Tupelo, Mississippi

Indigenous peoples, including the Chickasaw and Choctaw, occupied the area prior to European settlement. The French and British traded with these indigenous peoples and tried to form alliances with them. The French established towns in Mississippi mostly on the Gulf Coast. At times, the European powers came into armed conflict. On May 26, 1736, the Battle of Ackia was fought near the site of present-day Tupelo; British and Chickasaw soldiers repelled a French and Choctaw attack on the then-Chickasaw village of Ackia. The French, under Louisiana governor Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.[12]

In the early 19th century, after years of trading and encroachment by European-American settlers from the United States, conflicts increased as the US settlers tried to gain land from these nations. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and authorized the relocation of all the Southeast Native Americans west of the Mississippi River, which was completed by the end of the 1830s.

In the early years of settlement, European-Americans named this town "Gum Pond", supposedly due to its numerous tupelo trees, known locally as "blackgum". The city still hosts the annual Gumtree Arts Festival.[13]

During the Civil War, Union and Confederate forces fought in the area in 1864 in the Battle of Tupelo or battle of oldtown Creek. Designated the Tupelo National Battlefield, the battlefield is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). In addition, the Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield, about ten miles north, commemorates another American Civil War battle.

After the war, a cross-state railroad for northern Mississippi was constructed through the town, which encouraged industry and growth. With expansion, the town changed its name to Tupelo, in honor of the battle. It was incorporated in 1870.[14]

By the early twentieth century the town had become a site of cotton textile mills, which provided new jobs for residents of the rural area. Under the state's segregation practices, the mills employed only white adults and children. Reformers documented the child workers and attempted to protect them through labor laws.[15]

The last known bank robbery by Machine Gun Kelly, a Prohibition-era gangster, took place on November 30, 1932, at the Citizen's State Bank in Tupelo; his gang netted $38,000 ($755,000 in current dollar terms). After the robbery, the bank's chief teller said of Kelly, "He was the kind of guy that, if you looked at him, you would never thought he was a bank robber."[16]

During the Great Depression, Tupelo was electrified by the new Tennessee Valley Authority, which had constructed dams and power plants throughout the region to generate hydroelectric power for the large, rural area. The distribution infrastructure was built with federal assistance as well, employing many local workers. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt visited this "First TVA City".

Tupelo had only 20 Jewish residents at the beginning of the Great Depression, out of 20,000 total residents.[17] Temple B'nai Israel was established in Tupelo in 1939.[18] The congregation first met in Tupelo City Hall.[17][19][20] It later rented space on South Spring Street above the Fooks' Chevrolet dealership.[17] In 1953, it moved to space over Biggs Furniture Store.[20][21] A synagogue building was dedicated in 1957, with then-Mayor James Ballard giving the remarks.[20]

Tupelo Railroad Depot, circa 1900

Into the late 1950s several long-distance trains served Tupelo. These included the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio's Gulf Coast Rebel (St. Louis - Mobile) and the Frisco Railroad's Kansas City-Florida Special (Kansas City - Memphis - Jacksonville), Memphian (Memphis - Birmingham) and its Sunnyland (Kansas City to the west; sections east to Birmingham and Pensacola).[22][23][24][25] The Frisco's Southland ceased running in December 9, 1967, marking the last passenger train in northeast Mississippi. [26] [27]

In 2007, the nearby village of Blue Springs was selected as the site for Toyota's 11th automobile manufacturing plant in the United States.

In 2013 Gale Stauffer of the Tupelo Police Department died in a set up ambush following a bank robbery, possibly the first officer killed in the line of duty in the department's history.[28]

President Donald Trump visited the city of Tupelo twice, in 2018 and 2019. He held a campaign rally for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on November 26, 2018, at the Tupelo Regional Airport.[29] Nearly one year later, the president returned to Tupelo to hold another rally (this time for Governor Tate Reeves) on November 1, 2019, at the BancorpSouth Arena.[30] These campaign rallies were broadcast on national television and received attention from news networks, such as CNN and Fox News.[31][32]

Students clear the ruins of the segregated Lee County Training School, a month after the 1936 tornado

The spring of 1936 brought Tupelo one of its worst-ever natural disasters, part of the Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak of April 5–6 in that year.[33] The storm leveled 48 city blocks and over 200 homes, killing 216 people and injuring more than 700 persons.[34] It struck at night, destroying large residential areas on the city's north side. Among the survivors was Elvis Presley, then a baby. Obliterating the Gum Pond neighborhood, the tornado dropped most of the victims' bodies in the pond. The storm has since been rated F5 on the Fujita scale.[35] The Tupelo Tornado is recognized as one of the deadliest in U.S. history.[36]

The Mississippi State Geologist estimated a final death toll of 233 persons, but 100 whites were still reported as hospitalized at the time. Because the white newspapers did not publish news about blacks until the 1940s and 1950s, historians have had difficulty learning the fates of blacks injured in the tornado. Based on this, historians now estimate the death toll was higher than in official records.[34][37] Fire broke out at the segregated Lee County Training School, which was destroyed. Its bricks were salvaged for other uses.

