Series 1411: Yellow Creek Industrial Facility Files. 1980-2003.
Mississippi Development Authority (RG 76).

Series 1411: Yellow Creek Industrial Facility Files. 1980-2003.
Mississippi Development Authority (RG 76).

      Files maintained by Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development/Mississippi Development Authority staff concerning a large industrial park in Tishomingo County, initially known as the “Yellow Creek Facility” but later retitled the “Tri-State Commerce Park.” The files are comprised of a wide variety of materials, including (but not limited to) correspondence, maps, equipment inventories, photographs, and land records. Though a few items date from as early as 1980, the bulk of the material dates from 1993-2002. This series documents the intensive efforts of state government officials to promote industrial expansion in Mississippi. The files are divided into several broad categories, detailed below:

• Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) files: These files contain such documents as a detailed report Major Economic Impact Authority projects in the Northeast Mississippi area, an impact study of the ASRM plant on the Yellow Creek area, general information on the ASRM project, a site plan, clippings and newsletters, and a great deal of correspondence, most of which documents local efforts to keep the ASRM project federally funded.
• Area promotionals: These are promotional items of the sort created by state and local economic development agencies to promote industrial relocation. Included are such materials as maps, brochures, pamphlets, socioeconomic data, and surveys. Materials may be found for the entirety of northeast Mississippi, as well as the Shoals area of Alabama and for Hardin County, Tennessee.
• Auction documents: Correspondence, flyers, lists of items to be sold, reports of sale prices and other items associated with two separate auctions held at the Yellow Creek site – the NASA liquidation auction in 1995 and the Tri-State Commerce Park auction in 1999.
• Building files: Files on the twenty-odd buildings that comprise the Yellow Creek facility. They typically contain photographs, overviews of the size and industrial capabilities of the buildings, equipment lists, etc. A list of the fair market value of the buildings is included.
• Commerce Grant file: Correspondence, financial status reports and other papers pertaining to a Challenge Grant for Technology in Education received by MDECD from the Department of Commerce in 1994. Mississippi State University assumed adminis- tration of the grant on April 21, 1995.
• Correspondence and activity reports: Though some correspondence is found throughout most of the files in this series, the correspondence of Glenn L. McCullough, Jr. Director of the Appalachian Regional Office of the Office of the Governor, is particularly extensive. Dating from 1995 to 1997, these files contain McCullough’s incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as internal memoranda. A small folder of miscellaneous correspondence dates as late as 2002. The activity reports date from 1995-1996 and were written by the site transition manager and assistant manager.
• Contractor/potential contractor files: Correspondence, contracts and other documents related to contractors hired (or considered for hire) to provide services at the Yellow Creek site, such as construction firms, security companies, engineering consultants, etc.
• Environmental files: Environmental impact studies, assessment reports, erosion control recommendations, EPA permits, and other documents pertaining to the environmental impact of industry in the Pickwick Lake/Yellow Creek area.
• General site information files: Dating from 1984 to 1996, these files contain a variety of information applicable to the Yellow Creek site in general. Included is a list of site job responsibilities; a statement on the value of the property; information on site access, utilities, easements, buildings and acreage; specifications and contract documents for site improvements; and a few photographs. There is also some correspondence, most of which concerns site improvements or the possible location of companies at Yellow Creek. Agendas, minutes, resolutions, press releases and clippings may also be found in this file.
• Land documents: Land titles and payment records for the 2,300 acre buffer zone surrounding the industrial site itself, records of timber sales, the quitclaim deed from NASA to the State of Mississippi, the final agreement transferring ownership of the site from the state to Tishomingo County, and other papers.
• Lessee/prospective lessee files: Papers concerning companies that either leased manufacturing space at the Yellow Creek site, or considered leasing space. Files are arranged alphabetically by name of company or project. These typically contain such materials as lease agreements, letters, invoices, company promotionals and information packets, and other items.
• Maintenance and utilities files: Information concerning the Yellow Creek site’s water supply, electrical substation, sewage treatment facilities, and anything related to site utilities.
• Mississippi Major Economic Impact Authority file: The documents in this file, dating from 1992-1996, contain a list of approved or funded MMEIA projects in northeast Mississippi, a list of expenditures related to the NASA project, correspondence, invoices and payment vouchers, grant agreements and many other papers.
• Miscellaneous files: Files which did not fit into broad categories, but are nonetheless some of the most important in this series. Includes documents which provide an overview of the Yellow Creek industrial facility’s history and capabilities. Miscellaneous photographs: Various photographs taken at the Yellow Creek site, primarily of buildings and equipment. Many of the images document building construction. Aerial images are included.
• Oversize maps, charts and plans: These materials are boxed separately. They include such items as U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle maps of the region (with index); a navigational chart of the Tennessee River/Pickwick Lake region; a property boundary drawing for the site; geologic maps; and architectural drawings. Please consult the list following this finding aid for more detail.
• Personnel and resume files: These files contain resumes and application letters of those interested in employment by the state at the Yellow Creek Industrial Facility, job descriptions, employment contracts, and an organizational chart of the Yellow Creek Industrial Facility staff, all dating roughly from 1995-1996.
• Phillips Coal Company file: A very thick file concerning a lignite coal mine and power plant. Though located in Choctaw County, it fell within the Tennessee Valley Authority area and so had a potential impact as a power generation source for industries that might locate at Yellow Creek. The file contains reports, press releases, clippings, statistics, and general information on TVA, Phillips Coal and the Mississippi Lignite Project. Dates range from 1993-1997. For further information on this project, see Series 2590: Red Hills Power Project Files.
• Property inventories: Inventories, equipment lists and property reports. There are many photographs of office equipment, special industrial equipment, and facility vehicles included with this material.
• Special meetings and events: These files document four special meetings and events. They are (1) Yellow Creek Project meeting, 5/15/1996; (2) a tour of the Yellow Creek Facility by a foreign dignitary, 3/28/1997; (3) Tri-State economic developers meeting, 4/19/2001; and (4) Tri-State Commerce Park Task Team meeting, 8/24/2001. Agendas, correspondence, and lists of attendees are typical of the types of material found in these files, though other information may be found as well. As these were not formal board meetings, no minutes exist.
• Strategic Site Development Proposals: After the State of Mississippi assumed control over the Yellow Creek Site in 1996, various firms were invited to submit overall marketing and site development strategies for the industrial park.
• Strategic Site Development Plan: The contract for the master site development plan was awarded to Fluor-Daniel Consultants and Associates. This multi-volume plan includes an analysis not only of target industries, but of the site region itself. Note that the Fluor-Daniel company proposal is boxed with this material, not with the other proposals.
• Target Industry Guide: Prepared by the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Economic Development division, this massive spiral-bound report details prospective industries that could use the Yellow Creek facility and should be actively recruited to the area. The guide contains a wealth of industrial/manufacturing data for the entire Tennessee Valley.
• Tri-State Network Demonstration Project Files: Funds provided via grants from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NASA, and MMEIA were made available to Mississippi State University, which was to improve the telecommunications infrastructure of Tishomingo County and the “Tri-State Region” ( a 50-mile-radius area around Iuka, MS) so as to improve economic development and educational opportunities therein. The files date from 1995-1997 and include reports, correspondence, notes, planning documents and budgetary information.

