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Wahalak, Mississippi

Wahalak, Mississippi
Unincorporated community
Wahalak is located in Mississippi
Wahalak
Wahalak
Location in Mississippi and the United States
Wahalak is located in the United States
Wahalak
Wahalak
Wahalak (the United States)
Coordinates: 32°54′20″N 88°31′47″W / 32.90556°N 88.52972°W / 32.90556; -88.52972
CountryUnited States
StateMississippi
CountyKemper
Elevation
187 ft (57 m)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
GNIS feature ID692299[1]

Wahalak is a small unincorporated community in central Kemper County, Mississippi, United States.

History

The community is named for Wahalak Creek. Wahalak likely comes from a Choctaw word meaning "to spread".[2]

The community was originally founded in 1837 on Wahalak Creek three miles east of the present location and had a bank and male and female academies.[3] The Wahalak Female Academy first opened in 1839.[4] The original community was located on the 1842 post road.[5] After the founding of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, most of the town's inhabitants and businesses moved to be closer to the railroad. The new community was then named Wahalak Station and the original community became known as Old Wahalak.[3]

Wahalak is located on the Kansas City Southern Railway.[6] A post office operated under the name Wahalak Station from 1860 to 1871 and under the name Wahalak from 1873 to 1951.[7]

In late December 1906, Wahalak and Scooba, Mississippi, were the sites of white rioting against African-Americans. In the various conflicts, a total of twelve African-Americans and two whites were killed by December 26. The county sheriff called in the state militia for assistance.[8]

The murderer Kenny Wagner was captured in Wahalak on January 30, 1956.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Wahalak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. ^ Baca, Keith A. (June 1, 2007). Native American place names in Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-57806-954-5.
  3. ^ a b Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (PDF). Vol. 2. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 888.
  4. ^ Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi. Vol. II. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Publishing Company. 1891. p. 319.
  5. ^ The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America. Boston, Massachusetts: Charles C. Little and James Brown. 1846. p. 571.
  6. ^ Howe, Tony. "Wahalak, Mississippi". Mississippi Rails. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  7. ^ "Kemper County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved July 4, 2022.
  8. ^ "Whites in Race War Kill Blacks Blindly/ Innocent Negroes Shot in the Mississippi Trouble", New York Times, December 26, 1906; accessed May 28, 2017.
  9. ^ "Kenny Wagner, Parchman Escapee, Caught After Seven Year Search". The Greenwood Commonwealth. Greenwood, Mississippi. Associated Press. January 30, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved July 4, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.


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