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Greenwood, Mississippi (U.S.)

Leflore County

image located by Valentin Poposki, 9 December 2007

Flag Description

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Flag Description

The flag is blue with the city seal centered - it consists of a sunrise behind a waving US flag, with a cotton boll in the center. CITY OF GREENWOOD MISSISSIPPI and the date 1844 written around on a green ring.

From http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7642866&BRD=1838&PAG=461&dept_id=104621&rfi=6, the design for a new Greenwood flag was adopted by city officials during a meeting last week. The flag has a blue background with the city seal in the middle. The flag was designed by Hammons & Associates. Apparently two flags have been manufactured at a cost of $1,100.
Phil Nelson, 10 April 2003

I've found another report, which is also incomplete, but adds to our knowledge of the flag. According to http://www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/05_03/05_14_03/op_symbols_life_flags.html: "a waving Old Glory was the focal point under the ubiquitous Cotton Boll. " I don't know if those symbols are on the seal or in addition to it - I'd guess the former but that just a hunch.
Ned Smith, 6 August 2006

Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta approximately 96 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi and 130 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. The population was 18,425 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Greenwood Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Tallahatchie River and the Yalobusha River meet at Greenwood to form the Yazoo River.

History
The flood plain of the Mississippi River has long been an area rich in vegetation and wildlife, feeding off the Mississippi and its numerous tributaries. Long before Europeans migrated to America, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian nations settled in the Delta’s marsh and swampland. In 1830, the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed by Choctaw Chief Greenwood Leflore, opening the swampland to European settlers. The first settlement on the banks of the Yazoo River was a trading post founded by John Williams in 1830 and known as Williams Landing. The settlement quickly blossomed, and in 1844 was incorporated as “Greenwood,” named after Chief Greenwood Leflore. Growing into a strong cotton market, the key to the city’s success 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 and the Yazoo River. The city served as a shipping point to New Orleans, Louisiana, Vicksburg, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri. Greenwood continued to prosper until the latter part of the American Civil War. During that war, Greenwood played an important, if little-known, role in the famous Siege of Vicksburg. In early 1863, it was clear that the Union intended to attack the strategic port of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River. After failed attempts at a frontal assault of the city, General Ulysses S. Grant hatched a new plan to attack from the rear by way of the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers. A hastily constructed Confederate fort was placed between the two rivers at Fort Pemberton. Here the Confederates met the oncoming Union flotilla with fierce resistance and the sinking of the paddle wheeler "Star of the West" in the channel of the Tallahatchie River, successfully stopping their advance. As a result, Grant abandoned the Yazoo Expedition and retreated north to the Mississippi River to assault Vicksburg by another route.

The end of the Civil War in the mid-1860’s and the following year of Reconstruction severely diminished the cotton industry and crippled the city’s previously thriving economy. Greenwood saw very little growth during these years of hardship. The arrival of railroads in the 1880’s saved the city – with two lines running to downtown Greenwood, close to the Yazoo River. Once again, Greenwood emerged as a prime shipping point for cotton. Downtown’s Front Street bordering the Yazoo bustled with cotton factors and other related businesses, earning that section the name Cotton Row. The city continued to prosper in this way well into the 1940’s.

Today, in the twenty-first century, Greenwood is experiencing a cultural renaissance. Its historic downtown boasts dozens of completed renovations with several others in progress. There are upscale shops, unique dining experiences, a boutique hotel, galleries and museums. All the while, Greenwood has retained its small-town beauty, Delta personality and deep-South hospitality.

The city flag is available http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7642866&BRD=1838&PAG=461&dept_id=104621&rfi=6.
Valentin Poposki, 9 December 2007