GRENADA COUNTY
Chapter XLV, pages 726-729
Grenada County, which is situated in the
north-central part of the State and was created May 9, 1870, from territory
formerly belonging to the counties of Yalobusha, Tallahatchie, Choctaw
and Carroll. It originally formed part of the territory ceded by the Choctaws
by the treaty of Dancing Rabbit in 1830. It was named for the Spanish province
of Grenada.
The county has an area of 442 square miles.
It is bounded north by Yalobusha and Tallahatchie counties, east by Calhoun
and Webster, south by Montgomery and Carroll, and west by Leflore and Tallahatchie.
Grenada, an incorporated city of 3,500
people, is at the center of the county, is the only large place and the
county seat. It is one of the important railroad centers of northern Mississippi,
being the junction of the main line of the Illinois Central railroad and
an important branch of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley system. A number
of large factories are located here and it is the seat of Grenada College.
The principal streams are the Yalobusha, Batapanbouge and Schoona rivers,
which, with their tributaries, yield the county ample water facilities.
When Grenada County was created on May
9, 1870, the seat of justice was established at Grenada, but the history
of the old town dates back to the earliest settlements on the Yalobusha
River. The city was thus described by a writer in 1838: "Grenada is by
far the most important town in the county, (Yalobusha), and is situated
on a beautiful plain extending from the south bank of the Yalobusha River,
in a southern direction, and seems as if designed for the location of an
important place. This place was located not quite four years ago, and it
now numbers about, seven hundred inhabitants. There are two comfortable
hotels and sixteen stores, besides three produce stores and two grog-shops,
generally misnamed groceries. There are now being erected two fine church
edifices; one for the Episcopal Methodist, and the other for the Presbyterian
congregation. The Yalobusha River is navigable for small steamers to Grenada
about four months in the year, and for keels somewhat longer. The health
of Grenada has been uniformly good, its location indicating that fact to
the home-seeker experienced in such matters. But that which promises most
for the health of the place is the fact that there is an abundance of good
water. There is also a steam sawmill in town and a saw and grist mill driven
by water power in the vicinity."
The present city of Grenada, which is one
of the most pleasant and up-to-date small cities of the State, originally
embraced the two rival towns of Pittsburg and Tulahoma. Both these old
towns. grew up in the early '30s side by side on the Yalobusha. The western
town was Pittsburg and was founded by a company headed by Franklin E. Plummer.
The eastern town was Tulahoma, and was founded by a company headed by Hiram
G. Runnels. The bitter enmity existing between the two founders caused
a corresponding antagonism between the two towns, much to the detriment
of both places. Capt. L. Lake, who was a resident of Grenada until 1878,
is authority for the ensuing list of names: The original settlers of Pittsburg
were John Smith, hotel keeper; James Sims, merchant; Drs. Allen Gallaspie
and Douthet, physicians; G.D. Mitchell, teacher; M.H. Melton, blacksmith;
Ralph Coffman, merchant; C.H. Grey, planter; Jonathan Carl, miller. Among
its business firms, prior to the union of the two towns, were James Sims,
R. T. Briarly, Prior & Howard, John Gibbs, Thomas Flack and R. Coffman
& Co.
The first business houses of Tulahoma were:
Larkin Cleveland, Clark Dougan, Armour, Lake & Morton, H.S. and W.
Lake & Co. Its first settlers were: Joseph Bullock, drayman; John Balfour,
ferryman; Maj. Jack Williams, hotel keeper; Larkin Cleveland, merchant;
Mrs. Annie Parker, hotel keeper; Mr. Dabbage, baker; George K. Morton,
merchant; Wm. Marshall, silversmith; Daniel Robertson, town marshal; Mrs.
Smith, planter; John B. Pass, planter; Henry, William, George and Levin
Lake, merchants.
Captain Lake also tells us that "during
the political campaign of 1835, in which Plummer concentrated his rugged
eloquence against Runnels, who was a candidate for reelection to the office
of governor, these two little towns were in a constant state of turmoil.
The inhabitants of each shared the feelings and prejudices of their respective
leaders and indulged in spirited denunciations of those living in the other.
On the occasion of a joint discussion between Plummer and Runnels, partisan
feeling ran so high that bloodshed was narrowly averted." Finally in 1836,
a reconciliation between the warring towns was effected and they were consolidated
under the new name of Grenada. A big barbecue was held on July 4, 1836,
at a spring in the eastern part of Tulahoma, to celebrate the happy event,
and the Rev. Lucas, a Protestant Methodist minister, performed the unique
marriage ceremony, uniting the towns. Grenada was duly incorporated by
act of the legislature in 1836. Other early acts dealing with its charter
were passed in 1840, 1843 and 1846. In May of the year last named occurred
the terrible hurricane which destroyed many buildings in the town, killed
sixteen white people and a number of negroes and injured many others. The
business interests of Grenada eventually centered in the eastern part,
or old Tulahoma, while the western part, or old Pittsburg, has become the
residence portion of the town. The U. S. Land Office was transferred from
Chocchuma to Grenada in 1842.
Outside the city of Grenada, the only incorporated
towns in the county are Holcomb and Elliott, in the southwestern and southern
parts.
Grenada County has quite a standing as
an agricultural region. Its farm property is valued at $5,696,000, and
its crops brought $2,195,000 to the farmers in 1919. Both vegetables and
fruit do well.
