July 23, 1997
Once upon a time, right here in Calhoun City, a group of men and women who decided they wanted to live in this very spot put their heads together, put their hearts into it, and put their hands to work. The little city that thought she could, did. Now Calhoun City is celebrating her 91st year with a respectful look back at the past which shaped her and which will help guide her for the next 91 years and beyond. Happy birthday, Calhoun City!
Compiled from staff reports
Ninety-one years ago this
Friday, July 25, the State of Mississippi granted Calhoun City its
charter, but to say that the town’s history is only 91 years old
would be to cheat the town of its early history.
Calhoun
City’s maiden name was Burkett, and her father was Captain Frank
Burkett, a native of Tennessee and a Confederate Civil War veteran
who took up residency in Okolona, Miss. Burkett was sometimes a
lawyer, sometimes a newspaper publisher, and occasionally a land
developer. It was that latter interest that led his eye to what is
now Calhoun City.
His initial foray into what is now
Calhoun City was ostensibly to hold a reunion of Civil War veterans
there on Aug. 17, 1905. Months before that, however, locals
protested that Burkett’s interest in the area was entirely for
personal gain. Those same individuals wrote heated letters to the
Monitor-Herald (then located in Pittsboro) to decry Burkett’s plans
to develop Calhoun City.
Much of the problem was that the
new town’s development would come at the expense of neighboring
Derma, particularly since Burkett was pushing for a railroad depot
to be built in Calhoun City, despite Derma’s hopes to have the depot
located in Derma.
As early as July 1905, Captain Burkett
already had some 21 laborers cutting out roads in Calhoun City. On
the 24th day of that same month, Burkett’s seeming permanence in the
area was reinforced by the establishment of a U.S. post office under
the name Burkett. [See also Dixie Herald 1906]
But the
captain’s designs on the town evidently were not strong enough to
compel him to fight a name change that same year. Burkett was
transformed into Calhoun City, named in honor of John C. Calhoun, a
statesman from South Carolina who also served as the nation’s
vice-president under President’s John Quincy Adams and Andrew
Jackson. Calhoun, who died in 1850, is also the county’s namesake.
Names aside, though, it was Burkett who continued to
develop the town-to-be. Among the first to buy lots in the town were
J. W. Griffin at Pittsboro, whose 1905 purchase resulted in the
building of a spoke factory, Calhoun City’s first industry and
probably also its first business to be blessed with tax-exemption
(but only for a year in 1908). J. A. Eason, J. B. Martin Burke, J.
C. Mitchell, Crum Boland, John Martin, and Levi Harrelson also
bought lots that year and began building commercial establishments.
At that time, almost all of the town’s buildings were made
of sheet iron, although a few frame buildings existed. (A Nov. 18,
1908, ordinance changed that a bit, however, by declaring that no
persons or organizations could build on the west side of Main Street
unless the building was of brick or stone. Why only the west side of
the street was targets for this ordinance is not clear.)
In
Sept. of 1905, the railroad came to Calhoun City, much to the
chagrin of Derma. H. J. Randolph, an assistant engineer of the
Southern Railway company, made a report that month to his company,
writing, “I am just now exceedingly busy laying off the “Y” side
track and yard switches at Calhoun City and hope to see the grading
completed by that place by Nov. 1 and trains running by Jan. 1,
1906. The company having located its depot at Calhoun City before
the gentlemen booming Derma has even purchased their townsite,
simply declines to double expenses to accommodate a few speculators.
Of course a depot will be built at Calhoun City.”
With
business booming and homes being constructed in Calhoun City the
town drew up a petition for incorporation and sent it to Governor
James K. Vardaman in March 1906. The petition was approved, of
course. Recommended for mayor and marshal were Levi Harrelson and
Jim Neal, respectively.
Even before then, though, the town
had plenty of civic pride. Prior to a 1906 Fourth of July
celebration in Calhoun City, an ancestor of the town’s modern
beautification committee got together to hold an early version of a
community clean-up day. It was reported that “the people of the town
met Friday and done some work on Main Street, which helped the
looks. They grubbed up some of the stumps, but did not get near all
of them and widened the street through the square and it looks more
like a town.”
