| Nickname(s): T-Town | |
| Motto: Mississippi's "All America City" | |
| Location of Tupelo in Lee County | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Lee |
| Founded | |
| Incorporated | 1870 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jack Reed Jr. (R) |
| Area | |
| • City | 51.4 sq mi (133.2 km2) |
| • Land | 51.1 sq mi (132.4 km2) |
| • Water | 0.3 sq mi (0.8 km2) |
| Elevation | 279 ft (85 m) |
| Population (United States Census, 2010) | |
| • City | 39,033 |
| • Density | 709/sq mi (274/km2) |
| • Metro | 134,161 |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 38801-38804 |
| Area code(s) | 662 |
| FIPS code | 28-74840 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0678931 |
| Website | www.ci.tupelo.ms.us |
Tupelo (IPA: /ˈtuːpəloʊ/) is the largest city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. It is the seventh largest city in the state of Mississippi, smaller than Meridian, and larger than Greenville. As of the 2000 United States Census, the city's population was 34,211. By 2010, the population was 39,033, with surrounding counties of Lee, Pontotoc and Itawamba supporting a population of 146,131. The city is best known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley[1]. Situated in northeast Mississippi, the city lies between Memphis, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama, along U.S. Highway 78 — slated to become Interstate 22 within a few years.
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European-American settlers had first named the town Gum Pond prior to the American Civil War, supposedly due to the high number of tupelo trees, locally known as blackgum, that grew in the area. The city still hosts the annual Gumtree Arts Festival. The Southern expression, Possum Up A Gum Tree came from this area. [2] During the war, the local Battle of Tupelo was named after the trees in the area. In the post-Civil War era, Tupelo became the northern Mississippi site for the crossing of a railroad, which encouraged industry in the town. Once the town began to grow, it changed its name to Tupelo, in honor of the battle. Tupelo was incorporated in 1870 with a population of 618. The war site has been designated the Tupelo National Battlefield and is administered by the National Park Service (NPS).
Famous prohibition-era gangster Machine Gun Kelly's last known bank robbery occurred on November 30, 1932 at the Citizen’s State Bank in Tupelo netting his gang $38,000. After the robbery the bank’s chief teller would say of Kelly, “He was the kind of guy that, if you looked at him, you would never thought he was a bank robber.”[3]
In 1934 Tupelo and its region gained electricity from the new Tennessee Valley Authority. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited this "First TVA City".
The Spring of 1936 brought Tupelo one of its worst-ever natural disasters, as the infamous Tupelo Tornado ranks fourth deadliest in U.S. history. Part of the Tupelo-Gainesville outbreak of April 5–6 in that year[4], the Tupelo storm, which struck at night and destroyed large residential areas on the city's north side, was subsequently rated EF5 on the modern Fujita scale. The Gum Pond neighborhood was obliterated, and most of the victims' bodies were left in that pond by the tornado.[5] The official death toll was 216, but the true number is unknown since African-Americans were not counted. One fortunate survivor of the storm was the baby Elvis Presley. Historian Martis D. Ramage, Jr.'s book, "Tupelo, Mississippi, Tornado of 1936," chronicles the devastation of the tornado, with many rare photographs.
The nearby village of Blue Springs was selected during the spring of 2007 as the site for Toyota's eleventh U.S. automobile manufacturing plant.
Tupelo's current mayor is Republican Jack Reed Jr.. The president of the Tupelo City Council is Fred Pitts. The other six council members are Markel Whittenton, Jim Newll, Nettie Davis, Jonny Davis, Mike Bryan, and Willie Jennings.
In December 2007, Sen. Trent Lott retired leaving a vacancy in his unfinished six-year term. Governor Haley Barbour appointed Rep. Roger Wicker as Lott's replacement. Mississippi's First Congressional District seat was open and a special election was held. After a much heated campaign, Travis Childers (D) was elected to represent Mississippi's First Congressional District.
