The growing village of Nettleton was named in honor of George H. Nettleton, the Kansas City railroad magnate, and is situated in Lee and Monroe counties, about half in each county, on the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham railroad. It was laid out in the fall of 1887. Dr. M. M. Davis & Co. built the first storehouse. Soon after another was built by Mullens, Frances & Co. The town now has two churches and two more are being built. The Nettleton Hardwood Manufacturing Company, organized in 1890 with a capital of $50,000, has an extensive sawmill with a capacity of forty thousand feet per day, which gives employment to eighty hands. Providence College, situated nearby, was chartered in the spring of 1886. It was a frame building, built by subscription, 40×100 feet in size, with a capacity for seating five hundred students. The average attendance is about three hundred, and five teachers are employed.
Nettleton Missionary Baptist church, known as the Town Creek church, was organized about 1855, with Rev. William Hood as pastor, with only five or six members. In 1858 a frame church was built. At that time there were about forty members. In 1880 the church declined, and had preaching only occasionally, till 1888, when it reorganized, with Rev. W. F. Davis as pastor, with about seventeen members. At the end of 1888 it had fifty members. Rev. D. J. Austin is the pastor at this time, and the church has about fifty-three members.
Nettleton Christian church was organized in 1888, with Rev. Patterson as pastor and twenty-five members, increased now to thirty. The house of worship, a 40×60 frame structure, was built in 1889, at a cost of $1,500. It has a seating capacity of about three hundred and fifty. Rev. Armont is pastor. Two other organizations hold meetings in the same house, the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Rev. M. E. Tumbin is pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and Rev. Blanton of the Presbyterian Church.
Baldwyn is situated in Lee and Prentiss Counties, about equally divided between the two, but the post office is in Lee County, on the Mobile & Ohio railroad. It was named in honor of Mr. Baldwyn, who was one of the principal projectors of the Mobile & Ohio railroad. Its first storehouse was built in 1860 by Col. Robert Lowry. E. Oliver, Zebedee Williams, I. R. Wallis all built before the war. Since the war the population has grown to five hundred. The town has four churches, a gristmill, sawmill and cotton gin all combined, and a gristmill and cotton gin combined.
Masonic lodge No. 108, of Baldwyn, was organized in 1849 at old Carrollville, with only seven members. It was moved to Baldwyn in 1860, and now has thirty-six members.
Cumberland Presbyterian church, at Baldwyn, was first organized at old Carrollville in an early day, and moved to Baldwyn in 1860, when a frame house, 35×60, was built. At that time all Christian denominations of the community worshiped in it. The first pastor was Rev. William Wear. The church now has about thirty members, and a good Sunday-school, with Rev. J. E. McShan now as pastor.
The Missionary Baptist Church at Baldwyn was organized about 1862, with Rev. L. R. Burress as pastor. The congregation built a frame house in 1870, 50×90 feet, with a seating capacity of about four hundred, well finished and elegantly appointed. Since its foundation various ministers have been employed by the church, but at present has its first pastor, Rev. L. R. Burress. The membership is about forty-five, and there is a good Sunday-school, with J. W. Burress as superintendent.
The Methodist Episcopal Church at Baldwyn was established about 1851 at old Carroll-ville, and moved to Baldwyn just after the war. A frame house was built about 1869 with a seating capacity of four hundred. That house was torn down and a new one built about 1876. The church now has about fifty members, with Rev. K. M. Harrison as pastor. It has a successful Sunday-school.
The Christian church of Baldwyn was organized about 1869. An early, if not the first, pastor was Rev. E. B. Trimble. The church was erected in 1873 and cost about $3,000. The membership is seventy-five. Rev. H. M. Armor is pastor.
The Presbyterian church of Baldwyn was organized November 23, 1872. The constituent members were A. Cox, Mrs. N. T. Cox, Mrs. M. A. Stevenson, A. G. Weseott, John Stevenson and W. M. Cox. The present membership is about fifty. The pastor is Rev. J. H. Gaillard, who is concerned in the organization of the church.
Back to: Mississippi Counties, Cities and Towns, 1891
Source: Biographical and Historical Memories of Mississippi, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891