( CNN ) -- Forty-four years after the Rev . Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down on the balcony of a Memphis hotel , the Tennessee city is overcoming what some call protracted guilt and embarrassment , and naming a street in his honor . A nearly 1-mile stretch of Linden Avenue will be renamed Dr. M.L . King Jr. Avenue on April 4 , the anniversary of the civil rights leader 's assassination . The honor has been a long time coming . More than 900 U.S. cities have streets named after King . The largest concentration is in the South , led by Georgia which , according to an article by Derek H. Alderman of East Carolina University in the New Georgia Encyclopedia , has more than 70 roads named after the Atlanta native , . But in the city where he died , the omission has been , to many , glaring . `` We never wanted to address losing Dr. King 's life here , '' said former Memphis City Councilman Berlin Boyd , who helped lead the street-naming effort . Born and raised in Memphis , Boyd , 34 , said he always wondered why there was no official street tribute for King . During his brief five-month term in a vacated council seat -- from August to January -- Boyd decided to get the ball rolling . `` I had the opportunity to do something , and we got it done , '' Boyd said . The east-west Linden Avenue , while less famous than Beale Street with its many blues clubs and restaurants just a block north , was selected because that was where King marched in support of striking sanitation workers . The avenue also was a pivotal location during the strike . A photo shows the civil rights leader on Linden , Boyd said . The council proposal was approved earlier this year by a land-use control board . `` He marched along this street ; we wanted something that had a real nexus to this city , '' said Mayor A.C. Wharton . One of Dr. King 's associates during the 1968 sanitation workers ' march was the Rev . James Netters , a former city council member . Netters advocated for an intersection in honor of King in the early 1970s ; The council decided to rename a portion of Interstate 240 as a substitute , he said . `` Naming Linden is better than nothing , '' Netters said . The downtown thoroughfare is close to the historic Clayborn-Ball Temple , a focal point for many meetings of the sanitation strikers . King was scheduled to speak there on April 3 , 1968 , but , because of a large crowd , the rally was moved to Mason Temple . It was there that he delivered his famous `` I 've Been to the Mountaintop '' address . Linden Avenue is a busy downtown thoroughfare and is on one side of FedExForum , home of the NBA 's Memphis Grizzlies . The area around the street is undergoing a significant transformation , Wharton said . `` This is the right time '' to rename the street , the mayor said . Demolition of a public housing project is making way for a mixed-use development , and other projects will change the landscape . Long-term plans include naming up to 5 miles of Linden Avenue for King . King was killed April 4 , 1968 , by James Earl Ray . The National Civil Rights Museum , located at the Lorraine Motel where he was killed , will sponsor a commemoration on the anniversary date . The Rev . Jesse Jackson , who was with King at the Lorraine , said the assassination left Memphis with a deep sense of pain and guilt . He contends the city could `` do more to memorialize Dr. King 's legacy . '' For the city , the street naming is a large symbolic step in honoring King . `` There is no way we could do enough for him ... that would measure up to what he gave up the United States of America , '' Wharton said .
A 1-mile stretch of Dr. King 's will be named after the civil rights leader . King 's will take place on April 4 , the 44th anniversary of King 's death . It was on this street that A.C. Wharton led a march in support of striking sanitation workers . `` We wanted something that had a real nexus to this city , '' says Mayor King .