I loveeee this museum. There's just sooo much history!!…read more
Marshall County Historical Museum
(Holly Springs, MS)
I absolutely love Holly Springs and couldn't pick just one topic! So I decided to do a snip-it timeline of some of its history
1700s: This area was home to the Chickasaw Indians. During the early 1700s, white settlers moved to the Mississippi area in search of rich soil for farms and plantations.
1800-1860: William Randolph is credited with founding the town and Holly Springs was incorporated as a city in 1837. For a short time the name was changed to "Paris" but political pressure caused it to be renamed Holly Springs. By 1838, Holly Springs was flourishing with 14 law offices, 6 doctor's offices, 2 banks, 9 dry good stores, 5 grocery stores, 5 churches, 3 hotels and several private schools. Hillcrest Cemetery was built on land settler William S. Randolph gave the city in 1837.
1851-1860: Holly Springs was considered the un-official capital of north Mississippi. Cultured sons and daughters were sent here to be educated in one of the 6 schools located on College Avenue or at one of the military schools. On November 16, 1853, the Mississippi Railroad held its ground breaking ceremony and fair. Colonel H. W. Walter, who turned the first spade of dirt to start the railroad, drove in the last spike for the railroad in January 1860.
1861-1870: The Civil War began and the first volunteers from Holly Springs left town March 28, 1861, as the Jeff Davis Rifle and Home Guards. Ida B. Wells, a black newspaper editor and journalist was born on July 16, 1862. On November 13, 1862, the town suffered Union occupation. General Grant set up his headquarters at Airliewood and his wife at Walter Place. Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn blew up/burned much of Grant's supplies and captured 1500 prisoners. The Union troops retaliated by burning much of the city. Holly Springs suffered 60 distinct raids during the war. Rust College was established in 1866 as a Freedmen's school. Mississippi returned to the Union February 23, 1867. In December 1869 the State's Reconstruction legislature passed a new constitution granting former slaves the right to vote.
1871-1880: Hiram Rhodes Revels became Mississippi's first black Senator (1870-71). James Hill, a former slave from Holly Springs, became Secretary of State for Mississippi in 1874. Yellow fever came to Holly Springs in 1878. Since there was no hospital in Holly Springs, citizens and churches took in the ill. Men thought to be immune were sent to knock on doors and, if there was no answer, they entered to remove the bodies. The deaths continued to mount until a mass grave was used (Hillcrest Cemetery). An early frost stopped the spread of the disease but the town's population had been decimated by over 2,000 souls.
