Florence

 The Florence Flashback and Fun Facts

Steen's Creek, one of Rankin County's oldest settlements, was named for the Steen family in the southwestern part of the County. Brothers William, Silas, Robert, and Elias came to the area as early as 1823 with other settlers from the Carolinas. Streams of water were valuable to settlers, so often, the early communities originated near a creek. The creek and community, in this case, were named after the Steens.  

When the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad was built through this region; the railroad objected

to the name because of its length. This led to Steen's Creek becoming Florence in honor of the wife of W.C. Ellis. Mrs. Ellis was the daughter of Thomas Norrell. The town would officially be named Florence in 1901.  

The first home in Florence, built with hand-cut logs, belonged to William Steen. At the time, William Steen owned most of the land that is now the City of Florence. A church was soon organized with Jesse Woodall as the first pastor. The large log building was built on

land donated by Carroll J. Steen, son of William Steen. After the Civil War, slaves who were

now free asked for letters of dismissal so that they could organize a church for themselves. Spring Hill Church was formed around 1866, and it is the oldest black church in the county.  

The first merchant in Florence was John B. Lewis who owned and operated a cotton gin. Vicksburg was the nearest market, and these trips were usually made by ox wagon. This led to the Pearl and Big Black Rivers being forded due to the lack of bridges then.  

Florence was and is still today well known for its school, which was originally a log cabin.

It would soon grow into a boarding school and attract students from a large area. Today there are four school buildings which are Steen's Creek, Florence Elementary, Florence Middle, and Florence High. This year, Florence Elementary School was awarded Mississippi’s 2022 National Blue-Ribbon Schools award from the U.S. Department of Education. Florence also has a private Christian school, Discovery Christian.

Spookiness:

The town had one of the first undertakers in the area. Mr. and Mrs. J.L.

Evans, also known as "Uncle John and Aunt Loulie" owned and operated the two-story factory near the creek. Uncle John was also the editor of the town paper, the "Steen's Creek

Times". Later, Dr. R.N. Whitfield was editor of the "Florence Weekly".  

The oldest marked grave to be found anywhere in the county is located in Florence and

belongs to Scyrena Steen, a young girl who died on September 30, 1824.  

So far, there is not another community that had such a dramatic name change that took 77

years to implement.

Also, in the documentary “The House In Between,” you can learn even more Florence facts. Just follow this link

 ABOUT | The House In Between

Lastly, Florence Public Library was renovated in 2007, becoming the building it is in today, and is 1 of 20 branches in the Central Mississippi Regional Library System. We value education here at the Florence Public Library and love our small community. We strive to provide resources, services, and programs to foster creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning to all that visit us. Stop by your city public library today!

Mendenhall Public Library: Home of Mississippi's Tallest Totem Pole

 

According to an article by RoadsideAmerica.com dated 2015, the tallest totem pole in Mississippi is located at the Mendenhall Public Library. The totem pole was a project by local artist and woodcarver, Johnny Knight. Before his death in 2003 he donated the totem pole to his hometown and the town decided that its home would be the Mendenhall Public Library. He also built an amazing tree house known as The Johnny Knight Tree House. You really should see it.

When I was tasked with writing an article about the Mendenhall Library, I knew that I wanted to include the totem pole in my article, after all, it's kind of hard to miss. As I was looking for information on the totem pole and about the library in general, I found an old scrapbook full of old articles. There are articles from libraries all across the state, so looking for information about the Mendenhall Library was interesting. 

Now I could not find any information on the original opening of the Mendenhall Library. I did see in one article I found, dated 1961 that stated the library started out in the "old grammar room in the school building" before being moved to "a small building located across from the courthouse." Is that the location in the picture? I'm not sure, I can't tell you when the article pictured below was written or when the picture below was taken, or if that is even the building mentioned in the article. As I looked through the scrapbook of gold, the historians that put it together forgot about adding the dates of the articles or the location of the pictures. We have all done it, clipped an article for a paper or magazine about family or friends, never thinking to include the details, such as the who, why, where, what, or when. They had the right idea of preserving history but as we age and the historians of the community go on, we forget the details of the stories we think that the stories will live on long after we are gone. Sometimes they do live on but the details change. I never knew the library was ever located anywhere other than where it is today. I was born and raised in Simpson County and for as long as I can remember the library has always been here. We will get to that in a minute.

Something else I discovered while looking for information about the library was the use of bookmobiles. Did you know that the Mississippi Library Commission also had a bookmobile that delivered books to the libraries in the state? I only know this now because of the scrapbook and the articles that I found. I can't tell you when the bookmobiles were in service or for how long. 

I can tell you that the library has been holding summer programs for the area's children for a long time. In the article below the library was part of the Capital Area Regional Library System. I do know from the history of CMRLS that in 1952, the Board of Supervisors in Hinds, Rankin, Scott, and Simpson established the Capital Area Regional Library System. In 1986, the Central Mississippi Regional Library System was born serving the residents of Rankin, Scott, Smith, and Simpson.

Eventually, the library outgrew its location and had to find a forever home. According to the plaque on the wall outside the door of the library that happened in 1975. With funds from the City of Mendenhall and State Funds via the Mississippi Library Commission, the brand-new Mendenhall Library was constructed at its current location (I also found the original blueprints). The city has added a community center to the rear of the library and renovated the inside as the needs and services of the library have changed over time. 

Life is all about change. 

 I was born and raised right here in Simpson County and in all those years, the library has sat in its current location.