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History of Walthall, MS
(photos: Walthall courthouse, Post Office, and Old Jail)
On the second Monday of May, 1876, Mount Tabor, known today as Walthall, became the official county seat of Sumner County. The legislature appointed Samuel DeLoach, O.C. Davis, and Albert G. Young, as a locating committee to find a suitable location on or near the geographical center of the county. It was discovered that the center was about two miles northwest of the present courthouse, but this site was not suitable for a town.
They selected nearby Mount Tabor, a place once called Dallas, as the site. An act of legislature, approved Feb. 1,1876, provided-ed that "The various courts contemplated by law, should be held at Greensboro until the second Monday of May, 1876, and after that time said courts should be held at Mount Tabor." J.N. Stewart gave fifteen acres of land, and F.M. Leavett gave another fifteen acres for courthouse purposes, which was laid out in lots with a place for the courthouse square. By an order of the Board of Supervisors, at a special meeting May 23, 1876, the name of the county seat was changed from Mount Tabor to Walthall, in honor of Major General E.C. Walthall. A temporary court-house was then erected. This building was a rough frame structure of unfinished twelve-inch pine boards and was located on a resident lot. It served as the seat of justice until a brick kiln was made and a new building was erected.
This village grew quickly. In 1877, a large school was established by Colonel Sam Cook and Miss Louella Dee. Called the Walthall stores, the courthouse, churches, a large boarding house or hotel, and a saloon located there in 1877. W.A. (Billy) Hays also operated a gin, sawmill, and gristmill at Walthall for about fifty years. In 1936, there was a store, post office, Western Union Telegraph Station, two churches, and a grammar school, high school students were transported by school buses to Eupora.
When the Georgia Pacific, later Southern, now Columbus and Greenville Railroad came through this section in 1889, Walthall was left about five miles to the north, and the town has not grown very rapidly in consequence.
Walthall did its best business about 1875 to 1880. There were about six business houses, a saloon, and a tin pin alley here, also the Arnold and Quinn apothecaries.
A democratic weekly newspaper was once published here, the Walthall Warden, established in 1881.
The present courthouse was built in 1915. It was designed by Overstreet and Clecker, costing about $60,000. It is a two story structure, with a large auditorium, two large jury rooms, and three small offices on the second floor. The first floor contains a large hall, the chancery clerk's office, the circuit clerk's office, and a large room for the county supervisor meetings. The courthouse is located-ed in the center of town. Houses, stores, and post office were built around it in the square. In 1936, there were no streets, but two gravel roads went through the town. The two churches were wooden (lumber) and painted white.
In Feb., 1883, a windstorm at Walthall destroyed the school, later that year, a tornado left a thirty mile path over a mile wide across the county.
Some of the prominent lawyers who have practiced here 'are: Fox and Roane, Judge T.L. Lamb, F.M. Leavett, Captain Fuller Fox, Colonel Sam Cook, and others.
Some of the pioneer settlers of this community are the: Hays, Cooks, Swindolls, Lambs, Middleton's, Carroll's, Arnolds, Holland's, Tabb's, and Crowell's.
