The Monitor-Herald Calhoun City Birthday Edition

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 91^st 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!

 

 

From Burkett to 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 24^th 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.”

Back when stamps were a penny apiece

 

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.

 

Way back when . . .

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.

 

 

Then and now: Calhoun City’s mayors

 

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.

 

Progress in the early years

 

(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 50^th 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.

 

 

 

Confidence and spirit mark town growth

 

(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 50^th 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.”

 

 

 

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.