was vice president (1873–75); director (1859–75 and 1882–85). White spent time in
Memphis at the
Gayoso Hotel. "He died there and his body was taken by train to
Como where his
Negro slaves met it and carried it to the cemetery. This was quite an ordeal for he weighed three hundred pounds! He was influential in bringing the railroad through Whitehaven. He had large holdings along what is now Whitehaven Lane and owned the land on which the school now stands." Born in Jones County, Georgia, White descends from John White, the emigrant of
Leicestershire who settled near
Ruckersville, Virginia in
Orange County. F. M. White, the second surviving son of Thomas White and Elizabeth Haynes Clark, was widowed twice, married three times and fathered five children—a beloved son was killed at the
Battle of Shiloh. Francis died at age 77 in 1887. He owned more than 200
enslaved people. The railroad at Whitehaven was chartered in 1853, and the first trains ran in 1856. The first "White Haven" post office was opened in 1871. Some of the other founding family names in the region include Raines, Hale, McCorkle, and Harbin. 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. Hale's Store was a landmark for many decades. In 1926,
WREC radio began operations there, and in 1928 Whitehaven Hoyt B. Wooten was one of the first six television licensees in America. His original home is the centerpiece of a private development called Lion's Gate. 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. This gradually transformed plantation tracts to neighborhoods in the late 1940s and 1950s. Formerly a farm community, Whitehaven was developed as a residential suburban area of Memphis in the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1950, Whitehaven had a population of 1,311. In 1960, Whitehaven had a population of 13,894. On January 1, 1970, Whitehaven was forcefully annexed by the City of Memphis. Prior to this annexation, the residents of the area did not want to be a part of Memphis. 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. This led to Whitehaven becoming a majority predominantly African American community. It was integrated in the late 1960s and
white flight ensued over the next two decades. Whitehaven is now a part of
South Memphis. ==Geography==