Editing Greenwood, Mississippi (section)

==History==
[[File:Howard.street.greenwood.ms.postcard.jpg|thumb|Howard Street]]
[[File:Front Street buildings along the Yazoo River.jpg|thumb|Front Street buildings along the Yazoo River]]

===European settlement===
The first Euro-American settlement on the banks of the [[Yazoo River]] was a trading post founded in 1834 by Colonel Dr. John J. Dilliard<ref name=greenwood>{{cite book|author1=Donny Whitehead|author2=Mary Carol Miller|title=Greenwood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mTL6TxmacCwC|access-date=May 13, 2013|date=September 14, 2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-6786-0}}</ref>{{rp|7}} and known as Dilliard's Landing. The settlement had competition from Greenwood Leflore's rival landing called Point Leflore, located three miles up the Yazoo River. The rivalry ended when Captain James Dilliard donated parcels in exchange for a commitment from the townsmen to maintain an all-weather turnpike to the hill section to the east, along with a stagecoach road to the more established settlements to the northwest.<ref>Smith, Frank E. (1954). ''The Yazoo River''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 57-58. {{ISBN|0-87805-355-7}}</ref>

The settlement was incorporated as "Greenwood" in 1844, named after Chief Greenwood LeFlore. The success of the city, founded during a strong international demand for [[cotton]], was based on its strategic location in the heart of the Delta: on the easternmost point of the [[alluvial plain]], and astride the [[Tallahatchie River|Tallahatchie]] and Yazoo rivers. The city served as a shipping point for cotton to major markets in [[New Orleans]], [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], [[Memphis, Tennessee]], and [[St. Louis, Missouri]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greenwood, Mississippi {{!}} Advisory Council on Historic Preservation |url=https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/greenwood-mississippi#:~:text=Strategically%20located,%20Greenwood%20served%20as,town%20the%20name%20Cotton%20Row. |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=www.achp.gov}}</ref>

The construction of the [[Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad]] and the [[Georgia Pacific Railway]] through the city in the 1880s revitalized the local economy<ref name=greenwood/>{{rp|8}} and shortened transportation time to markets. Downtown's Front Street, bordering the Yazoo, was dominated by cotton [[Factor (agent)|factors]] and related businesses, earning that section the name "Cotton Row".

===20th century===
The city continued to prosper well into the 1940s. Cotton production suffered in Mississippi during the infestation of the [[boll weevil]] in the early 20th century; however, for many years the bridge over the Yazoo displayed the sign "World's Largest Inland Long Staple Cotton Market".

Cotton cultivation and processing became largely mechanized in the first half of the 20th century, displacing thousands of [[Sharecropping|sharecroppers]] and tenant farmers. Since the late 20th century, some Mississippi farmers have begun to replace cotton with [[Maize|corn]] and [[soybean]]s as commodity crops; with the textile manufacturing industry having shifted overseas, farmers can gain stronger prices for the newer crops, used mostly as animal feed.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/business/06cotton.html?em Krauss, Clifford. "Mississippi Farmers Trade Cotton Plantings for Corn"], ''The New York Times'', May 5, 2009</ref>

Greenwood's Grand Boulevard was once named one of America's 10 most beautiful streets by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce and the Garden Clubs of America. Sally Humphreys Gwin, a charter member of the Greenwood Garden Club, planted the 1,000 [[oak]] trees that line Grand Boulevard. In 1950, Gwin received a citation from the National Congress of the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] in recognition of her work in the conservation of trees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newspaperarchive.com|title=NewspaperArchive® - Genealogy & Family History Records|website=Newspaperarchive.com|access-date=28 July 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftJm0hwGAGEC&dq=%22ten+most+beautiful+streets%22&pg=PA87 Kirkpatrick, Mario Carter. ''Mississippi Off the Beaten Path'']{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, GPP Travel, 2007.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed, if any --></ref>