On July 25, 1906, it officially was a town,
stumps and all, thanks to its new charter and the 172 residents who
had deigned to call the new city “home.”
As in most newly established towns around the turn of the
century, Calhoun City had a postmaster well before it had a post
office, which meant that mail was handled in stores.
The
“post office” (left) was located in the McDade Store building (where
Reese’s Furniture is now) with Dr. Granville Fox serving as
postmaster. The individuals pictured are, from left, Clarence
McDade, John McDade, Mrs. Granville Fox, Granville Fox, Dr. Fox,
William Fox, Jim Eason, and J. W. Seale. After Dr. Fox’s death, Mrs.
Fox acted as postmaster for a short while.
Calhoun City’s
very first postmaster was Robert L. Stuaddy, who was Pittsboro’s
postmaster for a number of years but who asked to be transferred to
Calhoun City when the town was organized and approved for a post
office. Stuaddy’s father was an immigrant from Holland who arrived
in the United States sometime prior to the start of the Civil War.
Stuaddy himself served in the Federal Army during the war, and
according to an early issue of the Monitor-Herald, he “met a young
lady in Calhoun County [while stationed at Grenada]. At the end of
the war, he returned to Mississippi and married his Southern
sweetheart. He was a fine man, and Confederate soldiers accepted him
and were friends. He was never considered a ‘carpetbagger.’”
Incidentally, the young lady’s name was never mentioned by the
paper.
Calhoun City’s early days, as recalled by Mr. Ellis Ivy
The
following article is a memoir of the birth of Calhoun City as
remembered by a Mr. Ellis Ivy of Bruce.
The information is based
on Mr. Ivy’s memories of events between 1906 and 1910. Mr. Ivy was
eight years old in 1906.
“In 1906, Calhoun City was still in
the woods, and my dad was hauling crossties to help build the M & O
[Mississippi and Ohio] Railroad to the place where Calhoun City is
now located. The railroad ended and the depot was located where the
old co-op building used to be. Derma wanted a depot, but Calhoun
City said no. Derma eventually got one, but they would not have if
it had not been for a Dr. Lawrence who pulled a few strings.
“The best I can remember, the first store to be built was by Gaines
and Mitchell where the telephone office is located. I think the
second store to be built was a hardware store. It was built by Mr.
Tildon Pryor and was located where Pryor’s Hardware is today
[Ed.—the building in which Factory Connection and Take Two are now
housed].
“Later on, a man named Sam Buck Doolittle built a
store right behind Pryor’s. Twin boys named Ray and Ralph Spencer,
who lived about where the garment plant [Ed. – Kellwood] is now, put
in a dry goods store on the southwest side of the square – along
about where Chandler’s Drug Store is. That was about the third store
to be built.
“Mr. Roscoe Bryant had a store where Boland’s
is [Ed.—at that time on the southwest corner of the square]. Just
north of the square a Mr. Lovorn owned a store. Also Mr. Tom Davis
had a meat market approximately where Long’s Dairy Bar
is.[Ed.,-across from the current post office].
“Calhoun
City’s first blacksmith shop was located a little above Mr. Davis’s
and was owned by Mr. Lee Ruth. Where Sam Jones’s welding shop is
{Ed. – on or near Jones Avenue]. There used to be a big log house
where the Gozas lived. I cannot remember Mr. Goza’s first name, but
I do remember two of the boys. Their names were Rufus and Rastus.
“The livery stable that was built in 1908 was located where
the jail is now. The first livery stable was located northeast of
the depot, a little above where Phillips’s Gin burned. I believe
that Mr. Andy Ruth owned both of them. I remember that the first
cars to come thru Calhoun County were kept in there overnight. The
next morning, it looked like the whole town turned out to see them.
