Facts About Hattiesburg

Cool book, it was written all the way back in 1898. It has drawings of buildings built back then and ads from buiseness. Here are some intresting facts taken from it.

1883 1884 1888 1889 1891 1893 1898
 * first train runs
 * Incorprated into Perry County as a city of 250 people
 * Town diemensions "1 mile in each direction from the train station"
 * "Hattiesburg Herald"- first newspaper
 * first of many "shot-gun" quarantine established to control "dreaded yellow fever" 6 guards posted with instructions to shoot if need be.
 * Big enough to declare Hattiesburg a seprate school district
 * October 31, First murder in town. One Dolly Williamson found murdered in bed. (Unsolved in 1898)  Our first murder took place on Halloween. Thats kinda neat in a really bad way.
 * October 11, 26 bussiness burnt to the ground in a large fire. Causes city ordinaces forbidding wood framed buildings in town, causing all buildings to be rebuilt in brick.
 * City had two roads
 * A 21,268 sq. ft. 16 rooom school house for whites. Intrestingly "playrooms" for when it was raining at recess where seperated by gender and no smokers where allowed in the building. The "colored" school was in a Baptist church.
 * Personal property in town vauled at $800,000
 * 8 Churches
 * 31 stores and 800 houses
 * 9 Factories
 * Two Companies of Soilders in the Spanish-American war
 * An Opera house with 500 seat capcity
 * 7 Doctors
 * 4 Drug Stores
 * 2 newspapers "The Prog" and "The Citizen"