Tupelo schools are served by the Tupelo Public School District. The 2008 Tupelo Golden Wave high school baseball team was ranked #1 in the nation for 2 weeks. The Tupelo High School Athletic department was ranked #3 in the nation in 2008 by Sports Illustrated as best athletic department.
Tupelo is home to satellite campuses of the University of Mississippi, Itawamba Community College, and the Mississippi University for Women.
Historically, Tupelo served as a regional transportation hub, primarily due to its location at a railroad intersection. More recently, it has developed as strong tourism and hospitality sector based around the Elvis Presley birthplace and Natchez Trace. The city has also been successful at attracting manufacturing, retail and distribution operations (see 'Industry' section below).[7]
As of the census[9] of 2000, there are 34,211 people, 13,395 households, and 9,108 families residing in the city. The population density is 669.4 people per square mile (258.4/km²). There are 14,551 housing units at an average density of 284.7 per square mile (109.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 69.40% White, 28.29% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 0.85% from two or more races. 1.41% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 13,395 households out of which 34.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% are married couples living together, 16.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% are non-families. 28.0% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.47 and the average family size is 3.04.
In the city the population is spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 25, 30.5% from 25 to 45, 21.4% from 45 to 65, and 12.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 82.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $38,401. Males have a median income of $35,027 versus $23,988 for females. The per capita income for the city is $22,024.
The local daily newspapers are the nemscitizen.com and Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
Tupelo is home to three television stations serving the 133rd-ranked designated market area among 210 markets nationwide as determined by Nielsen Media Research: WTVA (9), an NBC affiliate; WLOV (27), a Fox affiliate, and WKDH (45), an ABC affiliate. All three stations are located just outside the Tupelo city limits and were controlled by Frank K. Spain until his death on April 25, 2006.
Tupelo is located in northeast Mississippi, north of Columbus, on future Interstate 22 and US Route 78 mid way between Memphis, Tennessee (northwest) and Birmingham, Alabama (southeast).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 51.4 square miles (133 km2), of which, 51.1 square miles (132 km2) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km2) of it (0.62%) is water.
| Climate data for Tupelo, Mississippi | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 80 (27) |
84 (29) |
87 (31) |
93 (34) |
100 (38) |
108 (42) |
109 (43) |
108 (42) |
104 (40) |
96 (36) |
87 (31) |
81 (27) |
109 (43) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 50 (10) |
56 (13) |
65 (18) |
74 (23) |
81 (27) |
88 (31) |
91 (33) |
90 (32) |
85 (29) |
75 (24) |
63 (17) |
54 (12) |
66 (19) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 30 (−1) |
34 (1) |
41 (5) |
48 (9) |
58 (14) |
66 (19) |
70 (21) |
68 (20) |
62 (17) |
49 (9) |
40 (4) |
33 (1) |
50 (10) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −14 (−26) |
−3 (−19) |
7 (−14) |
23 (−5) |
30 (−1) |
43 (6) |
50 (10) |
51 (11) |
38 (3) |
24 (−4) |
8 (−13) |
−3 (−19) |
−14 (−26) |
| Rainfall inches (mm) | 5.14 (130.6) |
4.68 (118.9) |
6.30 (160) |
4.94 (125.5) |
5.80 (147.3) |
4.82 (122.4) |
3.65 (92.7) |
2.67 (67.8) |
3.35 (85.1) |
3.38 (85.9) |
5.01 (127.3) |
6.12 (155.4) |
55.86 (1,418.8) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | 1.3 (3.3) |
0.9 (2.3) |
0.3 (0.8) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.3 (0.8) |
2.8 (7.1) |
| % humidity | 48.5 | 73.5 | 71.5 | 70.0 | 71.5 | 74.0 | 75.0 | 76.5 | 75.5 | 74.5 | 71.5 | 72.5 | 76.5 |
| Source: http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USMS0400
http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/mississippi/tupelo/ |
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