Money, Mississippi
Money, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
 Leflore County Volunteer Fire Department in Money | |
  Money Location in Mississippi  Money Location in the United States | |
| Coordinates: 33°39′04″N 90°12′33″W / 33.65111°N 90.20917°WCoordinates: 33°39′04″N 90°12′33″W / 33.65111°N 90.20917°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Leflore |
| Elevation | 138 ft (42 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 673728[1] |
Money is an unincorporated community near Greenwood in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta.[2] It has fewer than 100 residents, down from 400 in the early 1950s when a cotton mill operated there. Money is located on a railroad line along the Tallahatchie River, a tributary of the Yazoo River in the eastern part of the Mississippi Delta. The community has ZIP code 38945 in the Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area.
Money is the site of events leading to the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till.
History[edit]
The settlement was named for Hernando Money, a United States Senator from Mississippi.[3] Money was a stop on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad.[4] This rural area was developed for cotton cultivation. The population in 1900 was 40.[4] The Money post office was established in 1901.[5]
Money gained international attention in 1955 after Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago visiting his uncle, was accused of flirting with a white woman working alone at Bryant's Grocery in Money. Till was subsequently murdered.[6] A vandalized historical marker is located at the site of the abandoned grocery store.
Education[edit]
It is in the Greenwood-Leflore School District. Residents are zoned to Amanda Elzy High School.[7]
The town was formerly served by the Leflore County School District.[8] Effective July 1, 2019 this district consolidated into the Greenwood-Leflore School District.[9]
Notable people[edit]
- Richard "Hacksaw" Harney – Delta blues guitarist and pianist[10]
- James Schaffer – religious leader and centenarian.
- Willye White – Olympic athlete.[11]
In popular culture[edit]
A wooden bridge across the Tallahatchie River at Money was the focus of Bobbie Gentry's 1967 hit song "Ode to Billie Joe." The November 10, 1967 issue of Life magazine featured a photo of Gentry crossing the bridge. The bridge collapsed in June 1972 after being burned by vandals.[12] It has since been replaced.
References[edit]
- ^ "Money". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Money, Mississippi". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ Gallant, Frank K. (16 February 2012). A Place Called Peculiar: Stories about Unusual American Place-Names. Courier Corporation. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-486-48360-3.
- ^ a b Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (PDF). Vol. 2. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 271.
- ^ "Leflore County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
- ^ "Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims Were False". Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ "School Profile". Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
Amanda Elzy currently services [...] including the towns of [...] Money, [...]
- ^ "SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Leflore County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
- ^ "School District Consolidation in Mississippi Archived 2017-07-02 at the Wayback Machine." Mississippi Professional Educators. December 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2017. Page 2 (PDF p. 3/6).
- ^ Komara, Edward; Lee, Peter (July 19, 2004). The Blues Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 409. ISBN 9781135958329 – via Google Books.
- ^ Wiggins, David K. (26 March 2015). African Americans in Sports. Routledge. p. 401. ISBN 978-1-317-47744-0.
- ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 239. CN 5585.
Municipalities and communities of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| CDP | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost town | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |