Native History
Civil War
Amory
Aberdeen
Tupelo
The Parkway
Amory History
Elvis Presley
Tupelo History
War Battles
Markers
Data & Stats
We hope you agree it is important to know the story of your home town, and Northeast Mississippi has plenty of history! The Natchez Trace Parkway – is built alongside the original trace which is thousands of years old and sits upon a continental shelf elevated above land which would flood; it was once a trail taken by animals to reach salt licks and seasonal feeding grounds. It eventually became a route in the late 1800s for traders coming home from the port of New Orleans at the foot of the Mississippi River. Today it's a National Park with its headquarters just outside Tupelo.
Native Indian History: When Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto passed through this area in 1540, he encountered an established Chickasaw Indian civilization nestled in the wooded hills and valleys. The Chickasaws, who had a reputation as fierce fighters, ultimately drove De Soto westward toward his discovery of the Mississippi River.
In 1736, at the height of the French and Indian War, a bloody battle erupted between the British-armed Chickasaws and the combined invading forces of the French and the Choctaw Indians. Known as the Battle of Ackia, the engagement left the area in firm British control and contributed to the Crown's eventual domination of North America. From the earliest Indian settlement, Northeast Mississippi was linked to the outside world via the Natchez Trace (now the Parkway) as settlers poured into the frontier in the 1800s.
- Indian history is omnipresent in our area – particularly Chickasaw and Choctaw, from Indian mounds (the largest concentration of Indian mounds along the Natchez Trace parkway are in Mississippi) which dot our landscape alongside historical markers to the names of many counties and cities in the region. The Chickasaw and the Choctaw were two of the "Five Civilized Tribes" which had their own written languages, eventually adopted agrarian lives and somewhat assimilated into American culture.
The Civil War also left its mark upon our area. The Battle of Tupelo, in mid-1864, pitted Union troops against Confederate cavalry bent on controlling railroad traffic supplying the Union campaign against Atlanta. Another battle was in our region was Brices Cross Roads – marking the only two Civil War battles in Northeast Mississippi during that period.
Amory was a planned railroad town – founded in 1887 when the KCM&B Railroad came through the area. The history of the city is carefully preserved at Amory Regional Museum, and residents honor our railroad past each year at the Amory Railroad Festival. An old city named Cotton Gin Port was literally relocated here. Situated nearly halfway between Memphis and Birmingham, Amory became an important rail stop.
Aberdeen, our county seat in southern Monroe County, was founded in 1835 along the Tombigbee River. The city was once a busy cotton port that shipped its products by boat to Mobile. The wealth that came from cotton built great homes and lavish mansions, many of which still dot the city's tree-lined streets.
Tupelo was incorporated as a city in 1870 and named after the native Tupelo gum tree. Tupelo's modern history can be traced to the convergence of the Mobile & Ohio and the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham railroads in 1887. As a rail distribution and manufacturing center, Tupelo achieved several firsts, including the first city in the nation to provide its citizens with dependable, inexpensive electric power through the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Aren't we glad his mom wouldn't let him buy the gun!
Elvis Presley: A guitar purchased for $7.90 eventually changed music history forever – need we forget to remind you that our area is the birthplace of Elvis? His timing and the combination of music influences created a new American music genre. His birthplace museum is fabulous!
The 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River, through Alabama, to salt licks in today's central Tennessee. Today, visitors can experience this National Scenic Byway and All-American Road through driving, hiking, biking, horseback riding, and camping – with no commercial trucks! Its Visitor Center is located right in Tupelo and is Mecca for lovers of Indian culture in our area.
The charm of living in our community may be best summed up by a visit to our amazing museum. In a town of our comfortable size you can easily become friends with our museum director. Stop by and meet Bo Miller, or share a lunch with him from time to time, and listen to his incredible stories and tales, and his fondness for Monroe County. See some cool photos, here, as well as artifacts which predate early settlers in our region.
"It's rare when an artist's talent can touch an entire generation of people. It's even rarer when that same
influence affects several generations. Elvis made an imprint on the world of pop music unequaled by any
other single performer." - Dick Clark
Tupelo is the "hub city" of Northeast Mississippi. It's always been a winner – first beating out nearby Verona to be a railroad hub, until present when our area won over Toyota to build its eighth manufacturing plant. The former capital of the Chickasaw – one of the Five Civilized Tribes, Tupelo is Chickasaw for "resting place." For history lovers or those who want to know about Tupelo's past, the Oren Dunn museum is a great place to start!
Monroe County Historical Markers
Learn more details about Monroe County and the state of Mississippi, including demographics, maps, cost of living indicators, weather, and more history – and we don't live next to any Superfund pollution landfill sites.
Special Note: In this section of our recruitment website, some photos were harvested while doing research, which are considered part of the public domain. We provide credit to their sources if deemed necessary. Specific Resources and websites related to much of the material in this section, unless otherwise noted, can be found in Data & Stats.
Unless otherwise indicated, every photo was taken specifically for this presentation. Unlike many company websites and recruitment materials, in this presentation there are no "stock" photos or images that aren’t authentic. Gilmore Memorial is very grateful to our employees, physician staff, friends and neighbors for making our presentation so special. We truly appreciate you!