June 17th in Elvis History

It’s June seventeenth, and on this day in 1933… Vernon Elvis Presley and Gladys Love Smith hitchhiked twenty miles from Tupelo to Pontotoc, Mississippi, to elope. Seventeen-year-old Vernon claimed to be twenty-one on the marriage license, while Gladys, nineteen, gave her age as seventeen to meet the legal requirement. They were married by circuit court clerk J.M. Gates. The young couple lived with relatives until Gladys became pregnant with twins, prompting Vernon to borrow \$180 to build a modest two-room house on North Saltillo Road, just twelve feet from Vernon’s father’s home. By Christmas 1934, they had moved into their new home—ready to welcome their sons, Jesse and Elvis.