Ripley was incorporated on May 9, 1837.  As is usual in the South, the town was built in the form of a square with the courthouse in the center.  The first houses were log structures.  Court was held in a log house on the northeast corner of what is now the square, until a brick courthouse was built about 1839.  One of the early stores built in 1839 was a two story structure, weather boarded in good style, with ceiling and floors of well-dressed, tongued and grooved pine planks.  Windows and doors had shutters which opened to the outside, protecting the glass.  The store was built on brick pillars and had a brick chimney, with a fireplace on the first and second floors.  The roof was made of cypress shingles and a stairway ran up the outside of the building to the second story.  The building was given a good coat of white paint.  The log house gave place to plank houses and plank houses in turn to brick.    The east side of the square was the last to have buildings constructed on it. 
On November 5, 1889, Col. W. C. Falkner was shot by R. J. "Dick" Thurmond.  The newspaper account reported that they were on the west side of the square near the Alexander & Co. store.

This house was built in 1842, for the Hindman family who moved to Tippah County from Alabama.  An interesting memoir by Thomas Hindman's daughter tells of the family's move by wagon train and gives other information about early days in the area.  The house was the residence of the J. A. Booker family when it burned in January of 1938.  About the only thing saved from the burning house was the daughter's Steinway grand piano.  The Hindman Cemetery is just east of the site of the original house and the present brick home built after the fire.

Col. W. C. Falkner and "Dick" Thurmond were partners in various enterprises including joint ownership of the Ripley Railroad.  Their differences of opinions at times turned into altercations between the two.  The final one was reported in THE RIPLEY ADVERTISER Nov. 6, 1889.

 Thomas Spight served in the U. S. Congress 1898-1911.  He was an attorney and veteran of the Civil War.  Spight advised Col. Falkner concerning his will.  His account was that Falkner, his friend, came to him and told him that he knew Dick Thurmond planned to kill him and that he wanted to be sure that his property was well settled.  Spight suggested to Falkner that if he really feared Thurmond, he should carry a gun: but Falkner, replying that he had already killed enough men, refused to arm himself. 
When the case came to trial in 1891, Thurmond was indicted for manslaughter.  He was not found guilty as charged.  Capt. Spight was the District Attorney and was among the attorneys for the prosecution. 

Built in the 1850's, this house was occupied by the W. R. Cole Family during the Civil War.  Mrs. Cole's letters are now an important record of some of the conditions in Ripley during the war.  R. J. Thurmond later purchased the house.  The house has had some additions made to it and has been renovated by the current owners, Mr. and Mrs. John Jeans.  This picture was taken before the renovations and additions were made. 

R. J. Thurmond's daughter Mary, married Jim Harris.  The following article appeared in the RIPLEY ADVERTISER on September 6, 1884:  "Mr. J. C. Harris has given the finishing touches to his new residence in the western portion of town.  We believe it now takes rank as the finest and most beautiful residence in the city."  Some have said that Thurmond was  trying to build a finer home for his daughter than Falkner had built for his daughter, Willie, who had married Dr. N. G. Carter in 1874.

This house which stands at 307 N. Jackson was built for John Y. Murry, Jr., in 1898.  It became the home of the Thomas J. Cole family in 1909.  T. J. Cole owned a department store on the northwest part of the square. 

One source says that the statue was erected in 1892, at a cost of $2,022. by Col. Falkner's family.  It was  the work of C. J. Rogers & Sons of Grand Junction, TN, with the help from Italian sculptors. 
      William Faulkner, his great grandson, used the legend concerning Robert Hindman's grave marker and this scene in the Ripley Cemetery to create the description of the fictional Col. John Sartoris' grave:  "He stood on a stone pedestal, in his frock coat and bareheaded, one leg slightly advanced..........."

Ripley Public Library
308 North Commerce Street
Ripley, MS 38663
(662) 837-7773

Falkner family photographs and scrapbooks as well as first editons of the Colonel's books, including THE WHITE ROSE OF MEMPHIS, are housed in the town's library.