Money, Mississippi Explained

Official Name:Money, Mississippi
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:Mississippi#USA
Pushpin Label:Money
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Mississippi##Location in the United States
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Mississippi
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Leflore
Population Total:<100
Timezone:Central (CST)
Utc Offset:-6
Timezone Dst:CDT
Utc Offset Dst:-5
Elevation Ft:138
Coordinates:33.6511°N -90.2092°W
Blank1 Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:673728

Money is an unincorporated community near Greenwood in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta. 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

The settlement was named for Hernando Money, a United States Senator from Mississippi.[1] Money was a stop on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad.[2] This rural area was developed for cotton cultivation. The population in 1900 was 40.[2] The Money post office was established in 1901.[3]

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, by means of whistling, with a white woman working alone at Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market in Money. Till was subsequently murdered.[4]

A historic marker has been placed in front of Bryant's Grocery, and the site draws "an ever-increasing number of tourists". The crumbling building is privately owned, which has hindered efforts to preserve it.[5] [6]

Transportation

Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, which operates between New Orleans and Chicago, passes through the town on CN tracks, but makes no stop. The nearest station is located in Greenwood, to the south.

Education

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

In popular culture

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.

The novel The Trees by Percival Everett is set in Money and depicts a mysterious series of murders that seem to follow identical patterns and involve the families of the confessed murderers of Emmett Till.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Gallant, Frank K.. A Place Called Peculiar: Stories about Unusual American Place-Names. 16 February 2012. Courier Corporation. 978-0-486-48360-3. 95.
  2. Book: Rowland, Dunbar . Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form . Southern Historical Publishing Association . 1907 . 2 . 271.
  3. Web site: Leflore County . Jim Forte Postal History . 1 November 2015.
  4. News: Woman Linked to 1955 Emmett Till Murder Tells Historian Her Claims Were False. 2018-08-07. en.
  5. News: Burch . Audra D. S. . Shastri . Veda . Chaffee . Tim . February 20, 2019 . Emmett Till’s Murder, and How America Remembers Its Darkest Moments . The New York Times.
  6. Tell . David . April 2019 . Remembering Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi . Places.
  7. Web site: School Profile. Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District. 2021-05-18. Amanda Elzy currently services [...] including the towns of [...] Money, [...].
  8. Web site: SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Leflore County, MS. U.S. Census Bureau. 2021-05-12.
  9. "School District Consolidation in Mississippi ." Mississippi Professional Educators. December 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2017. Page 2 (PDF p. 3/6).
  10. Book: The Blues Encyclopedia. Edward. Komara. Peter. Lee. 409. July 19, 2004. Routledge. 9781135958329. Google Books.
  11. Book: Wiggins, David K.. African Americans in Sports. 26 March 2015. Routledge. 978-1-317-47744-0. 401.
  12. Book: Tobler, John . NME Rock 'N' Roll Years . Reed International Books Ltd . 1992 . 1st . London . 239 . CN 5585.