When they finally got them started – there were two of them- and
began to pull out, you have never heard such a noise in all your
life. Most of it was coming from the crowd running along that board
walk trying to keep up with those cars. That walk was a plank walk
running down from the bank to the depot that looked to be built
anywhere from two to four feet from the ground on stilts.
“There sure were a lot of people there. We had heard a week or two
before the cars got there that they were on their way, and everybody
from far and near came to town to see them. We all did not really
know what to expect – whether it would have hair or feathers!
“I think that was 1908. They were just passing through so the cars
did not belong to anyone around here. I think the first person to
own a car in Calhoun County was Dr. Powell of Pittsbourgh [sic]. It
had wheels on it like a buggy and was steered by a straight rod that
went back toward the driver – it did not have a steering wheel. Bo
Smith was the second man to own one.
“There was about two
or three houses between the bank and the depot. Dr. Harv Hardin
lived in one; Dr. Webb, the dentist, had one; and right across the
street from them lived a Mr. Morgan.
“Burkitt was a big name
around here at that time. I can remember Burkitt [Burkett] Hall, a
big two-story building that stood where Cooner’s Garage was. Across
from Burkitt Hall was the Calhoun County Bank and was right where
the bank was before it moved to it new location several years ago.
“That old bank was built in 1907. That was the year that
they tried to organize a farmers’ union. There was even a big
concrete building built for it on the southeast side of town. The
reason I remember it so well was because my dad hauled sand to help
in the construction The union only lasted about a year or so and
then fell through.
“You asked about the square? It was
nothing but woods. It did have [a] dug well that was located on the
south side where people used to draw water for their mules and
horses. They did not have any hitching posts; we just used trees.
“Yes sir, I can remember when Calhoun City was in the woods. It
all started in 1906.”
Dime store display: shown above in
the B. W. Babb and Company 5 & 10 Store
are (from left) Iris
Fleming, store manager and Jamie Childs, a clerk. Located on the
southwest side of the square, the store opened October 18, 1928, and
closed June 28, 1929.
Calhoun City’s mayors through the years have borne names still
familiar in the town today. They were:
Dr. W. R. Hardin
1906-08
H. H. Terry 1909-12
J. T. Malone 1913-14
C. A.
Beasley 1915-16
W. J. Patterson 1917-22
E. L. Pate 1923-24
W. J. Patterson 1925-28
D. H. Crowson 1929 -29
H. H. Arnold
1930-30
C. A. Beasley 1931-34
W. G. Baldwin 1935- 35
Joe
T. Patterson 1936-36
A. L. Metz 1937-38
David Sanderson
1939-40
Roe Mitchell 1941-44
Grover L. Carter 1945-46
Roe
Mitchell 1947-57
E. R. Creekmore 1957-58
Roe R. Mitchell
1959-65
Dr. L. D. Webb 1965-71
Vernon Davis 1971-73
Dr. L.
D. Webb 1973-81
T. L. Cole 1981-1996
Chodie Myers Jr. 1996 –
present
[note: date of issue July 23, 1977]
Pryor Funeral
Home, circa 1932
Shown at right are Mr. Leelon Pryor and Mrs.
Maureen Pryor
at the original Pryor Funeral Home
A few
Calhoun City “firsts”
First picture gallery: owned and
operated by Buck Lay, circa 1906.
First brick kiln:
operated by Jim Eason, circa 1906.
First ice plant: The
Calhoun Ice Company, owned and operated circa 1926 by one-time mayor
H. H. Arnold (served one year, in 1930). Prior to the opening of
Arnold’s plant, ice was shipped in from Okolona by ice dealers Tom
Westbrooks, W. G. Baldwin and Lother Martin.
First
jewelry and repair shop: owned by J. K. Valentine
First pressing
shop: owned and operated by Leonard Lay, possibly Calhoun City’s
first black business owner.
First movie theater: owned and
operated by Jim Eason
First person to sell gasoline in Calhoun
City: Charley Lovorn, who owned a hand-operated Bowers pump.
First service station: owned and operated by E. L. Pate, who was
also mayor of the city from 1923-1924.