The area is subject to tornadoes. On May 8, 2008, one rated an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale struck the town. On April 28, 2014, another large EF3 tornado struck Tupelo and the surrounding communities, causing significant damage. On the night of May 2, 2021, two EF1 tornadoes formed near town with the second being a large tornado that directly struck the northwest side of downtown, prompting a tornado emergency to be issued by the National Weather Service.[38]

Like the rest of the state, Tupelo has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa in the Köppen climate classification); it is part of USDA hardiness zone 7b.[39] The normal monthly mean temperature ranges from 43.4 °F (6.3 °C) in January to 82.3 °F (27.9 °C) in July, while, on average, there are 3.0 days where the temperature stays at or below freezing, 55 days with a low at or below freezing, and 67 days with a high at or above 90 °F (32 °C) per year.[40] The all-time record low is −14 °F (−26 °C), set on January 27, 1940, while the all-time record high is 109 °F (43 °C), set on July 29, 1930.[40] However, temperatures at or below 0 °F (−18 °C) are rare, having last occurred December 23, 1989, the date of the all-time record low for December; additionally, while highs can reach 100 °F (38 °C) several days a row during severe heat waves, several years may pass between such readings.[40]

Precipitation is high, averaging 57.74 inches (1,467 mm) annually. On average, December is the single wettest month, and February through May are also especially wet; September and October are the driest months. The rainiest calendar day on record is March 21, 1955 when 9.40 inches (239 mm) of rain fell; monthly precipitation has ranged from trace amounts in August 1983 to 19.89 inches (505 mm) in December 1982.[40] Snow is uncommon, with many years receiving trace amounts or no snowfall at all, and normal (1981–2010) winter snowfall stands at 2.1 inches (5.3 cm).[40] The most snow in one calendar day was 8.0 inches (20 cm) on January 24, 1940, contributing to the 9.2 inches (23 cm) that fell that month, the snowiest on record; the snowiest winter was 1935–36 with 14.8 inches (38 cm).[40]

As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 37,923 people, 14,751 households, and 9,648 families residing in the city.

As of the census of 2010, there were 35,456 people, 13,602 households, and 8,965 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 58.7% White, 36.8% African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 2.0% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. 3.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.[45]

According to the 2007–2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, there were 13,395 households, 42.8% were married couples living together, 2.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 22.5% had a female householder with no husband present. 32.2% were non-family households, with 28.4% had a householder living alone and 3.8% having a householder not living alone. In addition, 39.7% of householders were living with related children under 18 and 60.3% with no related children under 18.[46] The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.08.[45]

The median income for a household in the city was $39,415. The poverty rate was 20%.[45]

• Tupelo is the headquarters of the North Mississippi Medical Center, the largest non-metropolitan hospital in the United States. It serves people in North Mississippi, northwest Alabama, and portions of Tennessee. The medical center was a winner of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2006 and 2012.[9]
• The headquarters of two large banking institutions are located here: BancorpSouth, with approximately nearly $18 billion in assets (2019), and Renasant Bank, with assets of more than $12.7 billion (2019). Tupelo is the smallest U.S. city that hosts the headquarters of more than one bank with over $10 billion in assets.[9]
• The city is a five-time "All-America City Award" winner.
• In 1963, Ralph J. Roberts, along with Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky purchased American Cable Systems, a small cable operator in Tupelo. American Cable was re-incorporated in Pennsylvania as Comcast.
• It has a large furniture manufacturing industry. The journalist Dennis Seid noted that furniture manufacturing in Northeast Mississippi, "provid[ed] some 22,000 jobs, or almost 13% of the region's employment... with a $732 million annual payroll... producing $2.25 billion worth of goods."[48]
• Tecumseh, Heritage Home Group, Hancock Fabrics, Inc., Magnolia Fabrics, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi, H.M. Richards, JESCO Construction, MTD Products, Savings Oil Company (Dodge's Stores), and Cooper Tire & Rubber Company all operate or are headquartered in Tupelo and Lee County. Renin Corporation, a subsidiary of BBX Capital Corporation, operates a production centre in Tupelo which employed 50 but an expansion in 2017 expected to increase staffing to 100.[49]

Tupelo is served by BNSF Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway for freight transportation via rail.

U.S. Route 45, U.S. Route 78, U.S. Route 278, and Natchez Trace Parkway run through Tupelo; Interstate 22 runs north of the city on an east–west route.

The city is served by Tupelo Regional Airport, with service on Contour Airlines.