There are many good roads in or about Tupelo; US 45, US 78, US 278, SR 6, SR 145 and SR 178.

During Hernando De Soto's exploration of the area around today's Tupelo in the early 1540's; he came upon an established Chickasaw Indian civilization nestled in the wooded hills and valleys. In the 1730's, a bloody battle of the French and Indian War took place in the area; from which the British emerged victorious. They made wide use of the Natchez Trace for commerce and it soon became a way for settlers to pour into the frontier. The city was also the scene of a Civil War battle for control of the railroad traffic supplying the Union campaign against Atlanta. the convergence of the Mobile & Ohio and the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham railroads in the late 1880's established the city as a rail distribution and manufacturing center,

The Honorable Dan J. Davis