First bank: Calhoun
County Bank, Originally the Bank of Pittsboro, the bank was bought
by the Grenada Banking System in 1906 and was reorganized as the
Calhoun County Bank. It opened in a 10 x 50’ frame building on the
south side of the square. The bank’s first cashier was G. M. Green.
First chiropractors: Dr. and Mrs. Solon Dobbs, who moved to
Calhoun City in 1926.
First dentist: Dr. Norman Webb
First attorney: J. J. Adams. Adams moved to Calhoun City from
Pittsboro. He also served a term as a state senator while living in
Calhoun City.
First schoolteachers: Miss Urania Hardin and
Mrs. Lilly Mitchell
First passenger train: Dec. 30 or 31, 1906
First fire chief: J. L. Minor, appointed in April 1929
First
two stoplights: May 10, 1956
First female alderman: Mrs. W.
O. Lawrence, elected in February 1922.
First city slogan:
“The City Ready for Tomorrow,” created by Beth Hawkins daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Hawkins, in a 1955 slogan contest.
First
tax levy: adopted Oct. 1, 1907, 6 mills for general revenue; 2 mills
for general improvements, and 2 mills for interest on school
improvement bonds.
(Editor’s Note: The information which follows is taken from the
July 1, 1976 issue of the Monitor-Herald. It is a compilation of
some particular activities of the mayor and board of aldermen in
Calhoun City from 1907 through 1949. The information was prepared by
G. C. Hudson Jr., for the town’s 50th anniversary in 1956.)
The first city officials were Dr. W. H. Hardin, Mayor; C. A.
Beasley, clerk; Dr. B. N. Webb, J. W. Griffin, Tilden Pryor, and A.
J. Ruth, aldermen.
An ordinance was passed on Sept. 3, 1907,
making it unlawful for anyone to shoot firearms of any kind within
the corporate limits of Calhoun City.
On Jan. 9, 1908, the
Pittsboro Spoke Factory was exempted from town taxes for the year of
1908. (This was seemingly, a forerunner of the Balance Agriculture
with Industry idea that the State adopted in the 1930’s, bringing
many industries to the state.)
In June 1908, $2700 in bonds
were issued and sold to enlarge and equip the school building.
In 1908, Mayor Hardin collected $693.25 in fines and turned same
into the city treasury.
An ordinance was adopted on Nov. 18,
1908, forbidding any person to build a building on the west side of
the square, except of brick or stone.
On. Feb. 7, 1910, the
time for paying city ad valorem taxes was extended to Feb. 20, 1910,
after which date ten percent was ordered to be added to the original
amount as damages.
On March 4, 1913, the mayor and board of
aldermen passed a resolution declaring that a sidewalk was necessary
from the south side of Railway Avenue north to the south side of the
public square. A contract was awarded to H. L. Bowlin and Son in the
amount of $1917.58.
On April 23, 1913, C. V. Beadles was
awarded a contract to move 3,336 cubic yards of dirt from the town
square at 24 cents a cubic yard. This was grading work, which
removed a knoll from the center of the public square. (Much of the
dirt was used to fill up a pond in the lot where the Monitor-Herald
now stands.)
The tax levy for the town for 1913 was fixed
at 10 mills on the dollar.
On May 4, 1915, an ordinance was
adopted that no motor car, motorcycle, automobile or other
conveyance propelled by gas or steam, or any other conveyance, or
any horse or other animal, “shall be driven or ridden at a greater
rate of speed than eight miles per hour through or over the streets
and highways within the corporate limits of the Town of Calhoun
city, Mississippi.”
On Feb. 1, 1916, Mrs. W. O. Lawrence was
allowed $24 for two months’ teacher’s pay.
On Dec. 20, 1919,
an ordinance was passed forbidding the shooting of fireworks on the
public square and/or public streets of Calhoun City.
On May
23, 1922, J. F. Garber of Jackson was awarded the contract for
construction of a new school building in the amount of $26,870.
