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Greenville, Mississippi
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==History== ===Early history=== This area was occupied by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. When the [[France|French]] explored here, they encountered the historic [[Natchez people]]. As part of their colony known as ''[[La Louisiane]]'', the French established a settlement at what became [[Natchez, Mississippi]]. Other Native American tribes also lived in what is now known as Mississippi. The current city of Greenville is the third in the State to bear the name. The first, (known as [[Old Greenville, Mississippi|Old Greenville]]) located to the south near [[Natchez, Mississippi|Natchez]], was the Jefferson County seat from 1803 to 1825<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mississippimarkers.com/uploads/6/1/1/7/6117286/4163493.jpg|title=Old Greenville Historical Marker|website=Mississippimarkers.com|access-date=January 18, 2025}}</ref> but became defunct soon after the [[American Revolution]], as European-American settlement was then still concentrated in the eastern states. This ghost town was in no way related to the second Greenville except that they eventually shared a name. Many migrants came to the area of the future, second Greenville, located approximately 150 miles north of the first Greenville, from the eastern and [[Upper South]] states, seeking land for developing cotton plantations, and this area became a trading center for the region's plantations. In 1830 the United States Congress passed the [[Indian Removal Act]], which authorized the government to make treaties to extinguish Native American land claims in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River. They forced most of the Southeastern tribes to [[Indian Territory]] during the following decade. After it became necessary to move the county seat of Washington County in 1844 due to loss of land to the newly formed Issaquena County, the not-yet established second Greenville was designated to be the future county seat and finally became so upon its founding in 1847.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Washington County Historical Papers |url=https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/H004873.pdf}}</ref> American William W. Blanton filed for land from the United States government and was granted section four, township eighteen, range eight west; this plot now constitutes most of current downtown Greenville (the third). It was named by its founders for General [[Nathanael Greene]], friend of President [[George Washington]], for whom the county was named. This Greenville was thriving hamlet in the antebellum years, as cotton plantations developed in the area generated high profits for major planters. They used indentured Whites, captured Indians and African slaves as farmhands on the plantations. Washington County's two previous county seats, [[New Mexico, Mississippi|New Mexico]] and [[Princeton, Mississippi|Princeton]], were located along the Mississippi River and had been eroded by the waters, to the point that they were destroyed.<ref name="Woods">{{cite book | last = Woods | first = Woody | title = Delta Plantations: The Beginning | publisher = Troy (Woody) Woods | year = 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5kCn5zzFIjkC&q=prince&pg=PP1 | pages = 157, 158| isbn = 9780615383958 }}</ref> As county seat, Greenville was the trading, business, and cultural center for the large [[cotton]] [[Plantations in the American South|plantations]] that surrounded it. Most plantations were located directly on the Mississippi and other major navigable tributaries. The interior bottomlands were not developed until after the Civil War. [[File:Greenville, Mississippi.jpg|thumb|Greenville, seen from the Mississippi River]] ===The destruction of Greenville and the Civil War=== The town (the second Greenville, eventually also referred to as Old Greenville<ref name="auto"/> by its residents who may not have been familiar with Mississippi's first Greenville, which by then had disappeared) was destroyed during the Union Army's actions related to the [[siege of Vicksburg]]. Troops from a [[Union Navy|Union gunboat]] landed at Greenville. In retaliation for being fired upon, they burned every building. The inhabitants took refuge in plantation homes of the area. When the war ended, veterans of Mississippi regiments returned to find Greenville in a state of ruin. The former residents soon decided to build again. They chose a new site (the third, current Greenville) three miles away, at the highest point on the Mississippi River between the towns of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]] and [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]]. Much of the land belonged to the Roach and Blanton families; the major part of the area selected was within property owned by [[Harriet Byron McAllister|Mrs. Harriet Blanton Theobald]]. She welcomed the idea of a new Greenville, and donated land for schools, churches and public buildings. She was called the "[[Harriet Byron McAllister|Mother of Greenville]]". Major Richard OβHea, who had planned the wartime defense fortifications at Vicksburg, was hired to lay out the new town. Greenville recovered prosperity, still based on cotton, despite the decline in world markets for this commodity. In the early 20th century, its elite families had considerable political influence in the state, and US Senator [[Leroy Percy]] was from here. Several residences and other buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries have been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. It was a center of Delta culture in the early 20th century. This city adapted the former site to serve as [[Landfill|industrial fill]]. ===Nelson Street=== [[File:NelsonStreetBluesTrailMarker.jpg|thumb|Nelson Street Mississippi Blues Trail Marker]] African Americans in the Delta developed rich varieties of innovative music. Nelson Street is a historic strip of blues clubs that drew crowds in the 1940s and 1950s to the flourishing club scene to hear [[Delta blues]], [[big band]], [[jump blues]] and [[jazz]]. Record companies came to Greenville to recruit talent.<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.atlantamagazine.com/uploadedFiles/Atlanta/Travel/November07%20Travel.pdf |title=Great Southern Getaways β Mississippi |work=Atlanta Magazine |date=November 2007 |access-date=2008-05-31 |last=Cloues |first=Kacey |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080918201642/http://www.atlantamagazine.com/uploadedFiles/Atlanta/Travel/November07%20Travel.pdf |archive-date=September 18, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was similar to [[Beale Street]] in mid-20th century [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]].<ref> {{cite web |url=http://www.visitmississippi.org/music/MBTmapbrochure1s.pdf |title=Introducing the Mississippi Blues Trail |publisher=The Mississippi Blues Commission |access-date=2008-05-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529055826/http://www.visitmississippi.org/music/MBTmapbrochure1s.pdf |archive-date=2008-05-29 }} </ref> In the early 21st century, the [[Mississippi Blues Commission]] was established to commemorate this music in the state's history and culture. It has identified sites throughout the Delta as part of the [[Mississippi Blues Trail]]. Southern Whispers Restaurant on Nelson Street in Greenville was the second site identified on this trail; this was a stop on the [[Chitlin' Circuit]] in the early days of the blues. The historic marker in front of the restaurant commemorates its importance in the history of the [[blues]] in Mississippi.<ref name="bluesmatters">[http://www.bluesmatters.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2493] {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_trail/ |title=Mississippi Blues Commission β Blues Trail |website=Msbluestrail.org |access-date=2008-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509122945/http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_trail/ |archive-date=2008-05-09 |url-status=live }}</ref> ===21st century=== In 2020 the city ordered churches to shut down to prevent the spread of [[COVID-19]] and issued citations and fines to those attending a drive-in church gathering. The [[U.S. Justice Department]] intervened on behalf of the church.<ref name="WilliamsCoronavirus">{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Pete |title=CORONAVIRUS Justice Department defends Mississippi drive-in church service |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-defends-mississippi-drive-church-service-n1183761 |access-date=22 April 2020 |date=April 14, 2020}}</ref>
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