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How Ole Miss Came To Be Located in Oxford, Part VI

This essay is a continuation of the story of how Oxford came to be the home of the University of Mississippi. During the fifth ballot, in an effort to narrow the list down to seven, Greensborough was omitted.

Greensborough, settled as early as 1821, was the county seat of Choctaw County until 1871. The town consisted of a courthouse, saloons, churches, a post office, a jail, as many as eighteen stores, a newspaper plant, a livery stable, a ten-pin alley, and several law offices. Population migration changed things. It is now extinct (some cemeteries remain), and its previous location is now in Webster County.

A sixth ballot eliminated Sharon. Holly Springs was still on the ballot during the sixth ballot but received the lowest number of votes and was also eliminated:

Sharon, in Madison County, was first known as Choctaw Purchase or Purchase. It was later named for the Sharon Methodist Church. Sharon was incorporated in 1837 and had a post office by 1838. By that time it had “a buggy factory, post office, church, cemetery, and stores.” The Sharon Male Academy opened in 1837, and a Methodist Female Academy opened in 1838, with several hundred students. It remains as a village with a few shops.

Holly Springs was on the sixth ballot but received the fewest number of votes on that ballot and was thus ruled out of the top seven.

Holly Springs had been populated long before its incorporation in 1837. From its beginnings, it had a reputation as a town of well-educated citizens much interested in cultural activities. Fertile land in the area attracted planters, and many plantations developed. The commitment to education was an important factor in the enormous growth. The Holly Springs Female Academy was incorporated in 1839, the Holly Springs Literary Institution soon thereafter. It is now the home of Rust College.

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The first round of votes had been taken in order to narrow the list down to seven. Then, in 1841, legislators met to narrow the list from seven to one. The seven places left to choose from are listed here:

Brandon was incorporated in 1831. It was a center of commerce and had banks, hotels, businesses and taverns. The Brandon Female and Male Academy was organized in 1838, Centenary College in 1839. It was withdrawn after the fifth ballot.

Kosciusko, in Attala County, was incorporated in 1836. The town seems to have had several previous names, including Peking, Redbud Springs, Beehive of the Hills, Greenville and Paris. By 1840, it had two newspapers, several religious congregations, and The Union Female Academy. An 1840 editorial began: “If candor and good sense prevail, there is little doubt of the preference to be given to a point near Kosciusko in the center of a region that insures health on a fertile soil, and presents no barren waste –– the usual concomitant of a salubrious atmosphere, in the Southern States.” It was withdrawn after the third ballot in the 1841 voting.

Louisville, county seat of Winston County, was surveyed in 1834. Its post office began in 1835. It was at a junction for several stage coach lines and was home to the Louisville Academy. One person wrote, “It is on one of the largest thoroughfares perhaps in the state”; except for Jackson, no place near the center of the state “possesses the mail facilities of Louisville.” It was withdrawn after the second ballot.

Middleton, in Carroll County, was settled as early as 1790. The population grew considerably after Mississippi was admitted as a state and after the Dancing Rabbit Creek Treaty. It was first named Oxford and then Bowling Green, but the final name, Middleton, was used because the village was situated directly between Carrollton and Shongalo. It was a beautiful little village and was known, because of its cultural and educational advantages, as the “Athens of Mississippi.”

It was at a major cross road and consisted of churches, physicians’ offices, inns, general merchandise stores, taverns, a post office, a mill for rolling wool, a flour mill, a cotton mill, a newspaper, a cabinet shop, a shoemaker’s shop, a tailor shop, a hotel, a blacksmith’s shop, and law offices, and had daily service from a stage line. It was the home of Judson Institute, later renamed the Middleton Female Academy, and Peoples Academy, later renamed Middleton Male Academy. A railroad was not constructed there, and Middleton became extinct. A cemetery remains. It was withdrawn after the first ballot.

Mississippi City was once the County Seat of Hancock County but is now in Harrison County. One person has written that “back in 1837″ Mississippi City was “the first Coast settlement to officially become a town.” What was Mississippi City is now a part of Gulfport, and the original boundaries are difficult to determine. An old courthouse remains. One person has written: “All that remains today of the dream called Mississippi City are historical markers, street names, a handful of aging homes, scattered paragraphs in history books and an old brick building on a thoroughfare appropriately named Courthouse Road.” It remained on the list until the sixth ballot and actually received more votes than Oxford on every ballot but the sixth, when it received 57 votes as compared to 58 for Oxford.

Monroe Missionary Station, in Pontotoc County, was named for President James Monroe and was established about 1821 as a mission to minister to Chickasaw Indians. It was organized by the Presbyterian Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. The mission became a church in 1823; in 1827 the school had eighty-one students, who were instructed in both practical skills and academic courses. The Monroe Mission was changed from the Presbyterian Synod to the Board of Missions and was at one point consolidated with the nearby Toxish Mission. Then, as a result of the 1832 Treaty at Pontotoc Creek, the Chickasaws were forced to leave the area. All that remain today are a church, a church pavilion, two church cabins, and a cemetery. It was withdrawn after the fifth ballot.

Oxford was settled in 1836.Three early settlers donated fifty acres of recently purchased land to Lafayette County. The donation resulted in the beginning of a town called Oxford. The choice of the name was made deliberately to evoke a connection with the historic Oxford University, in the hopes that the state university would be founded there. It was incorporated in 1837; its post office began that same year. Commerce thrived in Oxford, and the town grew considerably in the early years. An 1838 account of the town gives reports that “its public buildings” included a courthouse, a jail, two hotels, six stores, and two schools—the Oxford Female Academy and the Oxford Male Academy. While it did not lead in the number of votes in 1841 until the sixth ballot, it beat Mississippi City by one vote.

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