On March 21, 1921, an ordinance was adopted to prevent loitering by
children under 18 years of age on the public square and streets of
the town after 9 p.m. any day, prescribing a fine of no less than $5
and no more than $25 for violation of the ordinance.
On June
12, 1923, the Carlisle addition was added to the corporate limits of
Calhoun City.
On Feb. 17, 1930, the first night watchman and
police officer was hired by the mayor and board of aldermen.
On that same date, a franchise was granted to the Mississippi Power
and Light Co., to operate in the town.
On Aug. 9, 1932, all
street lighting was discontinued, except for 16 lights, which were
located on the public square and one block off the square in each
direction. This act of economy was brought on by the Great
Depression, which cut tax collections so heavily that the town was
forced to use every possible economy.
On Jan. 4, 1914, the
mayor and board of aldermen passed a resolution declaring that a
sidewalk was necessary around the public square and on Main Street.
On March 17, 1936, the O. H. and C. C. Railroad was given a
franchise to operate a railroad within the corporate limits of
Calhoun City.
In Oct. 1948, the mayor and board purchased a
pumper truck for the Voluntary Fire Department.
In Jan.
1949, the aldermen’s salaries were raised for $3.50 to $5.
No cars, few roads, but plenty of horses and mules
Mr.
Claude Seale (left) and Mr. Byars (first name unknown) demonstrate
Calhoun City’s primary means of transportation in its early years.
According to an account by Mr. Ellis Ivy, residents of Calhoun City
first saw an automobile around 1908, when two passed through and
caused quite an uproar in the town.
(Editor’s Note: The following is taken from the July 1, 1976,
issue of the Monitor Herald. Though written 21 years ago, it is
still timely and, hopefully, a reminder that Calhoun City’s growth
and progress depend entirely on its citizens.
It may be that
naming only the first of everything leaves out a lot of the real
history of the town. But the significance of this is one outstanding
fact: that the people who have lived and worked here have always had
utmost confidence in the town’s future, and have made this evident
by investing their earnings in the future of the town – by buying
and building and voting for bond issues for streets, schools, water
works, and all kinds of improvements; by donating money which has
totaled many hundreds of thousands of dollars for churches,
parsonages, fraternal buildings, and municipal parks and
playgrounds, libraries, and all types of city services and needs.
Their confidence has proved to have been well founded.
As
the editor of this paper in 1956, Stanley Murphree wrote at the 50th
anniversary of the Town of Calhoun City: “Calhoun City is not the
biggest or best town in the state, nor does it claim to be a model
one. There is still plenty to do here, and the future holds a
challenge for many needed improvements. However, the people will
prove themselves equal to the tasks of future years, as they have in
the years of the past – and all of us believe that a good town will
grow to be a better town.”
Written and published at the same
time, on the town’s 50th anniversary, was this comment by Miss
Frances Mallory, a daughter of one of the town’s pioneer citizens,
L. Y. Mallory: “In these 50 years, Calhoun City has grown from a
tiny clearing, hacked out of a thicket, into a prosperous, growing
little city. We have many material evidences of our growth and
prosperity, which anyone with eyes can see – lovely homes, beautiful
flowers, lawns, trees, attractive shops and stores, splendid
churches and schools. But these are only the outward evidences of
something much greater – the spirit of the people. As long as
Calhoun City has people like the ‘first citizens’ and the long line
of those who came after them, it will continue to grow and prosper.
So we look forward from the accomplishments of the past 50 years to
another 50 years of continued development.”
This is being
transcribed June 29, 2012.
There are many changes of businesses
and political offices since that time.
Below is a list of the
paid advertisers that were included in this special supplement to
The Monitor-Herald.
Western Auto: Rupert & Jane
Lunceford & Employees: 1958 – 1997
39 Years of Progress: Western
Auto and Rupert’s Supermarket has served the Calhoun City Trade Area
since 1958 – and a lot of progress has been made since that date.
