Lamar County, Mississippi Genealogy and History   Ann Allen Geoghegan,  County Coordinator Jeff Kemp - State Coordinator     Ann Allen Geoghegan & Denise Wells - Assistant State Coordinators

---

 

Marion County WPA History

 

Chapter I

Formation

LATER TOWNS AND VILLAGES
 

        SUMBAX is a Point on the Fernwood Columbia and Gulf Railroad. Very few people live there or near there, but a switch track of the main line where trains sometime pass each other gives the necessity for a name. The name Sumbax was chosen in honor of a prominent citizen of the county, Baxter Summers.

        NEB is another point on the Fernwood Columbia and Gulf Railroad. Practically no one lives in the vicinity but a Negro church, Water Valley, is located nearby. The place was named in honor of N. E. Ball who was the general manager of the railroad.

        QUAKER is located on the Gulf Mobile and Northern Railroad about four miles southwest of Columbia. At one time a veneer mill was located there which was owned by the Quaker Oat Company and was called Quaker in their honor. The mill changed hands about 1929 and was moved from that vicinity and the place is now practically deserted.

        HAMAGE, another point on the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Railroad is only a side track on the main line. No public buildings that would act as a community center were ever located there.

        KOKOMO, a station on the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Railroad was named by F. B. Enoch, the president of the railroad. There is a division of opinion as to why the name was chosen by Mr. Enoch. Some say the name was chosen in memory of Kokomo Indiana, but C. O. Stevens a former employee of the company says he is of the opinion the place was so named to rhyme with other points on the line, Barto and Knoxo. There are two churches, one gin, one sawmill, a school and five or six stores in the village.

        A flag station by the name of NASON was located on the southern end of the branch line formerly known as Gulf and Ship Island. It was named in honor of J. B. Nason who was the train master of the railroad. The rails have been taken up, trains no longer pass through the locality, and very few people live near it. A large pile of lime that was unloaded there for agricultural purposes but never used is the main land mark there now. Highway No. 13 passes through the vicinity.

        PINEBUR, a village in the county west of Nason was also a point on the southern end of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad. It is a voting precinct, but has never been a village of any size. It was probably named because of the abundance of pine burs under the pine trees in the vicinity.

        MILDRED was possible never inhabited. Only a sign board with the name on it indicates the place on the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Railroad about ten miles south of Columbia.

        LAMPTON is a community center for Negroes. A school for the colored children is supported by Rosenwald funds is located in the place. One store is located there operated by a white family, and two other joints are operated by Negroes. The place was named in honor of the Lampton family.

        ODILE is a village or the name of a community inhabited solely by colored people in the southern part of Marion County.

        UNION is a voting precinct and is about ten miles east of Columbia. It has never been more than a community center, and at this writing one store and an elementary school is located there.

        Another voting precinct, BROOM is about sixteen miles northeast of Columbia. It was named in honor of the Broom families that live in the vicinity, but it is only a small community center with one church and a school.

        PINETUCK is another voting precinct about five miles northeast of Columbia. There are no public buildings at the place and the reason for the name has not been discovered.

        GOSS is a voting precinct, a point on the Illinois Central Railroad and a small village. The place was one time known as ROGERS but the name was later changed to GOSS in honor of Dr. Zeno Goss who lived at the place. About 1912 the town was a thriving sawmill center, but most of the timber has long since been cut and the mills moved to other localities. The surrounding agriculture section now support three stores, one gin, a school, and one church. One sawmill also operated in the town.

        EXPOSE is a flag station on the Illinois Central Railroad and inhabited only by Negroes. There is a Negro church and school, but no place of business is operated except a dance hall and beer joint operated by a Negro. At one time a post office was located at the place and operated by a Negro man.

        BALLS MILL is about eight miles south of Columbia but containing no public buildings of interest except one church and a watermill. The name was given the place in honor of a former owner of the mill.

        PITTMAN is a voting precinct on Ten Miles Creek in the southern part of Marion County. The population is small and scattered with no public buildings or business houses. The name was chosen because of the many people in the vicinity by the name of Pittman.

        HUB is a small village about eight miles south of Columbia. One good size school, two churches and five stores constitute the business section of the place. The Southern end of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad passed through Hub at one time, but the rails have been taken up and the only connection with the outside world now is by telephone and the local post office. After 1900, possibly about 1903 or 1904, two sawmills were located there and the population was about 150.

        A point on the Illinois Central Railroad is known as HATHORN, named in honor of the owner of the land at that point, Hugh Hathorn. The village is northward from Columbia on the east side of Pearl River near the county line. This little town, as many other in the county, has passed through saw mill days and is now trying to adjust itself to a less prosperous life. There is a post office, three stores, two churches, and a grammar school located at the place at the present time.

        MORGANTOWN, a voting precinct, is a small town on the Gulf Mobile and Northern Railroad west of Columbia. The place was possibly named in honor of the families of Morgans which live in and near the place, but early in the history of the county the vicinity was known as Lenoir Settlement. At this writing there is one church, two or three stores, a cotton gin and a high school found there.

        DARBUN is an inland village on the western boundary of Marion County. There was one time a post office there, but mail is now delivered from a rural route radiating from Kokomo. The place has never been much more than a community center with one or two stores, a cotton gin and a school. Some of the prominent people in the community are Thompsons, Lamptons, and Bennetts.

        STOVALL is another voting precinct and is about ten miles northwest from Columbia. At the present time there is no store, church, or school except the Negro church where the ballots are cast. There is nearby a hollow or low land section that is settled by several families of Stovalls and is known as Stovall Hollow.

| MSGENWEB | USGENWEB| HOME | GUESTBOOK |