Our mystery town is the county seat of Walthall County. It is also known for its dairy industry. Walthall County is called the Cream Pitcher of Mississippi because it leads the state in milk production and number of dairies. Read the clues and make your guess. This town was settled in the 1800s by a man named Jake Owens, who built a grist mill on Dry Creek. Other businesses soon followed, including a mercantile store owned by Garland Hart and a blacksmith shop operated by William Glanville Tyler. Tyler’s son, Thad, would go on to become a very successful local businessman. Other early settlers included the Magee and Thornhill families. The town began to grow in earnest when Cullen Conerly built several mills on Dry Creek, including a sawmill, a cotton gin and press, a rice pestle mill, and a grist mill. Conerly would later help his brother-in-law, Benjamin Lampton, buy Hart’s mercantile store, where a post office would be established and Lampton would become the town’s first postmaster. Back then, the town was known as Conerly. After the Civil War, the town took its present name and was formally incorporated in 1907. Agriculture, especially cotton and timber, played an important role in our mystery town’s early growth and development. The railroad was also important. The Fernwood Lumber Company, Fernwood, Columbia & Gulf (FCG) and Gulf, Mobile & Ohio (GMO) railroads played significant roles.
History
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Mystery
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MISSISSIPPI FARM COUNTRY
JULY/AUGUST