Pigeon Roost Road renamed for MLK

Charles Gillespie remembers when Pigeon Roost Road connected Olive Branch’s AfricanAmerican community with the city’s business district.

“It was ‘the’ street back then,” Gillespie, 66, said on the afternoon of Aug. 27 as he stood underneath the sign designating the road’s new name, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. “I’ve been in Olive Branch all my life, and this is a memorable day.”

It was a memorable day for others as well who lived, attended church and went to school at the city’s old East Side High School, the African-American high school, before it merged with Olive Branch High in 1970. They, like Gillespie, traveled Pigeon Roost between home and downtown, and, like Gillespie, said they could never envision in those days the street being renamed in honor of the civil rights icon.

Mayor Scott Phillips turned out to read a proclamation and make the renaming official with dedication of signs at either end of the section of Pigeon Roost Road between Highway 178 and Miss. 305.

Aldermen approved the renaming unanimously in February, and Phillips apologized to the gathering of 50 or so that it took so long to have the official ceremony.

“I wanted something special, not just another green street sign,” Phillips said in way of explanation for the delay. “I like what we got,” he said of the black sign with gold lettering mounted on a matching black pole at the Miss. 305 end of the road. “I think it’s classy.”

Phillips said that while he thinks it’s important to honor King, it’s important to note the renaming also honors Olive Branch’s African-American residents.

“It’s important to remember the contributions of so many African-American Olive Branch families who traveled this road as they lived, worked, worshipped and served their hometown,” Phillips said.

Mike Smith, president of the DeSoto County African American History Symposium, said he was pleased to see Olive Branch join Hernando as the second DeSoto County city to name a street after King. Memphis also has a street named for King. “In 39 states, there are more than 730 cities with a street bearing the Martin Luther King Jr. name,” Smith said. “We can now say there are more than 731.”

Smith cited the significance of dedicating the street on Aug. 27, as many marched to Washington on that date in 1998 to commemorate the 35th anniversary of King’s “I Have A Dream” speech the next day.

“We can say that, in Olive Branch, the ‘I Have A Dream’ speech has come to fruition,” he said.