TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI (Mark)

Tupelo, Mississippi, located along the Mobile and Ohio railroads, is home to about 40,000 residents and the county seat for Lee County.  It is a central hub for the northern portion of the state and the sixth largest city in Mississippi.

Several very large banks have their corporation headquarters in Tupelo, which helped it financially weather some of the downturns that have affected other cities of its size.

This building is about three blocks from the building above, which gives you an idea of the diversity of architecture I saw in a short walk.

The Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association was the winner of the national Main Street’s Great American Main Street Award in 2020.

Everywhere you walk in the downtown you can find art of some type.

In the downtown area alone you can find both large and small venues with music and other art being presented.

I guess I have danced around the subject long enough.

Yes a fairly famous person was born in Tupelo.  This is the actual house Elvis grew up in:

A number of these are around the downtown area.  This one is in front of the Tupelo Hardware store.  This store, still in business, had a huge role in Elvis being Elvis. 

Do you know the story of the bike, the .22 rifle, and the guitar?

(Cheri chiming in here.)  This is a plaque at the Elvis birth site, with a church across the street in the background.  I was struck by the similarities between the lifestyle described here and how my father described his childhood in Oklahoma, in the 30's and 40's.