History of Walnut Grove, Leake County, Mississippi Source: Unknown Published around April, 1975 Contributed by: Elaine White After Walnut Grove organized at Old Walnut Grove, the Walnut Grove as we know it today is due largely to the opening up of the railroad here. It is located in the bottom land of Tuscolameta Creek, twelve miles south of Carthage. Here the soils are fertile and gardens grow in abundance. Truly this Walnut Grove can be attributed to what has transpired since the coming of the railroad. The credit for the railroad goes to Sam Neville of Meridian. At first the railroad was built only to Sebastapol in 1920. Then March 1, 1923, it was opened up to Walnut Grove. Another man of honor was a civil engineer for the railroad was L.P.O.Exley. A community, located three miles east of Walnut Grove, was named for this man. This community was established as the result of a “Passing Track” which was established for the railroad. At first the railroad was known as Jackson and Eastern Truck Lines, but when it was extended to Jackson in 1925, it was purchased by Gulf, Mobile, and Northern. When the railroad first came to Walnut Grove and the lumber companies set up for business, they built “dummy lines” into the woods which means the logs were hauled from the woods to the mills. Before the railroad was extended on to Jackson, the terminal here at Walnut Grove had a “y”; this enabled the trains to turn their engines so it could retrace itself. Among the houses still standing when the town was first moved here were the homes of two Jones families. These are the present homes of Mrs. Fannie Upton and Mr. And Mrs. Carl Coleman. Another house that was here, but long since removed, was the Lindsey home. The Lindsey Cemetery here is a plot of land that was purchased from this family of Lindseys. Also, the Fuston Cemetery here was purchased from the Fuston family, who were early settlers. The first business houses at Walnut Grove were Ellis & Patridge, Ellis & Davis, and C. A. Reeves Stores. The commissary belonging to J. J. Paschal was built in the latter part of 1923, with an addition made later. The two canals near Walnut Grove were built in the 1920’s, also. The larger of the two, the one next to town, was built in 1926 and the smaller one was built in 1927. The 1960 census showed Walnut Grove with 433 residents. The first census of the town in 1890 showed the population as 166. This number climbed to 207 in 1900. Then in 1930 the census showed around 400 residents, but since that time the Low-Rent Housing project(with housing units) has increased the residential county. The Low-Rent Housing project, with 30 families units, came into being in 1973. At the present time, April 1975, there are only three vacancies in it, with a total of 79 persons being residents there. City Government The first organization and incorporation of Old Walnut Grove occurred in 1884. Later, when the town was moved to the present site, a survey of the town or Town Plat was made in 1923 with Mr. P. L. Stacker as engineer. The town was composed of three different additions. These being the L.B. Johnson addition; the Chadwick addition and the Luke Addition. The first mayor was J. B. Johnson and The city clerk was J. H. Sasser. Present officials of Walnut Grove are: Mayor J. W. Madden, Board of Alderman – W. M. Dawson, W. C. Spence, Jr., Don Gomillion, Howard Clark, and Thomas Starling. The City Clerk is Mrs. Charlene Foster. City Marshal, Billy Wayne Gilbert, and the City Attorney is Palmer Brantley. Walnut Grove first organized a Volunteer Fire Department and held its first training session June 4, 1970. There was only one old truck for the fire fighters. Later in 1974, the town purchased a real fire truck and the Volunteer Fire Department was organized. The sewage and water system was installed in 1962, with the natural gas in 1966. The telephone franchise was November 24, 1927, and was connected with the Forest exchange. In later years, this was changed and connection was made with the Carl exchange. Electricity and street lights came to Walnut Grove in early 1900. At present, Walnut Grove has approximately three and one half miles of paved streets, which is practically all the streets in the town. New Highway 35 has moved to the west of the town and skirts the western edge of it. Post Offices About one quarter mile of Old Walnut Grove was a grove of Walnut trees in the yard of the Kernogans residence. Here the origin of the first post office for Walnut Grove. A Mr. William J. Hamil came from Georgia and with his small son(his wife had died shortly before), he settled here. Hamil obtained the first post office for the community and he became the first Postmaster. The mail was kept in a home desk two and one half by three feet and kept in the blacksmith shop which he located. When Irvin Miller established a merchantile business in this community, the office was moved from the first shop store which was erected where what is Old Walnut Grove. Bill Lindsey was the first Post Master. Mrs. Kate Williams Starling was named Postmistress when the post office was moved to the New Walnut Grove and is still serving. Following Mrs. Starling was Chadwick who served until his death. Next in line for the office of Postmaster was Mr. Carl Ferguson and after his retirement, Miss Kate Fuston served temporarily. Herbert Hogue was named to the office and held this position up to the present where he is still serving(this was in 1975). The building housing the post office has been changed several times and at present a new, modern post office building is being erected. (This was in 1975). At one time during World War I, there were three rural mail carriers and the Post Office has a 2nd class rating, which was very rare for a community of this size. Later it was reduced to 2 rural carriers. However, as of now, it is being classed at a high 3rd class and it is close to being a 2nd class post office at a later date. Walnut Grove was first settled by following families: Lindseys, Kernogans, Chadwicks, Millers, Goldens and Ellises. Lindsey was the first Postmaster. Jeff Chadwick was the first merchant. Rev. Irwin Miller was a minister and a representative in the legislature. Dr. John Ellis was one of the early doctors. This settlement, as previously stated, received its name from a large walnut grove in front of the Kernogans residence. When Irwin established a mercantile business in the community, the post office was moved to the Kernogan residence at the location of Old Walnut Grove.