CHOCTAW COUNTY
Chapter XLIV, pages 700-701
An irregularly shaped county in the north
central part of the State, Choctaw was organized on December 23, 1833.
The name comes from the Indian word Chahta, which according to the best
authorities means "separation," referring to the separation of the Choctaws
from the Chickasaws.
Choctaw County was carved from the territory
ceded by the Choctaw nation under the treaty of Dancing Rabbit in 1830.
Originally, its territory was almost square in shape, and more than twice
as large as at present. In 1870, parts of Choctaw were taken to form Grenada,
and were added to Montgomery and Webster in 1871 and 1874. In the latter
year part of Winston was annexed to Choctaw County.
As now constituted, the county has a land
area of 414 square miles and is bounded north by Webster County, east by
Oktibbeha, south by Winston and Attala counties, and west by Montgomery.
Choctaw County was rapidly settled during
the '30s and '40s from the neighboring states and by the older parts of
Mississippi, and by 1850 had attained a population of 11,402. In 1870,
it had a population of 16,988. The following decades showed "ups and downs"
in the matter of population, and there has been a decrease since 1910.
The census of 1920 gives the population of Choctaw County at 12,491.
The first county seat was at Greensboro,
now in Webster County. When Montgomery County was formed from part of Choctaw,
in 1871, it was found expedient to move the seat of justice to a more central
location. La Grange was accordingly chosen and a new court house built
there in 1872. G.W. Gunter donated 40 acres of land on which the town was
built. It was situated in the northern part of the county, about two miles
south of the Big Black River. In the early part of 1874, the court house
was burned—it was believed by incendiaries who wished to have the county
divided in order to create a Republican county out of part of it. All the
county records were destroyed. The Republican majority in the legislature
again divided the county in 1874, to form the present county of Webster,
first called Sumner.
The seat of justice for Choctaw was then
moved to the present site of Chester, near the center of the county. Soon
after this La Grange was abandoned and only a postoffice remains. Though
its life was brief, La Grange had a number of prominent inhabitants, among
whom were Capt. J.B. Dunn, F.A. Critz, S.R. Boyd, J.R. Mullens, Capt. R.F.
Holloway, D.B. Archer and J.W. Pinson, lawyers; A.R. Boyd and J.W. Robinson,
Physicians; and Seward, Boyd & Co., J.M. Petty, G.W. Gunter, and Allen
Philly, merchants. Courts are also held at the important town of Ackerman,
which is a thriving place of 1,264 inhabitants, on the line of the Illinois
Central railway, running from Lexington and Kosciusko to West Point. Other
towns in the county of more or less importance are Weir and French Camp.
The head waters of the Big Black River
are, in this county and yield it a good water supply. Good railroad facilities
are provided by the branch of the Illinois Central railway which crosses
the southeastern part, by the Southern railway which penetrates its extreme
northwestern border, and by the Gulf, Mobile & Northern railroad which
passes through the county from north to south.
There is a considerable timber growth consisting
of oak, beech, pine, hickory, gum, etc., and the soil is capable of producing
good crops of cotton, corn, oats, wheat, sorghum, potatoes, grasses, with
an abundance of all the fruits and vegetables suitable to the latitude.
The general surface of the land is undulating and hilly with a rather light
sandy soil, but there are large areas of rich bottom lands which are extremely
fertile.
The Federal census figures of 1920 show
that the value of all farm property in Choctaw County is $4,709,000; that
the total value of the crops raised is $1,882,000, of which the cereals
produced about one-third, and that her live stock was valued at more than
$900,000. There are about three white farmers to every negro in that line
of work; the white agriculturists numbering nearly 1,700.
