Montrose was built by Alfred Brooks as a wedding present to his daughter, Margaret who died shortly after during the birth of her fifth child. The house features a graceful circular stairway, parquet floors, beautiful cornices and ornate medallions which were refurbished by Minnie Wooten Johnson who purchased the home in 1938. In Minnie’s will she left the home to the city of Holly Springs under the grounds that it be rented to the Holly Springs Garden Club in the amount of $1 a month for 100 years. In 1981 the Montrose Arboretum was designated the site of the Mississippi Statewide Arboretum. The site features 50 different specimens of native trees all labeled with common and botanical names. The home was also featured in Hollywood movies including: “Cookie’s Fortune”, “Heart of Dixie” and “Third of July, 1862”.