Leaf is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

and

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Greene County,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, United States. Leaf is located east of Leaf River Wildlife Management Area, within the eastern boundary of

De Soto National Forest De Soto National Forest, named for 16th-century Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, is of pine forests in southern Mississippi. It is one of the most important protected areas for the biological diversity of the Gulf Coast ecoregion of Nor ...

. The town is named for the Leaf River, which flows a few miles east. It was first named as a CDP in the 2020 Census which listed a population of 62.

History

Leaf was settled in 1838, and originally called "Salem". Most of the early settlers in the region were Irish, Scottish or English, and Salem's first families were the Thomsons, Cowarts, McKays, and McLeods. Salem Academy was founded by W.W. Thompson, and operated between 1845 and 1862. Thompson later served as a Superintendent of Education of Greene County. Leaf was a stop on the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City Railroad, which later became the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...

. In 1902, three partners bought two sawmills in Leaf, as well as carts, oxen and wagons, and opened the Thomson Brothers Lumber Company. The mills had a total cutting capacity of per day, and produced longleaf yellow pine timber and lumber, dressed and rough. In 1903, the company sold the sawmills and nearly of timber, to William F. Green of

Bay Minette, Alabama Bay Minette is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,107. History In the first days of Baldwin County, the town of McIntosh Bluff (now in Mobile Cou ...

. Green operated the mill under the named W.F. Green Lumber Company. The sawmill was destroyed by fire in 1906, at a loss of $20,000. The mill was rebuilt, but its operations ceased in 1909 when W.F. Green moved to

Hattiesburg, Mississippi Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and most populous city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The ci ...

. A post office operated under the name Leaf from 1874 to 1986.

Demographics

2020 census

Notable people

Lloyd Green Lloyd Lamar Green (born October 4, 1937) is an American steel guitarist noted for his extensive country music recording session career in Nashville performing on 116 Chart Hit, No.1 Country music, country hits including Tammy Wynette's “D-I-V-O- ...

, steel guitarist.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Greene County, Mississippi Unincorporated communities in Mississippi Census-designated places in Greene County, Mississippi