See also:
      Series 1307: Major Economic Impact Authority (MEIA) Files.
      Series 1375: Yellow Creek/Tri-State Commerce Park Board Minutes.
      Series 2591: Legal Bureau Files.

      The Yellow Creek industrial facility, located on a peninsula bordered by Pickwick Lake and the Yellow Creek Embayment in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, was originally intended to be a nuclear power plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Construction on the plant began in 1978, but the program was cancelled circa 1983 with only about thirty percent of the site developed. In 1988, the 1,168 acre site was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the location for its Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) facility, with Lockheed Martin as the agency’s prime contractor. As NASA required a large buffer zone around their facility, the State of Mississippi (working through the Department of Economic and Community Development and the Mississippi Major Economic Impact Authority) purchased an additional 2,300 acres of land surrounding the site. Since the rocket motor plant was expected to employ some 1,500 people from the surrounding region, state officials had been anxious to provide every inducement for selection of the Tishomingo County site. Mississippi spent approximately $100,000,000 in land purchases and upgrades to infrastructure, medical and educational facilities in the northeast section of the state.
      In 1994, NASA terminated their ASRM program due to its expense, and then contracted with the Thiokol Corporation to use the facility to produce rocket nozzles for the space shuttle. After only nine months, this Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) program was also cancelled. At the urging of Mississippi government officials, in 1996 Congress turned the Yellow Creek site over to the State of Mississippi for use as an industrial park, along with $10,000,000 in funds. The Mississippi Legislature responded by passing Senate Bill 3170, which charged the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development with operating the facility through its Major Economic Impact Authority (MEIA). This same piece of legislation created the Yellow Creek Regional Project Board, which had final approval of any of MEIA’s decisions and oversaw the Authority’s monthly expenditures [Chapter 554, General Laws of Mississippi 1996].
      After MDECD gained control of the site, its name was changed to the Tri-State Commerce Park and bids were issued for a strategic site development and marketing plan. (The governing board’s name was correspondingly changed to the Tri-State Commerce Park Advisory Board). After the contract for the site development plan was awarded and then completed in 1997, active recruitment of industries began. Despite some success at attracting companies to the Tri-State Commerce Park, by 2002 the park was still not performing to financial expectations. On July 1, 2003, the Mississippi Legislature passed H.B. 1128, which gave MEIA the authority to hand the site over to Tishomingo County [Chapter 441, General Laws of Mississippi 2003].

Box 14170

• Geologic and stratigraphic maps & charts
• Yellow Creek Facility maps
• Relocated oversize items

Box 15661

• Boring profile plan for transporter runways
• Flood insurance rate map, Tishomingo County
• Quadrangle maps (with index)
• Relocated oversize items

Box 20444

• Navigation chart of Tennessee River/Pickwick Lake
• Tri-State Commerce Park property boundary drawing

*Box 14175 does not appear on this list because its contents consist solely of relocated materials.