Extensive mechanization of our Agriculture, increases in our
industrial Employment and Productivity, New Schools, Hospitals and
Churches, and tremendous expansion of trade and commerce – these are
but a few of the significant items which could be named in the
growth of Calhoun City. In keeping with the growth and development
of Calhoun City, Western Auto has continued to grow and expand to
meet the needs of our valued customers of Calhoun City and
surrounding area. With its roots deep in the business, financial and
civic life of this City, Western Auto is proud of its past and
anticipates the future with confidence and the full determination to
be of ever-increasing service to the people and business interests
of this area.
Congratulations Calhoun City on your 91st
Anniversary
Chamber of Commerce – City of Calhoun City
Barney
Wade & Family [Supervisor District 4]
Martha Martin – Chancery
Clerk: For the recording of deeds, deeds of trust, UCC’s, Chancery
Court filings and other matters, the staff of the Chancery Clerk’s
office is always ready to serve you.
Deborah Dunn – Circuit
Clerk: For marriage license and Voter Registration applications,
filing Circuit Court Civil matters, issuing garnishments,
executions, handling of Criminal case load, recording liens and
judgements, and other matters, the staff of the Circuit Clerk’s
office is always ready to serve you. Courthouse office hours are
8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday
Lanny’s City
Cleaners – Bruce City Cleaners [Lanny Fleming]
Margaret Black,
CPA
Pryor Funeral Home – The John Burt Family, Owners
1979 - 1997 Carnaggio Accounting & Tax Services [Joe Carnaggio]
L & L Realty [Paul Lowe & Henry Lackey]
Ruth’s
Drapery [Ruth Cole]
Ball Building Supply Co. [Curtis Ball]
We,
Too, Are Celebrating Our Town’s 91st Anniversary:
Officers and
Employees of The Peoples Bank & Trust Company Jimmy Clemons, Branch
Manager -Executive Officer; Linda W. McPhail, Assistant Branch
Manager - Assistant Vice-President; Sandra Doolittle – Branch
Coordinator; Rhonda Ray – Executive Assistant; Robbie Winter -
Lending Assistant; Mary Johnson - Head Teller; Sally Nelson -
Teller; Glenda Funderburg – Teller; Sandra Thornton – Teller; Penny
Nichols – Teller.
The Peoples Bank & Trust Company 1985 – 1997
Sonny Clanton – Attorney at Law
Keeton’s Pak-A-Pok [Rudell
Keeton]
Custom Dimensions, Inc. [Dab Conner]
Alexander’s Full
Service [Gene Alexander]
Dr. Frank Evans Jr. OD
We’ve shared
the past 91 years with you, and we’re looking forward to serving you
for many years to come. The Calhoun City Post Office
Beasley
Insurance Agency [Charles Beasley]
Terry T. James – Attorney At
Law
1906 – 1996 91 years of progress in Calhoun City! Calhoun
County Bank 1906 – 1986; Sunburst Bank 1986 – 1995; Union Planters
Bank 1995 + Member FDIC
The staff of the Monitor-Herald wish to
extend sincere thanks to City Clerk Faye Spratlin and to Mr. and
Mrs. Tommy Hallum, who very graciously assisted the Monitor by
providing photographs and information for this year’s birthday
issue.
Bounds Auto Glass [Terry Bounds]
Cagni’s and Reid’s
Food Mart [Andy Reid]
Since Hawkins Motor Company started here in
1934, the automobile Industry has streamlined its cars and added to
their strength and reliability. We’re proud to have served the
Calhoun City Trade Area for sixty-three years, and to have grown
with the Town of Calhoun City during part of its 91 years of
progress.
Hawkins Motor Company [Gary Lee Hawkins]
City
Carpet & Tile
Happy Birthday Congratulations Calhoun City on your
91st Birthday! We are proud to be a part of this great city and
community since 1947. Our dedicated World Class Employees share the
vision of growth and opportunity created by community pride and
leadership. Kellwood Company Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V/D
TDS Telecom
Calhoun County Cooperative
Hudson Flower Shop -
Serving Calhoun City & Surrounding Areas since 1986 [Randy Hubbard]
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