Holly Springs is a city in and county seat of Marshall County, Mississippi, United States near southern Tennessee.
Near the Mississippi Delta, the area was developed as cotton plantations, which depended on slave labor. After the American Civil War, many freedmen worked as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. As the county seat, the city is a center of trade and court sessions.
The population was 7,957 at the 2000 census. A slight decrease in population was calculated in the 2010 census. Opportunities are limited in the rural area and young people leave to find work.
History
Holly Springs was founded by European Americans in 1836, on territory historically occupied by Chickasaw Indians for centuries before Indian Removal in the 1830s. The settlement served as a trading center for the neighboring cotton plantations. The next year it was made seat of the newly created Marshall County, named for John Marshall, the Supreme Court justice.
By 1855 Holly Springs was connected to Grand Junction, Tennessee by the advancing Mississippi Central Railway. In ensuing years, the line was completed to the south of Hill Springs. Toward the end of the century, the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad was constructed to intersect this line in Holly Springs.
During the Civil War, the town was used by General Ulysses S. Grant as a supply depot and headquarters. In a raid headed by Confederate Earl Van Dorn in December 1862, most of the supplies stored there were demolished.
In 1878 the city suffered a yellow fever epidemic, common to many river cities along the Mississippi and Ohio, in which 2,000 residents died. The existing Marshall County Courthouse, at the center of Holly Springs' square, was used as a hospital during the epidemic.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.7 square miles (33Â km2), of which 12.7 square miles (33Â km2) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10Â km2) (0.16%) is water.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Holly Springs has a humid subtropical climate, in common with the vast majority of the South.
Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 7,699 people residing in the city. This is a majority-minority city, where 79.2% of the residents were African American, 19.3% White, 0.2% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.6% from some other race and 0.5% from two or more races. 1.2% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,957 people, 2,407 households, and 1,699 families residing in the city. The population density was 626.3 people per square mile (241.9/km²). There were 2,582 housing units at an average density of 203.2 per square mile (78.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 22.81% White, 76.18% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.06% from other races, and 0.69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.59% of the population.
There were 2,407 households out of which 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.3% were married couples living together, 31.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.4% were non-families. 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.22.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 19.1% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 17.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 101.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $23,408, and the median income for a family was $25,808. Males had a median income of $29,159 versus $20,777 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,924. About 27.5% of families and 32.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 44.6% of those under age 18 and 21.2% of those age 65 or over.
Education
The City of Holly Springs is served by the Holly Springs School District.
Rust College was established in 1866 by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to serve freedmen and is a historically black college.
The now defunct Mississippi Industrial College, intended as a vocational training school, was located in Holly Springs, as was the Holly Springs Female Institute.
Notable people
- Seth Adams, University of Mississippi American football quarterback
- Robert Belfour (born 1940), blues musician
- R. L. Burnside (1926â€"2005), blues musician
- Edward Hull "Boss" Crump (1874â€"1954), head of the dominant political machine in Memphis during the first half of the 20th century, was born in Holly Springs
- Cassandra "Cassie" Davis (born July 11, 1964) is an American actress
- Clifton DeBerry (1924â€"2006), born in Holly Springs, was the first black American nominated for President of the United States by a political party (Socialist Workers Party, 1964, 1980)
- Wall Doxey (August 8, 1892 â€" March 2, 1962), Mississippi Congressman, only United States Senator to have also served as the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Wall Doxey State Park named after him
- Ulysses S. Grant (1822â€"1885), wintered in Holly Springs prior to his attack on Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the Civil War
- Syl Johnson (born 1936), blues and soul singer
- Verina Morton Jones (1865â€"1943), African American resident physician at Rust College; first woman to practice medicine in Mississippi
- Junior Kimbrough (1930â€"1998), blues musician
- Clinton LeSueur (born 1969), Republican politician who lost races in 2002 and 2004 for Mississippi's 2nd congressional district to incumbent Democrat Bennie Thompson
- Jeremy LeSueur (born 1980), University of Michigan American football defensive back.
- Paul Maholm (born 1982), pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers
- Eliza Jones McKissack (1828â€"1900), founding head of music at the University of North Texas College of Music
- Mel and Tim (Mel Hardin and Tim McPherson), soul musicians from Holly Springs who recorded at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee
- Hiram Rhodes Revels (1822â€"1901), first African-American to serve in the United States Senate, taught at Shaw University (present-day Rust College), and is buried in Holly Springs's Hillcrest Cemetery
- Shepard Smith (born 1964), Fox News Channel anchor born in Holly Springs. Also attended high school at Marshall Academy, one of the private schools in town
- James F. Trotter (1802â€"1866), judge and U.S. Senator who resided in Holly Springs until his death
- Edward Cary Walthall (1831â€"1898), Confederate General, lawyer, and U.S. Senator from Mississippi
- Ida B. Wells (1862â€"1931), civil rights, women's rights, and anti-lynching activist born in Holly Springs.
- Absolom M. West (1818â€"1894), planter, politician, Civil War general and labor organizer, resided in Holly Springs after the American Civil War until his death
In popular culture
- William Faulkner based his fictionalized Yoknapatawpha County on a diary found at a Holly Springs plantation.
- The 1999 movie Cookie's Fortune was set and filmed in Holly Springs.
References
External links
- History of Holly Springs' Jewish community (from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life)
- Holly Springs Ledger, 1837-1904 (MUM00232) at the University of Mississippi.