Holly Springs: A Mississippi Town with All Kinds of Character

Holly Springs is located in northeast Mississippi, about 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Memphis, TN. It was founded, according to the city's official website, 'by European-Americans in 1836, on territory historically occupied by Chickasaw Indians for centuries before the Indian Removal Act.' The economy of the town was based on cotton, produced by large by the labor enslaved people and primarily benefiting the white plantation owners, as evidenced by some of the the mansions still standing in the town today.
The population of Holly Springs peaked in 2000 at just under 8,000 people, and has steadily declined since then. Its estimated 2023 population was 6,732, 77.4 percent of whom were African American.
Holly Springs is home to the campus of Rust College, established in 1866 by the Freedman’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Another local educational institution was the Mississippi Industrial College, established in 1905, which closed its doors in 1982. Its decaying campus is today a historical site (see 3:22 in the video.)
Graceland Too, which describes itself as "a cherished destination for Elvis fans" is also located in Holly Springs (see 1:34.)
For more information on Holly Springs, see:
- City of Holly Springs. Official website hollyspringsms....
- US Census Quickfacts www.census.gov...
- Holly Springs, Antebellum Encyclopedia. New York Times, April 14, 1996. www.nytimes.co...
- Graceland Too Museum gracelandtoomu...
‘Two Lives Collide, and End, at an Elvis Shrine.’ New York Times, July 17, 2014. www.nytimes.co....
Rust College, official website www.rustcolleg....
Video credit: Helen Mongan-Rallis (clip of Mississippi Industrial College.)
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