Main Street in Tupelo

Tupelo (/ˈtuːpəloʊ/ TOO-pə-low) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North Mississippi.

Tupelo was incorporated in 1866. The area had earlier been settled as "Gum Pond" along the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. On February 7, 1934, Tupelo became the first city to receive power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, thus giving it the nickname "The First TVA City". Much of the city was devastated by a major tornado in 1936 that still ranks as one of the deadliest tornadoes in American history. Following electrification, Tupelo boomed as a regional manufacturing and distribution center and was once considered a hub of the American furniture manufacturing industry. Although many of Tupelo's manufacturing industries have declined since the 1990s, the city has continued to grow due to strong healthcare, retail, and financial service industries. Tupelo is the smallest city in the United States that is the headquarters of more than one bank with over $10 billion in assets.

Tupelo has a deep connection to Mississippi's music history, being known as the birthplace of Elvis Presley and Diplo as well as the origin of the group Rae Sremmurd. The city is home to multiple art and cultural institutions, including the Elvis Presley Birthplace and the 10,000-seat Cadence Bank Arena, the largest multipurpose indoor arena in Mississippi. Tupelo is the only city in the Southern United States to be named an All-America City five times, most recently in 2015. Its Main Street program, Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association, was the winner of the national Main Street's Great American Main Street Award in 2020. (Full article...)

• ... that in its final years, Mississippi radio station WKXG allegedly attempted to maintain its broadcast license by "taking turns" with another station in their transmitter facility?
• ... that John Berry Meachum anchored the Floating Freedom School in the Mississippi River under federal government protection?
• ... that 19-year-old Union Army colonel Charles R. Ellet ran two separate steam-powered ram ships past the batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the American Civil War?
• ... that the street from which Mississippi radio station WMPR broadcasts was renamed in honor of the station's longtime owner and general manager, former politician Charles Evers?
• ... that the owner of Mississippi radio stations WGUF and WGUF-FM purposefully fell behind on his royalty payments because he did not like copyright fees?
• ... that Betty Jane Long was Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives for less than a day?
• ... that a 1971 format change and firing of three Black disc jockeys contributed to the Mississippi radio station WSWG losing its broadcast license?
• ... that for more than a decade, WNJC-FM at Northwest Mississippi Junior College was the state's only public radio station?

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